Another sick fish

[murgus]

I initially posted this in the Ottawa Inverts section but it probably should be here...

I recently (10 dags ago) got a 6 Line Wrasse and everything was looking good.  He was eating pods and cyclopeaze, darting in and out of the rocks, basically living life large.  But now the little guy is not looking good.  He stopped swimming last night and holed up in the rockwork.  This morning I was able to catch him with my bare hands!  It took Pat 45 minutes to catch him 10 days ago!

He is currently in an emergency hospital setup (bucket, heater and PH) but it doesn't look good.  There are no outward signs of stress or injury.  Any suggestions?

I have a common clown and a pajama cardinal that are 100% normal.  In fact, there have been a lot of mysterious deaths of fish in the tank but the clown and cardinal are never affected.  Very weird.  I do not have test kits but will be taking a water sample to BA-Kanata this afternoon to ask them to check it out.

Thanks,
Andrew

[murgus]

Water was tested at BA this afternoon.  Everything is "normal" according to the fishroom guys.  The only numbers I remember were:

salinity: 1.024
kH: 14

I am stumped as to what might have happened to the 6 line...

Andrew

[Tyler.L]

sometimes its nothing that we can test that effects them...it could be millions of things that we'll never know, that causes them to become sick or whatnot....hes still alive..and if hes still eating you can't give up hope if hes nto eating get some garlic to entice the feeding

but for what it could be...i have not a clue

[Lucky]

Andrew,

"In fact, there have been a lot of mysterious deaths of fish in the tank" and then you state "I do not have test kits".

Please purchase the required test kits, you'll save money in the long run by not losing fish. How do you monitor water quality / test for the proper salinity for water changes (always at BA's)?

QT everything wet and acclimate accordingly.

C

[murgus]

sometimes its nothing that we can test that effects them...it could be millions of things that we'll never know, that causes them to become sick or whatnot....hes still alive..and if hes still eating you can't give up hope if hes nto eating get some garlic to entice the feeding

but for what it could be...i have not a clue

Tyler.L - thanks, that's what I am thinking, there is something in my well water that is not good for the fish but does not show up in any of the standard tests.  The 6 line is still alive this morning but does not seem to be eating.  He is more upright now so I will keep at it. 

I got some RO water today which I will use to do a few small water changes over the next few days to see if things improve.  Along with the 6 line, my xenia is not happy so I will use that as the gauge to see if the RO water is having any effect.

Thanks,
Andrew

[murgus]

Please purchase the required test kits, you'll save money in the long run by not losing fish. How do you monitor water quality / test for the proper salinity for water changes (always at BA's)?

To be honest, I personally do not see the value of testing the water all the time.  The couple of times I have had it tested after a death or two it is always "fine".  I do however have a hydrometer to test salinity when doing whatever changes.

QT everything wet and acclimate accordingly.

This is not feasible for me due to a myriad of reasons.  That is why I try to always buy from reputable sources. 

Thank you for your help.

Andrew

[Tyler.L]

just don't worry it'll probably pull through...but definatly use the ro water it'll make a large difference and get the garlic to entice the feeding..alot of people on RC says it works i haven't had to use it but formula 1 and 2 both have some garlic in it

[porcupinepuffer]

He's right on the garlic. I'd really look into getting an RO/DI unit, or atleast a DI cartridge going... You don't even need to buy a giant RO/DI system with multiple stages right away. You can start with a couple basic stages, and then add other stages of filtration when you can afford more. Not only for your fish, but for your health aswell, it's better to know lead and many other contaminants don't make it to your mouth. I'm curious what the phosphates tests were, and what amount of copper is present in the water... Some people do just fine with their ordinary well water, but others can have impurities in the water that will kill livestock pretty fast. Onething I know for sure, is when I have a fish that doesn't want to eat, it dies on me within a day. And you say your pusling xenia isn't looking good? these are very tough normally, there must be something out to lunch. How old is your house?

[Tyler.L]

xenia also likes phosphates... so maybe your phosphates are dropping and alot of other factors taking place.....how large is the tank...i have a 12 and i am just using bottled culligan water...its cheap and quick, ro/di when you get a larger tank going..for sure but if its small..just use that

[FishPassion]

This may or may not apply to you but it is something that I keep in mind ALWAYS.
We buy livestock be it fw or sw it comes lets say from a store, this animal from the day it has been caught has been stored in a container of sorts, shipped from it original carribean starting point, been unpacked and rehandled thru various wholesalers transhippers, may or may not have been exposed to whatever elements onsome runway for who knows how long brought in to our favourite seller and again dropped into a new environment and kept there for how long we dont know. These animals go through a VERY stressfull trip and end up in our glass boxes and we expect them to adapt and eat what we feed them. Long story short how do we know what they have been thru and what there "real" environment was we only do our very best to accomodate them and make them as comfortable as we can.

[kennyman]

I find that a single stock of Xenia, especially the elongated variety, does not live very long. It seems to need to make colonies to renew itself. There is an article on garf about it if you feel like checking it out. So don't worry too much about lumping Xenia troubles in with why you are loosing fish. They may not be connected at all.

[murgus]

Update:

The 6 line is still alive in my modified hospital tank.  Not swimming 100% upright but much more movement.  He hasn't eaten that I can tell - I keep offering it but I seem to be siphoning out as much as I put in.

I'm not too worried about the xenia - I have a lot!  It just seems to have had an adverse reaction at the same time as the sick fish.

Thanks everyone!
Andrew

[murgus]

Latest update:

The 6 line is back in the main tank and seems to be fine.  His behaviour has changed a bit in that he is not as free swimming and darting around as much as when he was first introduced to the tank.  But in all other respects he seems to be normal

He also seems to like cyclopeeze granules (as do the rest of the inhabitants) but no one seems to like the Ocean Nutrition Formula One.  Can anyone recommend some other "everydayish" food for a 6 line, clown and cardinal?

Thanks,
Andrew

[murgus]

Just wanted to add that about the same time the 6 line started to become lethargic I upgraded one of my powerheads from an Aquaclear 20/Powerhead 201 to a Hydor Koralia which meant I went from ~13x flow to ~27x flow. 

Could that have caused some problems?  Maybe the 6 line just got tired out? 

Thanks,
Andrew