My clow lays around and is doing heavy breathing exercises.

[backstab]

I have a 55gal newbie reef setup and just added some Mushrooms and what looks like some type of white/flourecent green bubble thing. (People at the lfs had no clue as to what it could be).
Yesterday when I came home i noticed that two of the mushrooms were gone. I suspected my notoriously agressive 3" Hermit Crab who has killed his buddy and the Anenome Crab. (

[hr]
). So I put him in my Hospital tank with a porqupine puffer. Hopefully he'll find his place in the food chain.(Kidding)
Anyway, now my Perc. is laying at the bottom of the tank in his usual "sleepy spot" all day and refuses to eat and looks like he is breathing really hard. There are no visible sighns of trauma, infection, or parasite. Parameters are excellent. I have access to a GFFA so I can test to the PPB. It's a long shot Beth but I was hoping you might be able give me some ideas???
Thank in advance.
Nick

 

[rockcod5]

From my experience his is on his last leg. Nothing you can do.

 

[backstab]

Thaks for the positive outlook. In situations like this I like to stay a little optomistic and its only been a few hours since syptoms appeared anyway. "The death by no reason, reason" isn't going to fly untill every Ave has been exhausted. Thank you for the input tho, some is better than none.
Do you have a clue as to the why? He's young and has shown no sighn of problems till' now. Something has changed, and the only catalyst I can think of is the LR.

 

[beth]

Do post your parameters or read them yourself just to confirm that there are no issues on that front.
What other fish are in are in the tank? Any aggression going on? Do you have a tang, by chance?
How long have you had the clown?
Please use a magnifying glass and give the clown a thorogh look over to see if you can detect any problems.

 

[backstab]

I just double-checked the parameters. I found the salinity/Spec. Grav. to be high, about 1. out. I corrected the problem yesterday and he seems to be in a better mood this morning, although he still refuses to eat. He'll take a bite and proptly spit it out. I coaxed him with dry, frozen food, and Blood Worms. No luck yet probly too stressed. we'll see.
Tankmates are his wife, Serpent and chocolate star fish, two turbo snails, three small hermits, and various mushrooms. Absolutely no Tangs. I'm just not the Tang type of guy.
I've had them for 6 months now and won't leave each others side.
Per your request I used the magnifying glass and found only a slight blemish on his skin directly below his top fin. It looks to be light brown in color, so light colored in fact that I had to have my GF come and assure me that I wasn't just seeing things. His fins show no signs of deterioration or trauma. Could this be the onset of something more serious??
Thanks for all the help Beth.
Nick

 

[beth]

What is your pH and temperature? Have you tried offering frozen brine? Not very nutritious, but will usually be accepted by most fish.

 

[rockcod5]

People have to realize that saltwater fish are meant to be in the ocean where everything is natural and even in an aquarium we can't create what the ocean has to offer. So when you are in this hobby fish are going to do things that are unexplainable and die. We can diagnose things but once a fish is breathing heavy and not moving around you can't do CPR on him. It may sound mean but that's what happens in nature and then they become apart of the food chain. Hopefully your fish will stay alive, but not much can be done from my experience as a marine biologist. Get used to it in this hobby, hopefully you will find better luck with other fish. Some will live forever in an aqarium and others will die quick.

 

[backstab]

Beth,
pH is 8.2 Now, before adding the DI water it was slightly elevated, 8.3-8.35. I'll pick McDonalds up on the way home for him. Although I'd rather like for him to eat healthy. Some is better than none I guess. Thanks for the advise.
Rock,
I agree with you to a point. When we remove these little guys from their homes we take on a huge responsibility. WE are the the solely responsible for them. My attitude is not the "O-well" approach, it's more of the why, and how to prevent it in the future. There is always a reason, there is NO unexplainable cause. Being a biologist you should know this.
I can live with the fact that things do die in this hobby but isn't it our responsibility for future hobbyists to find out the why and do all we can to protect and ensure the well being of future fishes??

 

[rockcod5]

yes, I'm glad you understand that. Anything can happen even futhering the life of a fish. MAybe if he wasn't in our aquariums he would be a victim of the food chain in the real ocean.

 

[backstab]

from my experience as a marine biologist. [/B]

From looking at your other posts I'm not realy sure about this.....
You wouldn't be teasing us now would you??
:notsure:

 

[beth]

rock, being a marine biologist doesn't have a whole to do with being an aquarist....otherwise, you'd know that a flame angel in a reef tank is risky business. See my point?