What's wrong with my fish in QT?

[starypotter]

Hi everyone,
I have my first fish in a 10 gal QT, a neon goby, a kaudern's cardinal, and two clownfish. I used to have a YWG but he died, I think I starved it but I didn't see him after he passed, my mom took care of flushing him for me.

Clownfish entered QT on June 24. Goby and cardinal entered on July 4th. YWG died... maybe two weeks ago? I didn't take note of the exact date. I know for a fact that LFS where I got these run a low dose of copper, employee told me but I don't know anything more specific than that.

I haven't been consistently observing them because I've been building my main tank that they're going in but I've been watching from a far and their behavior all seemed in check. Clowns like to hover around a little submarine I have in there, neon kinda wanders, and cardinal likes to stay in one corner and is very skittish, but I've always put that off to him being in too small of a tank since LA says they should have a 30 gal. The clowns and neon all move about much more freely than the cardinal but he does come out for feeding then darts back to his corner.

Today I started watching them, wanting to move on to TTM since my DT is ready and I noticed some things that are concerning to me. Neon goby is red around his throat and gills, it almost looks like it might be just seeing through the scales like how you can see the throat and stomach of a ghost shrimp but it's not quite that clear. It just doesn't seem like it's on the outside so maybe it's just how he looks and I never really took notice, I'm probably just being a worry wart about him since google seems to show it too. I also am not sure if he's breathing heavy, I don't really have a baseline for what breathing normally is. I'll upload a video after this.

Clown is a lot more concerning. The small clown has what looks like an injury of some sort fo his right gill. His behavior looks to be okay, none of the fish seem to be flashing, but both clowns do tend to rub up against the submarine like it's an anemone but it's slower and more casual, it's not urgent. I think they're just very attached to the submarine.

I'm working on getting my parameters now. I also just looked at pictures of a neon goby to see if that's what they're supposed to look like and I do think mine might be a bit thin so I'll be working on feeding them more.

 

[starypotter]

 

[scobeyra]

Have you been checking on water parameters? Have you tested for ammonia ? Could definitely cause some of these symptoms.

 

[starypotter]

 

[starypotter]

They got all fresh water a couple days ago and I dosed prime. Maybe my understanding of how prime works is off. I’ll check that right away and I’m making fresh water already if there is an issue.

 

[Bkimberlin14]

What are your parameters?

Looks like ammonia poisoning IMO

 

[Nopy117]

They got all fresh water a couple days ago and I dosed prime. Maybe my understanding of how prime works is off. I’ll check that right away and I’m making fresh water already if there is an issue.

Prime will only detoxify the ammonia for 24 hours, did you use anything to cycle this QT, Bottled bacteria? Established media from a display?

 

[sergifed91]

all new fish I do a fw dip. if anything jumps off. I start with prizoPro and qt them for flukes. this last time around I started off with ich-x thinking ich 3 weeks into it. I started noticing what looked like symptoms that the ich-x wasn't working did another fw dip and flukes it was. been treating my last 2 for flukes and just lost 1. caught it early enough for the last fish and in 3 days already doing a fw dip every day. might be over kill but 5 minutes a day everyday a few jump off every time. did notice white stuff on the bottom of my qt tank this morning. has to be fluke eggs. not good at all... so moving it to a bucket tonight and gonna do a mild bleach solution and rinse it out good out side.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Look like pretty normal behaviors, but do not like the pink on the clown. Strange. I would get an ammonia badge (seachem). Good way to keep eye on ammonia.

 

[starypotter]

Prime will only detoxify the ammonia for 24 hours, did you use anything to cycle this QT, Bottled bacteria? Established media from a display?

Hmph nowhere on the prime bottle does it say it only works for a certain amount of time. I dosed prime, and I used bottled bacteria poured on the filter media. And since this wasn’t an official Tank Transfer and just a transfer since it was in a bad place I used the same heater, thermometer, and pvc, I just rinsed the one pvc and the submarine but no chemicals and no scrubbing.

 

[starypotter]

Look like pretty normal behaviors, but do not like the pink on the clown. Strange. I would get an ammonia badge (seachem). Good way to keep eye on ammonia.

I’ll be getting one after this for sure

 

[Nopy117]

From a Seachem employee: "Prime will bind ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for 24-48 hours. At which point, if they are still present, will be released. Of course, we are more concerned with ammonia and nitrites, rather than nitrates"

https://www.seachem.com/support/forums/forum/general-discussion/1803-prime-questions

 

[starypotter]

Ammonia is reading .5 ppm with my api test kit which always reads .25 on a fully cycled tank. I just dosed a double portion of prime, bottle says you can do up to 5 times. I’ll give it a little time and check again.
I’m looking up pictures of ammonia poisoning and it doesn’t seem to be it. The clown has what looks like a bite taken from it. It’s slightly indented like some is missing. And if it was ammonia poisoning wouldn’t it be bothering the others is well? Or his other side for that matter even if it was just the little one because of the size?

 

[starypotter]

Does anyone else have any more input on that clown with the bite missing? I'd rather find out something early so I can go to the store and get something if I need.

 

[starypotter]

So upon taking another look at the fish, it seems almost like his right gill is almost further away from the body? On the other clown fish I can't really 'see' the gills. On the smaller one, the left side looks normal just like the other clownfish, but the first side it almost looks like someone took a knife and widened it. Part of the black stripe is missing, and the gill seems to be pulled away from the body a bit and goes down to the under side of the fish. I was looking through @Humblefish 's diseases 101 and while I do acknowledge that there might be high ammonia in the tank, I think that this isn't it because it is exclusively affecting the singular gill on one of four fish. And I think the coloration on the neon goby is just the coloration since it does seem to match several of the pictures of them online. The disease 101 also mentions that flukes could cause damage to the gills so I'm going to try a freshwater dip and see if anything comes off.

 

[starypotter]

Well the good news is that it's not flukes. The bad news the FW dip didn't give me an answer. The most stressful five minutes ever... for me or the fish I'm not quite sure. Little clown didn't like it and is glad to be back with the rest. On with the search.

 

[Big G]

From Humblefish's Treatment Plan:

Malachite Green/Methylene Blue: Treats ammonia burn, cuts, injuries.

How To Treat - Comes in both liquid and powder form, sometimes mixed in with another medication(s). So, follow the directions on the label. Best used as a 30 minute bath solution, but you also can treat with it in a quarantine tank. Aerate heavily. If you are using it in a bath solution, then it is also a good idea to treat the fish with nitrofurazone (active ingredient found in Furan-2 and Nitrofuracin Green Powder) once he is returned to the quarantine tank. Nitrofurazone is great for treating open wounds or sores.

Pros - Highly effective.

Cons/Side Effects - Depletes oxygen from the water. Malachite Green is considered “harsher” on fish than Methylene Blue.

 

[4FordFamily]

If you haven’t used any Dr Tim’s or Biospira (Bactria in a bottle) I would invest in some yesterday. A newly set up tank uncycled will always need a kickstart. You’ll need a HOB filter with some sort of “sponge” material for the bacteria to colonize. As previously mentioned, I would snag the ammonia alert badge by seachem to monitor ammonia. If it’s anything other than green, giant water change and more bacteria in a bottle.

 

[starypotter]

If you haven’t used any Dr Tim’s or Biospira (Bactria in a bottle) I would invest in some yesterday. A newly set up tank uncycled will always need a kickstart. You’ll need a HOB filter with some sort of “sponge” material for the bacteria to colonize. As previously mentioned, I would snag the ammonia alert badge by seachem to monitor ammonia. If it’s anything other than green, giant water change and more bacteria in a bottle.

I have already used bacteria in a bottle on the filter media and the ammonia reading isn't too high. It's not ammonia burn. I'm watching the tank carefully to see if it was bullying or something else and will be treating with an antibiotic tomorrow to avoid infection in the cut.

 

[4FordFamily]

I have already used bacteria in a bottle on the filter media and the ammonia reading isn't too high. It's not ammonia burn. I'm watching the tank carefully to see if it was bullying or something else and will be treating with an antibiotic tomorrow to avoid infection in the cut.

Ammonia should be zero. If any is present you need an immediate large water change. Trace ammonia is deadly.