I have a 40 breeder mixed reef that has been setup for over two years. The fish occupants are two ocellaris clownfish, a wheeler goby, an orchid dottyback, and a white spotted filefish. I’ve had the filefish for over 1.5 years. The newest addition is the dottyback which I added 6 months ago.
The filefish has always been the bravest and smartest fish in the tank. Always cruising about and coming to the surface begging for food when I walk up to the tank. He always ate the most food, eating everything he could get his mouth around. I would have to shoo him away from food so the other fish could eat.
About 3 weeks ago his personality completely changed. He suddenly became very shy and showed almost no interest in food. It seemed his vision coordination was impacted because he could no longer catch food accurately with his mouth. He would miss most of the food he tried to eat and he would only come out of hiding if I walked away from the tank which is completely outside his character.
Since this started 3 weeks ago, it has slowly gotten worse. He has very rapid breathing, barely eats, doesn’t swim much, his stomach is sunken in, and one of his eyes is now swollen. His coordination is off and yesterday I saw him accidentally swim into my BTA which stung him. You can tell it hurts as he flinched and looked in pain. Really made me sad.
All of the other fish in the tank are healthy. Below are pictures of the filefish. Any help would be greatly appreciated. In the first picture you can see his sunken stomach. In the second picture you can see his swollen eye. The bottom rim of the eye has white thickness. This fish species naturally has white spots and white frills on its body.
The filefish has always been the bravest and smartest fish in the tank. Always cruising about and coming to the surface begging for food when I walk up to the tank. He always ate the most food, eating everything he could get his mouth around. I would have to shoo him away from food so the other fish could eat.
About 3 weeks ago his personality completely changed. He suddenly became very shy and showed almost no interest in food. It seemed his vision coordination was impacted because he could no longer catch food accurately with his mouth. He would miss most of the food he tried to eat and he would only come out of hiding if I walked away from the tank which is completely outside his character.
Since this started 3 weeks ago, it has slowly gotten worse. He has very rapid breathing, barely eats, doesn’t swim much, his stomach is sunken in, and one of his eyes is now swollen. His coordination is off and yesterday I saw him accidentally swim into my BTA which stung him. You can tell it hurts as he flinched and looked in pain. Really made me sad.
All of the other fish in the tank are healthy. Below are pictures of the filefish. Any help would be greatly appreciated. In the first picture you can see his sunken stomach. In the second picture you can see his swollen eye. The bottom rim of the eye has white thickness. This fish species naturally has white spots and white frills on its body.
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