Sick Exquisite Firefish

[EverestFalls]

My firefish has been in my tank for about a month and a half. The last few days here though it’s been staying in it’s sleeping hole a lot, doesn’t seem to be very good motivated, and sleeps with its head down as far into the whole as it can be.

Some history of my tank:
-on Monday (January 4th) I discovered my Royal Gramma had died in the quarantine tank. The best guess we had was ich.

- on Wednesday (January 6th) I watched as one of my bangai Cardinals had a stroke or something. It was breathing heavily, couldn’t stay up properly, and ended up dying in less then 2 hours from start to finish. I have no idea what killed it.

I’d really like to try and save my firefish if something is wrong. Or even just to know that this is pretty common behaviour.

And I’ve been treating my tank with a stress guard, an ich medication and probiotics. I don’t have any coral yet so if anyone has any advice you don’t have to worry about that.

 

[Rubymoon286]

What is your feeding schedule/what do you feed? Has it been eating? It looks pretty thin, so it may be worth trying to target feed it or change up what you're feeding.

 

[EverestFalls]

What is your feeding schedule/what do you feed? Has it been eating? It looks pretty thin, so it may be worth trying to target feed it or change up what you're feeding.

I feed my tank (2 bullethole clown, Cardinal, and firefish) every day with a mix of cut up krill and mysis shrimp. Up until a few days ago it would almost gluten itself on food. That’s why I’m worried. It doesn’t seem to eat as much.

I’ve read on other forums that a firefish, once comfortable may not come out of its hole very often, and can actually be rather “boring”.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Need to know basics like water parameters, how long tank has been set up etc.

 

[EverestFalls]

I first started my tank in mid November. I usually keep the temp around 77-78, but was advised to raise it to kill the potential ich faster so it’s been sitting around 82.

The tank is a 32.5 fluval flex.
The last tests I did:
Temp: 82.6
Ph: 8.0
Salinity: 1.024

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

What is the ich medication that you used?

Raising the temperature is the wrong thing to do with marine ich, that is old advice that people used on freshwater ich. 82 degrees is actually the favored temperature for marine ich, this will just speed up the life cycle. That said, if the firefish had ich, you would see spots on it.

Jay

 

[EverestFalls]

What is the ich medication that you used?

Raising the temperature is the wrong thing to do with marine ich, that is old advice that people used on freshwater ich. 82 degrees is actually the favored temperature for marine ich, this will just speed up the life cycle. That said, if the firefish had ich, you would see spots on it.

Jay

I’ve been keeping a close eye on all my fish since the gramma, and none showcase any signs of ich.