Royal Gramma

[ne]

Just a quick question about my royal gramma - he has just started doing something weird - he keeps rubbing himself up against the bottom of the sand or on one of the live rocks. He does it really quickly - he's been eating fine and swims around all the time. Is this a normal behavior or is something wrong? Thanks so much.

 

[gwiley]

My gramma did the exact same thing... its really funny to watch. i watched him do that for hours, and finally came up with the conclusion that he was just either trying to get one of those itches, or he was trying to stir up things that were settled at the bottom of the sand bed.

 

[ne]

ok - good - so you think he's ok? It is hilarious to watch him do it and as soon as I turned off the light he stopped and went into his little hole that he sleeps in and went to sleep. He's so funny. I hope he'll be fine!

 

[pho`]

thats maybe a sign of ick. if it is i think you should treat it quickly

 

[joker_ca]

possibly a sign of ich, but my gramma would do the samething once in awhile and he never had ich

 

[slammy16]

I just posted the same thing about a week ago. I thought the worst i thought it was ick. Well he is doing better than ever, always eats good and is fairly active. The only reason i could think of for him doing this was i added some things to my tank that day and i also did some minor cleaning, i think he has a bit of a attitude. Hope yours is doing the same as mine and no ick.
By the way ... has anyone ever seen a royal gramma attack a cleaner shrimp.. Well mine hates my cleaner... i have had to do some minor changes to my tank to make the cleaner prefer the left side instead of the right (where the gramma is). I thought these fish were farily nice.. but, he seems to be a little mean.. he even opens his mouth at my Percula once in a while...

 

[joker_ca]

mine would open its mouth and charge my old CBS when ever he got to close to his cave:happyfish

 

[the claw]

Mine does it everyonce in awhile, and I have never had ICH in my tank. (knock on wood). Everyone is correct that it is a sign of the bug. Its funny when they flair their mouth and kind of come at "you" sideways. I had a dottyback that my gramma loved to tangle with every once in awhile. Nothing like a friendly turf battle. "STAY OUT OF MY CAVE!"

 

[ne]

Hey everyone - Ok I've looked at him this morning and I don't see any white spots on him but he's still doing it this morning. It's like he's trying to wipe something off of himself. How do I know if it's ick? If it is - what do I do for it? Is the LFS even open on a Sunday? I'm all worried now - I don't want my gramma to die!!! This one is pretty passive - he doesn't bother anyone in my tank.

 

[dory36]

NE, my gramma used to do that all the time. He would do that several times a day. It was almost like a tick, you know, like people blinking their eyes or something. I thought he had ich, too, but at the time he didn't. He got ich last week, and believe me, you'll know it. Ich looks a lot like salt. It was everywhere---all over his body, his fins, etc. I think your gramma is probably fine!

 

[ne]

Thanks Dory36 - If he does get ick - what do I do? Is your gramma ok now? If one fish gets ick - do they all get it?

 

[dory36]

We bought a 10 gallon tank, a heater, and a bio-wheel filter. We caught the gramma (it took us 2 hours to catch him!!

) and he's been in there for about a week now. Almost all his spots are gone (we used no medicine), but my husband went out and bought a fish that he's not compatible with, so I don't know what we're going to do with him!!! :notsure: Ich can spread to the other fish, so it's important to get the one out asap. I think my other fish escaped.

 

[ne]

Sometimes I think - What in the world have I gotten myself into? Its alot of work but I do love it - I just worry everytime one of them are acting weird - very expensive hobby!!!:yes:

 

[dory36]

I know exactly what you mean! I've even run home at lunch to check on my "babies" to make sure they're okay!

 

[ne]

Thank God - I'm not the only one that feels that way - people think I'm crazy!! When my puffer died I was SO upset - it was like losing a pet!! Everyone thought I was weird!

 

[dory36]

You should see the bulletin board behind my desk at work---it's loaded with pictures of my fish and tank. My students love to look at them and they always ask me if I have any fish stories to tell!

 

[ne]

Are you a teacher? I taught for eight years, then I had a baby and have decided to stay home.

 

[dory36]

Yes, I teach 7th grade. Next year will be my 15th year! You're lucky that you can stay home...I never had that luxury.
How's your gramma doing? We just took ours back to our lfs and they gave us $8 in store credit. We traded him in on a peppermint shrimp and ended up paying $2!

 

[ne]

Why did ya'll take your gramma back? I just went up to our LFS because I called them and they said they think he may have some sort of parasite so I had to go up there and get some Kent Marine RxP treatment - he said put 3 1/2 capfuls every other day for 13 days.???? I hope they know what they're talking about! They didn't say anything to me about needing to make sure my protein skimmer was working and on the bottle it says to make sure it is on. I guess mine works right - I don't have a clue!!!!
Yes - I feel very lucky to be able to stay home with Landen! I love it - I honestly don't know if I'll ever go back to teaching again - all this no child left behind crap really bugs the you know what out of me - I taught 2nd grade for 4 years and 1st grade for 4 years and believe me I know how important it is to hold some of them back in 1st grade - you probably do to because you probably have 7th graders who still can't read!! If not your fortunate! Anyways going back to school to work on my masters.
Let me know if you know anything about these protein skimmers.

 

[dory36]

We took the gramma back because he isn't compatible with a fish my husband bought this week. Also, we just got an anemone and our clownfish gave our poor gramma heck whenever he got too close. That's what started the whole ich incident to begin with. He's beautiful so I know someone will buy him and give him a good home.
I've never used the medicine you bought today. I would read the directions carefully. Are you supposed to treat the entire tank or put him in isolation?
As far as your protein skimmer, is it foaming? Do you have a bunch of gunk sitting in your collection cup? If so, then it's working. Can you post a picture of it?
Yeah, there are a lot of things about teaching I disagree with, but working with the kids is so rewarding that I have to overlook a lot of the other stuff!