Royal gramma diving

Paulmarks · Sep 29, 2016

hes like. Head diving into the sand. Coming up and head diving again.

Earlier when I fed them I noticed he had sand on his face. At first I panicked thinking it was ich. Then it was gone. Guessing he ate sand or something in the sand.

But this diving. Is it a behavior like mating or aggression or something? It's scaring me I cannot deal with an ich infestation right now.

melypr1985 · Sep 29, 2016

When he dives toward the sand, does he then glance off rubbing his side or head on the sand? This is typically a sign that something is bothering him inside of his gills. How long have you had him? What he QT'd?

Paulmarks · Sep 29, 2016

melypr1985 said:
When he dives toward the sand, does he then glance off rubbing his side or head on the sand? This is typically a sign that something is bothering him inside of his gills. How long have you had him? What he QT'd?

I had him a few days. The LFS guy said he quarantines his stuff before he puts it in for sale tanks and he's not rubbing just diving over and over til I went up to the tank then he went in his cave. he's not breathing fast or anything. I can see into the hole with a flash light.

melypr1985 · Sep 29, 2016

Paulmarks said:
I had him a few days. The LFS guy said he quarantines his stuff before he puts it in for sale tanks and he's not rubbing just diving over and over til I went up to the tank then he went in his cave. he's not breathing fast or anything. I can see into the hole with a flash light.

So when he dives toward the sand, he doesn't actually touch it? I'm not trying to knock your LFS guy, but never trust anyone's QT procedures but your own.

Paulmarks · Sep 30, 2016

melypr1985 said:
So when he dives toward the sand, he doesn't actually touch it? I'm not trying to knock your LFS guy, but never trust anyone's QT procedures but your own.

I don't know I saw it from across the room when I got close he hid. I'm thinking of a 3 minute fresh water bath tomorrow just in case. I don't have another tank to isolate him in. Probably buy a small 5 gallon kit and fill it with tank water bare bottom and one of my live rocks. And see what happens.

melypr1985 · Sep 30, 2016

Paulmarks said:
I don't know I saw it from across the room when I got close he hid. I'm thinking of a 3 minute fresh water bath tomorrow just in case. I don't have another tank to isolate him in. Probably buy a small 5 gallon kit and fill it with tank water bare bottom and one of my live rocks. And see what happens.

I've never seen a fish do what your describing and not be glancing off the sand when he does it. The freshwater dip would be a great idea. stretch it to 5 minutes. Put an airstone in there with him and time it. Afterward, if any flukes fall out you'll see little opaque ovals in the bottom of the container. a dark container helps. I have some pictures of what you can expect to see if it's flukes. We want it to be flukes because that's easy to treat in the display. Otherwise, you wait until you see some outward symptoms. You could go ahead and QT, but you might as well get all the fish out and treat at the same time, otherwise he will just get reinfected when he goes back in the display.

mta_morrow · Dec 13, 2016

Paulmarks said:
hes like. Head diving into the sand. Coming up and head diving again.

Earlier when I fed them I noticed he had sand on his face. At first I panicked thinking it was ich. Then it was gone. Guessing he ate sand or something in the sand.

But this diving. Is it a behavior like mating or aggression or something? It's scaring me I cannot deal with an ich infestation right now.

My Gramma has been digging in the sand for over a year. Digging dens, coming up and spitting sand, some of which stays on his face. drives me mad as he spits it everywhere.

only_fins_fans · Mar 24, 2022

melypr1985 said:
When he dives toward the sand, does he then glance off rubbing his side or head on the sand? This is typically a sign that something is bothering him inside of his gills. How long have you had him? What he QT'd?

This is what my Gramma is doing - I'm worried - does this mean I need to do a freshwater dip? I've never done one before ... this is my favorite fish ... any advice welcome. Thank you!