txstudent
New Member
Hey guys & gals,
Im really worried, my blue hippo tang just died. It's operculum(flap covering the gills) was moving really fast, so im guessing it was having respiratory problems, and eventually just died. It had a discoloration starting from its anus moving into the body that was lighter in color from the rest of it.
I am now noticing that my foxface rabbit fish is breathing really hard just like my hippo tang did b4 it died. Also my red damsel is doing the same thing. However, my rose bubble tip anemone is not shriveled up, and my maroon clownfish seems to be doing fine as well. The dragonet i think is okay, however i used to have 2 and havnt seen the other one in awhile. I also havnt seen my (bright red shrimp) cant remember what its called, flame shrimp??? The brittle star i think is okay, it never moves during the day neway.
So , the salinity was a little high so i added tap water ( i know its heavy in metals and should never be done, but the anemone was shrunken up and the blue hippo was breathin really hard , so it was an emergency decision.
Also, the ph was a little low, so i added ph marine reef buffer, (8.3), so the ph is 8.3.
MY DIAGNOSIS SO FAR
-i didnt mix the ph buffer, and maybe the fish ate it thinking it was food
- salinity changes stressed the fish out ( but doesnt explain why the other two are breathing hard)
-Perhaps the algae, floating in the water got stuck in the gills, preventing intake of water/oxygen???? It was a red slime algae, and i cleaned it off the glass sides before all this happened.
- the misisng dragonet, and shrimp are dead somewhere i cant see and causing weird levels in nitrogen cycle?? or perhaps bacterial infection?
- or my snails have parasitic larvae that encyst on the gills of my fish??
HELP??? im out of ideas and what to do, i really dont want to lose more fish!!!!
Im really worried, my blue hippo tang just died. It's operculum(flap covering the gills) was moving really fast, so im guessing it was having respiratory problems, and eventually just died. It had a discoloration starting from its anus moving into the body that was lighter in color from the rest of it.
I am now noticing that my foxface rabbit fish is breathing really hard just like my hippo tang did b4 it died. Also my red damsel is doing the same thing. However, my rose bubble tip anemone is not shriveled up, and my maroon clownfish seems to be doing fine as well. The dragonet i think is okay, however i used to have 2 and havnt seen the other one in awhile. I also havnt seen my (bright red shrimp) cant remember what its called, flame shrimp??? The brittle star i think is okay, it never moves during the day neway.
So , the salinity was a little high so i added tap water ( i know its heavy in metals and should never be done, but the anemone was shrunken up and the blue hippo was breathin really hard , so it was an emergency decision.
Also, the ph was a little low, so i added ph marine reef buffer, (8.3), so the ph is 8.3.
MY DIAGNOSIS SO FAR
-i didnt mix the ph buffer, and maybe the fish ate it thinking it was food
- salinity changes stressed the fish out ( but doesnt explain why the other two are breathing hard)
-Perhaps the algae, floating in the water got stuck in the gills, preventing intake of water/oxygen???? It was a red slime algae, and i cleaned it off the glass sides before all this happened.
- the misisng dragonet, and shrimp are dead somewhere i cant see and causing weird levels in nitrogen cycle?? or perhaps bacterial infection?
- or my snails have parasitic larvae that encyst on the gills of my fish??
HELP??? im out of ideas and what to do, i really dont want to lose more fish!!!!
) with a vacuum cleaner attachment thingy, that i filter the substrate to suck organic matter up in. As i mentioned earlier my substrate is 1/2 and 1/2 , and i always end up with sand in my dirty bucket....... do u just change water only with a sandy bottom not filtering through it?
