Odd Behavior From Potters Angel?

[ReefLove25]

I've had my potters angel for nearly two months now, she's done fine and hasn't had any issues whatsoever. But as of these last two days now she's been acting just off enough for it to be brought to my attention..

First thing is every so often when she's swimming she will slightly tilt to the right now. Secondly, she seems blotchy in color. Vibrant in some areas and pale in others. lastly, she is going to the restroom almost CONSTANTLY. Literally right when she finishes, she starts going to the restroom again. She's extremely active in the tank. Swimming up and down, going through the rocks, picking on the walls and rims of the rock and eating nori fine. No other fish in my tank is acting odd. I took a picture of her restroom tendencies just because it seems off. Stringy and long, but not white in color which I know would be a sign of parasites.

Tank Perimeters:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: >5ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
pH: 8.2
salinity/sg: 1.025


Other than some odd kind of parasite the only other thing I can think of is that I have 2 or 3 nuisance anemones in my tank - majanos, that were attached to some gsp that I had purchased. The gsp has a bunch of algae around it so she MIGHT have picked at it, and maybe the majano stung her? I don't know how aggressive they are but I've been meaning to get them out of there. But she shows no signs of swelling, so i'm doubting that's it. I also had a condy in the tank for two whole days but sold it back to a store after it ate my clown - so there's another place she could've got stung but again - no swelling.

Anyways, input would be appreciated!

 

[eatbreakfast]

Did you treat for parasites in qt, or did the fish go straight into the dt? Though not white, pale feces can still be a sign of internal parasites.

Being active is a good sign.

Fish usually don't swell up when stung by an anemone, they will develop a pale/whitish patch were their slime coat was damaged.

Majanos usually don't sting fish, condys may, but it wasn't in their long enough to still be causing problems for the potters.

 

[Trex]

Like mentioned above --- did you QT, and did you treat with Prazi?

If you don't have any, I would suggest getting some and treating. Doing it in a QT is the best, but if that isn't realistic, I have used it in a DT in the past. Anemones, clams, shrimps and corals were fine. Might lose some worms, feather dusters and the like.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Yes, it could've been stung by the pest anemones or is being affected by different chemicals being secreted by the soft corals in your tank. Potter's are delicate fish and it is not one that I would ever recommend putting through a full quarantine treatment in a sterile environment. Maybe an unpopular opinion but there are certain fish you just don't quarantine.
Since you know this fish well, and notice it's behavior is off chances are the fish is already stressed to the point that it will soon be returning to the reef in heaven. I've had Potters over the years even with great color and a healthy established system, varied diet offered just up and die one day after months of doing well. Good luck. One thing you may try is to run some carbon, poly-filter, or purigen to remove some possible unseen toxins that we cannot test for yet can be present.

 

[ReefLove25]

Like mentioned above --- did you QT, and did you treat with Prazi?

If you don't have any, I would suggest getting some and treating. Doing it in a QT is the best, but if that isn't realistic, I have used it in a DT in the past. Anemones, clams, shrimps and corals were fine. Might lose some worms, feather dusters and the like.

I just ordered some prazi a few days ago after reading about it online. When I added her I didn't have a QT setup as it had crashed the day I bought her (my luck) so she went straight into the display. I have a QT running now, but I don't know if catching her and swapping her to a new tank will do any good with her stress. Her color is a little better today, still using the restroom excessively though and swimming odd.


Next thing to add -- one of my chromis died over night, now one is laying on his side at the bottom, likely to be dead soon.

retested all my levels, everything is still fine! I have absolutely no idea what is happening here

 

[ReefLove25]

Yes, it could've been stung by the pest anemones or is being affected by different chemicals being secreted by the soft corals in your tank. Potter's are delicate fish and it is not one that I would ever recommend putting through a full quarantine treatment in a sterile environment. Maybe an unpopular opinion but there are certain fish you just don't quarantine.
Since you know this fish well, and notice it's behavior is off chances are the fish is already stressed to the point that it will soon be returning to the reef in heaven. I've had Potters over the years even with great color and a healthy established system, varied diet offered just up and die one day after months of doing well. Good luck. One thing you may try is to run some carbon, poly-filter, or purigen to remove some possible unseen toxins that we cannot test for yet can be present.

I would've continued to think it was only something weird with my potters, but I woke up this morning to a dead chromis and now another is nearing death. I have no clue what is going on in my tank now honestly.

Other fish in my tank (who are doing 100% fine)
-Three other chromis
-very small dwarf fuzzy lion
-maroon clown w/ a hosted bubble tip anemone
-marine betta
-large lawnmower blenny
+ a frogspawn and some green star polyps.

Levels are still all fine, ammonia at 0, nitrites at zero, nitrates a little above zero but less than 5, pH is 8.2 and my salinity is 1.025
no clue what is going on!
no visible signs of illness on any fish including the one passed chromis and one passing chromis other than odd behavior from potters.

 

[ca1ore]

Two months isn't very long, so it's entirely possible you're dealing with some kind of nutritional problem. My potters have always been almost continuous grazers, so perhaps it's not getting the algae it needs? Anything's possible, I suppose, but highly unlikely to be related to the majanos. Were the chromis that died new to the tank. They're particularly susceptible to uronema; though that usually has unmistakable external symptoms. Personally, can't support avoiding QT for any fish, regardless of how sensitive it may be; though I accept that there are some that may not do well. My current potters came in with ich, so it spent 30 days in cupramine.

 

[4FordFamily]

Potters losing color is often ich or velvet or poor nutrition. Typically not good. Often, chromis are killed off by uronemia, not sure how frequently that can affect centropyge.

 

[ReefLove25]

Two months isn't very long, so it's entirely possible you're dealing with some kind of nutritional problem. My potters have always been almost continuous grazers, so perhaps it's not getting the algae it needs? Anything's possible, I suppose, but highly unlikely to be related to the majanos. Were the chromis that died new to the tank. They're particularly susceptible to uronema; though that usually has unmistakable external symptoms. Personally, can't support avoiding QT for any fish, regardless of how sensitive it may be; though I accept that there are some that may not do well. My current potters came in with ich, so it spent 30 days in cupramine.

Chromis were brand new, my older chromis are fine, newer ones not so much. I'll definitely take QT more seriously from now on. I have the tank set up and everything but skipped it with the chromis.
My potters is still alive, still acting weird.

There's algae in my tank, she grazes a lot...constantly pretty much. Also feed her nori, brine, mysis, etc. I switch it up in my tank every meal pretty much. I alternate through a bunch of different frozen foods. And add nori almost every day for the potters