sudden illness

coralman05

coralman05

Member
Just last night i was thinking my tank has been better than ever ! everything has excellent color, swimming great and getting along.. got home a few hours ago to see my engineer gobbie ( 5 or 6 years old) face down in the sand with his tail on top of the rock. I picked him up and moved him face up..
Symptoms
looks like his dizzy
doesn't know where it is
Maybe its head is bigger than normal
weak cant really swim
doesn't stay right side up:(
their no spots or anything it was acting normal days prior. so anything that will cause the head to look bigger is the only thing i can think of that could point us somewhere but even still not much to go by.
 
coralman05

coralman05

Member
A foot long.. When i got it it was like half a inch:(
ammonia .01
nitrite .3
phoshate .01
alk 2
calcium 460
copper 0
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
How big is your tank?
Ammonia and nitrite would be the first thing that I would look at when fish get strangely sick. You have both. Try doing water changes until you have zero.
 
coralman05

coralman05

Member
55 i do 5 gallon water changes every week. and that fish has been in wayy worse of an envierment than that.. 9:50 took it out of its misery. airsoft style. not getting defensive but i don't think any of my levels are anything to worry about. I have a kole tang, two cardinals, pair of clown fish, mandrain dragonet, frogspawn, green bubble coral, my whole tank is thribing.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
What are they?
If he was a foot long, it may very well have reached the end of it's life. Post parameters, if they're okay, just observe your fish for the next few days, and if they seem fine I'd just chalk it up to old age. They're fairly hardy fish.
 
coralman05

coralman05

Member
I'm not sure what you are asking? but, would old age cause it to get really weak and confused? my star fish was eating it, when it was still alive he just couldnt swim away. didnt have it in em. Yeah if its not "old age"i dont want my other fish to become food for my star fish.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I was asking what your parameters are.
What type of starfish?
If a critter is very weak and near death, CUC will take them out.
Old age itself might not cause anything, but when animals get old, things go wrong that can't be prevented (not just in fish, take a dog getting cancer fir example), and that may have caused it. Just keep an eye on all your fish
 
coralman05

coralman05

Member
water parameters:
ammonia .01
nitrite .3
phoshate .01
alk 2
calcium 460
copper 0
and a serpent starfish yeah i'm keeping a close on everything
 
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