Yellow assessor can't swim

GHsaltie · Mar 25, 2017

I just picked up a yellow assessor yesterday and once I started floating him I noticed that he can't really swim. He tries really hard but can't really get off the bottom. I did not observe him before purchase, I thought I knew better but I guess my excitement overruled logical judgement. I'm kind of at a loss with this one, is there anything I can do for him or is it a wait and see game? What could have caused this, an injury? Been waiting weeks for this fish and now its having problems out of the bag

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@Humblefish @melypr1985 @Brew12

Blueseatex · Mar 25, 2017

You tagged the correct people. I would keep an eye on him, but ime it's probably fine. Mine swims upside down 75% of the time. This is normal for this fish. They love cliff overhangs and caves and will swim sideways, upside down. I personally think they don't like bright light. The only time he is right side up is when the lights are off. Fun little fish imo.

GHsaltie · Mar 25, 2017

That's why I wanted one of these fish, I love their quirky behaviors. What worries me though is that he appears to be "struggling" to swim.

Blueseatex · Mar 25, 2017

or he just don't want to come out of the pvc pipe. Have you tried killing the light?

sc50964 · Mar 25, 2017

He is breathing a bit hard. Have you checked the ammonia level?

Blueseatex · Mar 25, 2017

He's stressed as most fish are when thrown into a small tank with pvc pipe. If you can lower flow a little, turn light off, stick in a ammonia alert badge and observe. Basslets are pretty hardy.

GHsaltie · Mar 25, 2017

Blueseatex said:
or he just don't want to come out of the pvc pipe. Have you tried killing the light?

He switches between hiding in the pipe and tucking underneath it, so it makes me feel better that he at least moves around. I actually don't have a light on the QT, it's in front of a window though so I will close the blinds and maybe put a sheet around the tank.

sc50964 said:
He is breathing a bit hard. Have you checked the ammonia level?

Ammonia is zero, the only thing in there aside from him is a half inch goby so not much bio load to worry about. I am going to do a freshwater dip later today when I get back home so I can rule out flukes. Normally I do that before the fish goes into QT but for some reason I've done everything wrong with this one.

Humblefish · Mar 25, 2017

As mentioned above, what you are seeing is not that unusual for this species. In nature, they often swim upside down, or hug closely to a cave or under a ledge like a bat would.

My only concern right now is whether this is an ORA or wild caught Basslet? If the latter then there could be a problem, as these are deep water fish and often not decompressed properly when collected. That can lead to a gas bubble forming in the swim bladder, which is what happened to this Black Cap: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/venting-a-swim-bladder-black-cap-basslet.219954/

GHsaltie · Mar 25, 2017

It's an ORA fish, I made certain to get a captive bred one so at to avoid decompression issues. So you agree that, as of right now, he's just stressed and fooling with me?

Humblefish · Mar 25, 2017

GHsaltie said:
It's an ORA fish, I made certain to get a captive bred one so at to avoid decompression issues. So you agree that, as of right now, he's just stressed and fooling with me?

Yes; I would remove all light sources and let him just chill for awhile.

GHsaltie · Mar 25, 2017

Ok thank you, hat makes me feel better. Do you think I should risk a freshwater dip at this point or not chance the stress?

Shep · Mar 25, 2017

I have one and while they are weird little fish, that does look a little bit out of the ordinary for them. I agree that right now your best bet would be to reduce its stress as much as possible

Humblefish · Mar 25, 2017

GHsaltie said:
Ok thank you, hat makes me feel better. Do you think I should risk a freshwater dip at this point or not chance the stress?

I think I'd give him a day or so to settle in first. Did you get him direct from ORA or was he in a tank when you bought him?

melypr1985 · Mar 25, 2017

I would certainly do the things suggested here. It does seem a bit odd, but they are pretty odd fish. Lower stress and wait and see.

GHsaltie · Mar 25, 2017

Humblefish said:
I think I'd give him a day or so to settle in first. Did you get him direct from ORA or was he in a tank when you bought him?

He was in a tank for about 8 hours before I got him, hiding in a rock the entire time from what I'm aware of. I covered the QT with a towel however I did spot a yellow blur dart into the pipe before I got close so that's makes me more hopeful.

Humblefish · Mar 25, 2017

GHsaltie said:
He was in a tank for about 8 hours before I got him, hiding in a rock the entire time from what I'm aware of. I covered the QT with a towel however I did spot a yellow blur dart into the pipe before I got close so that's makes me more hopeful.

Make sure the tank can "breathe" through the towel.

GHsaltie · Apr 1, 2017

Well I guess he was just foolin with me as he's doing perfectly fine now, already exhibiting the upside down swimming abilities

. He did have me worried though because he hadn't eaten until last night. I'm still going to keep the towel around the tank until he gets more comfy. Thanks everyone for the advice!