Rhinopias, shedding and laying on side

[sawrip]

My Rhinopias is currently in QT, today he's shed his cuticle and all looked good. This evening he's started laying on this side then back up to normal. I have placed a live ghost shrimp in the tank and he darts towards it and gobbles it up, I guess this is a postive sign.

My concern is him laying on his side, before righting himself - is this normal behaviour, I appreciate they are trying to imitate a leaf, but wanted some opinions on it. My water parameters with the Redsea test kit were showing 2.0 ammonia for a brief period but the Seachem badge was showing yellow throughout and my other fish in QT seem normal. I have done multiple large water changes and dosed prime. @lion king

 

[vetteguy53081]

My Rhinopias is currently in QT, today he's shed his cuticle and all looked good. This evening he's started laying on this side then back up to normal. I have placed a live ghost shrimp in the tank and he darts towards it and gobbles it up, I guess this is a postive sign.

My concern is him laying on his side, before righting himself - is this normal behaviour, I appreciate they are trying to imitate a leaf, but wanted some opinions on it. My water parameters with the Redsea test kit were showing 2.0 ammonia for a brief period but the Seachem badge was showing yellow throughout and my other fish in QT seem normal. I have done multiple large water changes and dosed prime. @lion king

The gills i see appear to be red which suggests:
- elevated ammonia and or nitrate
- Bacterial issue
- Temp elevated
- Drop in oxygen

Assure none of these are the case

 

[sawrip]

The gills i see appear to be red which suggests:
- elevated ammonia and or nitrate
- Bacterial issue
- Temp elevated
- Drop in oxygen

Assure none of these are the case

Temperature and oxygen checked again, confirmed no issues.
Multiple large water changes conducted and seems to be much better, back to normal although gills still seem a little inflamed.

I believe this was Ammonia creep in the QT with the Seachem badge and Redsea test kits not reporting the full picture.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Temperature and oxygen checked again, confirmed no issues.
Multiple large water changes conducted and seems to be much better, back to normal although gills still seem a little inflamed.

I believe this was Ammonia creep in the QT with the Seachem badge and Redsea test kits not reporting the full picture.

Thank you for the advice.

Ammonia too would have been my suspect cause

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That spurious ammonia reading is worrisome - was it a test kit malfunction, and if so, which test is wrong?

That it ate is a good sign.

Are you treating it with anything? If not, I do worry about keeping rhinos in a bare tank, it just adds to their stress.

Jay

 

[lion king]

Ammonia! the silent killer. Glad you caught it, he has seemed like he was doing very well. The shedding is normal, and him eating is a good sign. The laying on the side thing is not normal, and I suspect it was because of the ammonia,

So lets understand, was the tank properly cycled and does it have adequate filtration. Be careful not to feed too often and remove any food that dies. The rhino also poops like a dog, so if you see a turd, just siphon it up before it starts to break down.

I'm excited that you got one in good condition, eating well, and seemingly acclimating well. So let's not have an ammonia casualty.

 

[sawrip]

That spurious ammonia reading is worrisome - was it a test kit malfunction, and if so, which test is wrong?

That it ate is a good sign.

Are you treating it with anything? If not, I do worry about keeping rhinos in a bare tank, it just adds to their stress.

Jay

Apologies for late reply, just had a rather hectic week.

I believe it was a test kit malfunction, for my Redsea Ammonia. I've now purchased a Hanna, to go with my collection. The Seachem badge worried me a little and I learnt about hard lesson, they are not to be trusted really.

I took a decisive decision that leaving my Rhino in this unstable and stressful environment would result in his demise. I wasn't treating for anything and it was for observation purposes. I took the QT down to 1.014 sg in one day and then down to 1.009 to match the hypo DT and transfered him.

So the latest is that he is doing incredibly well, red gill inflammation is still present but subsiding, he's very calm and sits waving next to the leaf fish on the sandbed most of the time. To help himself with the shedding he did perch himself on top of a wavemaker for an hour which was rather amusing to watch. I am aware that overfeeding these guys will also result in their demise so devised Monday and Thursday for feedings. I use 1 medium sized gutloaded vitamin infused Molly each time and he doesn't even give it a second thought - by far the most aggressive feeder in my tank so far, no hesitation.

Due to hypo and limited skimming Nitrates are a little high at 35 but weekly water changes are helping control things and in a weeks time my DT will be slowly coming out of it.

So all in all a success hopefully.

 

[sawrip]

Ammonia! the silent killer. Glad you caught it, he has seemed like he was doing very well. The shedding is normal, and him eating is a good sign. The laying on the side thing is not normal, and I suspect it was because of the ammonia,

So lets understand, was the tank properly cycled and does it have adequate filtration. Be careful not to feed too often and remove any food that dies. The rhino also poops like a dog, so if you see a turd, just siphon it up before it starts to break down.

I'm excited that you got one in good condition, eating well, and seemingly acclimating well. So let's not have an ammonia casualty

Ammonia! the silent killer. Glad you caught it, he has seemed like he was doing very well. The shedding is normal, and him eating is a good sign. The laying on the side thing is not normal, and I suspect it was because of the ammonia,

So lets understand, was the tank properly cycled and does it have adequate filtration. Be careful not to feed too often and remove any food that dies. The rhino also poops like a dog, so if you see a turd, just siphon it up before it starts to break down.

I'm excited that you got one in good condition, eating well, and seemingly acclimating well. So let's not have an ammonia casualty.

Now he's in the stable DT there is no laying on his side and his appetite is ravenous, he hops around the rockwork when hungry, I feed twice a week, currently 1 molly each time.

So reflecting on things I do believe the internal power filter (Fluval U2) couldnt cope with the bioload. I did try to hoover up poop and use Seachem stability / Amlock but it just creeped up, combined with a false readings on test kits.

Seems very happy in the DT with the Lions and other Scorps, I've made a little more sandbed space for him by moving a small amount of live rock into the sump.

My only concern at present is Nitrates at 35 but regular water changes should hopefully continue to reduce these.