One spot foxface constantly flashing spines with dark coloration

anthony1222 · Sep 12, 2023

My one spot foxface has been constantly flashing his spines and always stayed brown on the top of his body and is also constantly hiding. He’s been doing this for about 3 weeks but eats really well. I feed him nori everyday and mysis. I’ve had him for a month and it wasn’t quarantined so I’m scared it has a disease or parasites. It’s in a 75 gal fowlr 4ft tank with 2 clownfish, Baby hippo tang, 2 cleaner shrimp, and a conch. Please help me identify what problem he has!!

( ) video link

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 12, 2023

Pretty normal behavior. Mine's a real scaredy-cat and does this often

vetteguy53081 · Sep 12, 2023

anthony1222 said:
My one spot foxface has been constantly flashing his spines and always stayed brown on the top of his body and is also constantly hiding. He’s been doing this for about 3 weeks but eats really well. I feed him nori everyday and mysis. I’ve had him for a month and it wasn’t quarantined so I’m scared it has a disease or parasites. It’s in a 75 gal fowlr 4ft tank with 2 clownfish, Baby hippo tang, 2 cleaner shrimp, and a conch. Please help me identify what problem he has!!

( ) video link

The fish has above normal respirations and the behavior in video can be reactive to other fish or irritant such as flukes which they are susceptible to. Other signs with flukes are normally are swimming near the water surface, hiding in the corner of tank or behind rocks, loss of appetite, shaking its head, flashing/darting, develop clamped fins, , or scratching against objects. They may also exhibit what looks like yawning from gill irritation develop, cloudy eyes and loss of color. I dont see much of this in the video but video not lengthy. Are any other fish displaying this behavior?
Again may be due to intimidation or unsurity of other fish being a new occupant.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 12, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
The fish has above normal respirations and the behavior in video can be reactive to other fish or irritant such as flukes which they are susceptible to. Other signs with flukes are normally are swimming near the water surface, hiding in the corner of tank or behind rocks, loss of appetite, shaking its head, flashing/darting, develop clamped fins, , or scratching against objects. They may also exhibit what looks like yawning from gill irritation develop, cloudy eyes and loss of color. I dont see much of this in the video but video not lengthy. Are any other fish displaying this behavior?
Again may be due to intimidation or unsurity of other fish being a new occupant.

Or, it's a typical spazzy foxfish

anthony1222 · Sep 12, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
Pretty normal behavior. Mine's a real scaredy-cat and does this often

Will the foxface return to it's normal color at some point?

boacvh · Sep 12, 2023

Looks like typical foxface behavior to me to be honest. Based on my experience with mine

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 12, 2023

anthony1222 said:
Will the foxface return to it's normal color at some point?

Yes, but it will go camo when it gets spooked (and when it sleeps).

anthony1222 · Sep 12, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
The fish has above normal respirations and the behavior in video can be reactive to other fish or irritant such as flukes which they are susceptible to. Other signs with flukes are normally are swimming near the water surface, hiding in the corner of tank or behind rocks, loss of appetite, shaking its head, flashing/darting, develop clamped fins, , or scratching against objects. They may also exhibit what looks like yawning from gill irritation develop, cloudy eyes and loss of color. I dont see much of this in the video but video not lengthy. Are any other fish displaying this behavior?
Again may be due to intimidation or unsurity of other fish being a new occupant.

It's never near the water surface but it is always hiding behind rocks. The only fish I've added after the foxface was the hippo tang but they both follow each other and always stays close with each other. It eats well but is pretty skinny for the amount of food he eats. Could it be digestive parasites?

vetteguy53081 · Sep 12, 2023

anthony1222 said:
It's never near the water surface but it is always hiding behind rocks. The only fish I've added after the foxface was the hippo tang but they both follow each other and always stays close with each other. It eats well but is pretty skinny for the amount of food he eats. Could it be digestive parasites?

How does the feces look? Normal or white?
For foods, nori and mysis ok but it needs more. Add foods such as LRS herbivore diet, small plankton Formula 2 frozen and flake as well as spirulina brine shrimp

boacvh · Sep 12, 2023

How long has tang been with him? Mine does this to new introductions. Goes back to his other normal spazz behavior after a few weeks

anthony1222 · Sep 12, 2023

boacvh said:
How long has tang been with him? Mine does this to new introductions. Goes back to his other normal spazz behavior after a few weeks

Tang has been in for about 2 and a half weeks. But since then I've added a shrimp and a conch.

vetteguy53081 said:
How does the feces look? Normal or white?
For foods, nori and mysis ok but it needs more. Add foods such as LRS herbivore diet, small plankton Formula 2 frozen and flake as well as spirulina brine shrimp

One time I've noticed white stringy poop like a few days ago but every other time I've seen it poop it was like straight up algae.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 12, 2023

anthony1222 said:
Tang has been in for about 2 and a half weeks. But since then I've added a shrimp and a conch.

One time I've noticed white stringy poop like a few days ago but every other time I've seen it poop it was like straight up algae.

This is normal poop.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 12, 2023

anthony1222 said:
Tang has been in for about 2 and a half weeks. But since then I've added a shrimp and a conch.

One time I've noticed white stringy poop like a few days ago but every other time I've seen it poop it was like straight up algae.

Good. White may be from excess mucus from being fed mysis.

boacvh · Sep 12, 2023

anthony1222 said:
Tang has been in for about 2 and a half weeks. But since then I've added a shrimp and a conch.

One time I've noticed white stringy poop like a few days ago but every other time I've seen it poop it was like straight up algae.

In my opinion he is just showing regular foxface behavior to the new tang. Once he gets used to him it will go back to full color and stop showing him his spines.
If he is eating fine I wouldn't worry about it. Just feed him more nori. But that's just me, @vetteguy53081 is way more experienced than me and maybe he sees something I don't so don't discount his advice

anthony1222 · Sep 12, 2023

boacvh said:
In my opinion he is just showing regular foxface behavior to the new tang. Once he gets used to him it will go back to full color and stop showing him his spines.
If he is eating fine I wouldn't worry about it. Just feed him more nori. But that's just me, @vetteguy53081 is way more experienced than me and maybe he sees something I don't so don't discount his advice

Alright if it's normal then Im not worried.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 12, 2023

anthony1222 said:
Alright if it's normal then Im not worried.

Except, it is breathing too fast. That combined with constant fin flicking points to flukes.
Does the tank have good aeration, bubbles resting the water’s surface and/or a protein skimmer? If not, the first thing to do is add aeration and see if that helps. If you do have good aeration, I would dose the tank with Prazipro twice, eight days apart to see if that offers some relief.

Jay

anthony1222 · Sep 13, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
Except, it is breathing too fast. That combined with constant fin flicking points to flukes.
Does the tank have good aeration, bubbles resting the water’s surface and/or a protein skimmer? If not, the first thing to do is add aeration and see if that helps. If you do have good aeration, I would dose the tank with Prazipro twice, eight days apart to see if that offers some relief.

Jay

It has some surface agitation with a protein skimmer. If I dose prazi would it hurt other fish, shrimp and copepods?

thedon986 · Sep 13, 2023

I got one in from Dr Reef on Friday last week and he is still very skittish, has that same black streak along the top and flares his spines a lot while swimming. Seems like normal new fish behavior to me. From what I have read they are very quirky.

Also, all fish have been QT'd and treated for flukes so I don't see that as the case for mine.