Lethargic Banggai Cardinalfish

[PeterDolan]

Hi all,

In the last few days, I've noticed that one of our two Banggai Cardinalfish has been lethargic and not eating very eagerly. This is very unusual - I've never seen them behaving like this after about half a year in our tank. His partner is behaving normally. Both were aquacultured.

Generally they sit in the bottom corner of the tank, are breathing a bit slowly, and show little interest in food. If I drop some shrimp or flakes directly on them, they'll take a couple bites.

I haven't noticed any significant or rapid changes in behavior.

It's possible that there's a slight reddening to his eye, which may be a trick of the light, but isn't present in the other cardinal.

The most significant recent change to our tank was bringing in the plants visible in the background of the photo. They're marine plants from Florida, and we're brought into the tank about a month ago after a two-week quarantine period.

Parameters:
1.020 sg (gradually increasing to 1.023)
0 ammonia
0 nitrites
4ppm nitrates
7.8-9pH
78 degrees
12 hours light



Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Peter

 

[HotRocks]

The only thing that comes to mind here is the redness in the eye. Could possibly be the start of an infection. Although typically eye problems present themselves as cloudy rather than red.

#reefsquad any additional ideas here?

@Humblefish @Big G @Maritimer @4FordFamily

 

[timnem70]

Hmm. How old is that tank? Yes. Bring SG up and get the other parameters for us. It'll help diagnose. Are you saying that the fish were fine until something or have they always shown those behaviors?

 

[4FordFamily]

The only thing that comes to mind here is the redness in the eye. Could possibly be the start of an infection. Although typically eye problems present themselves as cloudy rather than red.

#reefsquad any additional ideas here?

@Humblefish @Big G @Maritimer @4FordFamily

I agree, I don’t see any obvious ailments. Any other symptoms? Hiding from light?

How is the oxygen exchange? (Any skimmer or powerheads?)

 

[Big G]

Slight redness can be from a variety of causes: physical injury, infection, vitamin deficiency, water quality, etc. You could consider giving the fish a bath in methylene blue if you feel it is an injury; if you are leaning more towards an infection, a bath in an acriflavine product like Ruby Reef Rally could help. It has both antiseptic and antibiotic qualities and I highly recommend the product. Here's a link with lots of information to help inform your possible treatment plan:
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/3/fish

 

[PeterDolan]

Hmm. How old is that tank? Yes. Bring SG up and get the other parameters for us. It'll help diagnose. Are you saying that the fish were fine until something or have they always shown those behaviors?

The tank is about a year old now. Working on bringing SG up over the next week. They've started these behaviors in the last week, with the only major change in see being the plants.

 

[PeterDolan]

I agree, I don’t see any obvious ailments. Any other symptoms? Hiding from light?

How is the oxygen exchange? (Any skimmer or powerheads?)

No hiding from light, nothing else really comes to mind.

Oxygen exchange should be pretty good - power head circulating the water at the surface creating circular flow in the tank, agitation at the surface from the return pump, and a skimmer running in the sump.

One possibility that we see is that the power head was increased in flow very slightly (from 1/10 to 3/10) from several weeks ago, and I've noticed that these particular fish have been very easily exhausted by flow rates. I reset it to its lowest setting last night.

 

[PeterDolan]

Slight redness can be from a variety of causes: physical injury, infection, vitamin deficiency, water quality, etc. You could consider giving the fish a bath in methylene blue if you feel it is an injury; if you are leaning more towards an infection, a bath in an acriflavine product like Ruby Reef Rally could help. It has both antiseptic and antibiotic qualities and I highly recommend the product. Here's a link with lots of information to help inform your possible treatment plan:
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/3/fish

Thanks! I don't think it's an injury - nothing apparent otherwise, and there isn't much in the tank to be injured by, particularly for these very docile fish.

I'll consider the acriflavine dip, thank you!

 

[PeterDolan]

Update: after turning down the power head, the fish has returned to normal. I think also that the reddishness in the eye was iridescence in the dim evening light. Thanks all for your advice!