listless royal gramma

[phun]

Hello. I have had a royal gramma in my mixed reef/fish tank for 8 months. Started staying mostly hidden about 3 months ago--after I added an anemone) and she came out only to eat. Perhaps a month ago, she started eating less. 5 days ago she started staying in the open, bottom of the tank, breathing slowly, not eating at all. Not, apparently defenseless, but just hanging out listless. Certainly not breathing fast. If I use my imagination I maybe see some grayish coloring behind her eyer on her head. But it's not impressive, and I can see nothing else wrong. She doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Nobody else seems to be bothering her much. I have never seen oodinium, and my pictures aren't terribly helpful, despite all the books I have. My questions are
1. what' the chance this is oodinium. no salty bumps, but that sorta gray color, maybe??
2. I set up my Q tank and stuck my main tank sponge filter into the Q system to get it cycled. Should I put the Gramma in it? Should I watch in Main tank, treat with copper (in QT)?
Should I have bought a UV system long ago.
Relevant tank info follows.
No new additions in 3 months. trickel filter, Undergravel, protein skimmer.
55 gallon tank, temp 78, SG 1.022 pH 8.0, alkalinity 6, NH3 0, NO2- 0, NO3- 6, Ca++ 400; five other small fish, plus a 4" yellow tang, all fine. Inverts: 1 anemone, polyps, tube worms, shrimp, snails, crabs). about 70 pounds of live rock covered with coraline. No problem algae, water changes 20-25% every 10-14 days, always. BTW, a bunch of brineshrimp seem to have spontaneously taken root in my sponge filter. That's new to me, although I'm pretty new to this hobby (10 months).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much

 

[beth]

This is not ick or velvet. And, of course, even if it was, you could not treat your main tank with any medications, but especially not copper.
Yes, I would remove the sick fish from the main tank and place it in a QT. I don't know that I can help you with the problem, as I have experienced this myself, and have had little luck in determining the problem of these "listless" fish. It sounds like the problem has really gone on too long anyway. Perhaps isolation in the QT will help. Keep good water conditions. Feed the fish a good variety of foods, if it is still eating, with a good vit. supplement like Zoe or Zoecon.
You might want to look around the gill areas with a magnifying glass to see if you can see swollen or reddening gills.
Sometimes, fish just do this, and basically just waste way.