Firefish Behavior

[lefty]

Is it normal for a firefish to swim with his body skimming along the top of the sand? He has always hung out at the bottom of the tank, but I have not seen him do this before today and am not sure if it's something firefish do or if there's something (else) wrong with him. I don't think he'd be doing it because of the ich, but I could be wrong. He's been in hypo for seven days so far. Speaking of which, does anyone know how long it takes for all the white spots to disappear? All of them are gone except for a few on two of his fins.
Thanks in advance!
-lefty

 

[lefty]

:happyfish Bump :happyfish

 

[lefty]

One more bump

 

[wax32]

Sick fish do all kinds of things. I think ich treatments are suggested to run for at least a couple weeks due to the gestation time of the parasites or something, so I would figure on treating him at least that long.

 

[mudplayerx]

Is he constantly rubbing across the sand or is he intermittantly rubbing across the sand? When fish have ich, they tend to quickly, flick passed objects like sand or rocks to relieve the itching.
Just follow the directions on the medication and don't use carbon filter media or any resins while you medicate and he should be fine.

 

[lefty]

I plan on keeping him in the QT for at least four weeks.
Mudplayerx, he's pretty much always got his underside grazing the bottom of the tank. It reminds me of a lawnmower blenny. It's almost as if he doesn't feel like using his tail to swim up higher in the water. He can though. I stuck my hand in the tank to see how he reacted, and he swam up a little, but once I removed it he went back down to the bottom. He doesn't flick around unless something scares him.
I took the carbon out of the filter as soon as I began using the meds. I have also been following Terry B's dosing advice, which is to use double the dose recommended on the box. He says that they don't make this medication strong enough for saltwater fish.
Thanks for the replies!
-lefty

 

[mudplayerx]

You aren't using freshwater meds on saltwater fish are you? This is a tremendous no no!
As far as the fish rubbing its belly on the sand continuously, this could be a problem as well. In your next QT tank you will probably want to get rid of all the decorations and sand.

 

[lefty]

Actually, Terry B said that the Maracyn-Two made for saltwater fish was not made strong enough. He also said that in the event that you could not get saltwater Maracyn-Two, it is just fine to use the freshwater version. The only difference is the addition of a B vitamin in the saltwater version.
Where did I say I had decorations in the tank? I have a piece of PVC pipe and a very small amount of sand. I read somewhere that it would help keep the tank from going into a cycle. There's maybe a fourth of a cup's worth in there altogether.
I would like to know for sure if his swimming behavior is normal for firefish or at least for the condition he's in. If you're telling me this "could be a problem", I would appreciate knowing why.
-lefty

 

[knots]

That sounds pretty normal for a fish not feeling well. My firefish doesn't swim along the bottom, but he is not very active either. He just kind of sits there and watches everything goin on outside the tank. If he gets scared he can move fast but usually he just hangs out and waits to be fed. Yours has been sick for more than a week. Does he seem like he's getting better. Also I wonder if medicine can make him a little lethargic, kind of like it does to some people.

 

[lefty]

I'm worried sick about this fish. At one time, his stomach was bloated and it wasn't getting better. That's why I started administering the Maracyn-Two. He originally had a few white spots on the dark red of his tail (this was before he was even put into the QT). Right then I knew I'd be doing hypo. The M2 took care of the bloating, but what makes me so worried is the fact that I don't know if he's getting better or worse or if he's sick with something else that I'm not treating. The only thing I know for sure right now is he's not eating. He seems fairly active and is constantly moving. This makes it hard for me to tell if there's something else wrong with him or not. I don't see any heavy, rapid breathing. The inside of his gills look a bit shiny, and I was worried at first that he might be excreting excess mucus (which can happen for a variety of reasons). At another point I thought his gills looked a little swollen, but I have since convinced myself that isn't so (I also thought I saw white around his mouth, but I honestly think I'm starting to see things out of worry). If he would just hold still for a good few seconds I could snap a decent picture or at least get a good look at him to tell whether or not he even has these things. Another big concern is the presence of white spots on his two side fins. There aren't white spots anywhere else on him right now, so I'm not sure if those are even ich. A possibility is they might be sand. There are other diseases that can give a fish white spots, so that also has me worried. I don't think he has Brooklynella or Velvet, as people say the fish that have one of those diseases dies very quickly. I've had him for 11 days so I hope I'm out of the woods there. There's just so many diseases a fish can have, and many of them share the same symptoms. He's not eating and he's not nearly as active as he was when I first got him (hopefully due to the meds). I figure he's under enough stress as it is right now, so I don't want to do any dips or anything. I just hope the M2 and hypo will take care of whatever he has and that he'll make it. :happyfish
-lefty