spinning heniochus

[julie]

I just received a swf.com shipment with a replacement heniochus. When I took it out of the bag, it went directly to the bottom of the tank and then started spinning in the water. It was like it was disoriented. One thing I thought was strange is that the bag it came in was small compared to the size of the fish.
Any suggestions?

 

[beth]

How did you acclimate the fish? Did you leave the lights off when you added it to the tank??
Yes, I'm sure the fish is disoriented after being shipped. Leave the lights off in the tank and see what happens.

 

[julie]

I acculimated the fish just as the directions indicate on the acclimation guide sent by swf.com. Yes, the lights are still off, have been for 1 & 1/2 hours. I think the sheet says to leave them off for 4 hours. I probably will leave them off the rest of the night. How much damage can be caused by his spinning and running into the bottom of the tank?

 

[beth]

Is the fish still doing that?
Is there any light in the room that he's in? If so, leave the light on. This is just my observation, but it seems that a stressed or sick fish is more likely to die when in complete darkness than if a bit of light [from say the room] was on.
How is the fish's color? Breathing?

 

[julie]

Now, it is just sitting on the bottom. No, there isn't a light on in the room, there hasn't been since I started acclumating. should I turn a light on? I was afraid of staring it. As far as the coloring, I can't see that detailed, just the spot in which it is located.

 

[beth]

Well, lets see how the fish is doing in the morning. During the day, I'd leave a light on in the room [not the tank] until you can discern that the fish is going to be ok.
What kind of tank lights do you have?