Rock Beauty Sick? Please help!!

[BlueDolphin]

Hello. I just purchased a Rock Beauty angel on Saturday. She's in the QT and has been very perky and swimming all about. I tried to feed her some frozen Formula One, but she didn't take to it. I checked on her this morning, and it seems that her right eye is starting to become cloudy. She's also not swimming around as much as before.... one other thing: her feces is white and doesn't fall to the bottom of the tank like normal.

Any ideas????

 

[steve-s]

Could be an internal bacterial/parasite problem. Continue with the food you have and also try mysis shrimp. Add a good dose of garlic (3-4 drops) to the foods and let soak for a few hours before feeding. See if that decreases the feces problem. If not, you may need to move onto stronger methods (antibiotic or dewormer).Also add a good liquid vitamin directly to the water that contains vitamin B12. It will help stimulate the feeding response.


As for the eye, could easily be the result fo injury from net damage, do a few good sized water changes (well aged/aerated) to reduce any potential DOC in the water. More commonly, mild problems will abate on their own if water quality is high and the fish is feeding well.

How are the water quality numbers?

Cheers
Steve

 

[BlueDolphin]

Steve - Thanks for the advice. I am doing a water change right now, then I will read the parameters again. I also added some selcon to the tank water and am soaking a formula one cube in garlic.

The Rock Beauty is now sitting at the bottom of the tank and breathing pretty rapidly. Could this be a sign of anything else?

TIA

 

[steve-s]

Hard to say without knowing the water parameters. It could be something with that, stress or a parasite. Try to get the water parameters (NH3, NO2, NO3, alk, pH, salinity, temp) posted as soon as possible.

How is the QT set up? Be sure the angel has plenty of places to hide and overhead lighting remains off unless needed for feeding/examining the fish. Even at that, try to keep it dim.

Give the angel a good look over to see if you notice anything on the skin area or the gills (marks, lesions, odd color or stringy bits) that might give the indication of a parasite (velvet/ich/worms etal).

Cheers
Steve

 

[BlueDolphin]

Here are the parameters:

Temp 74.5
SG 1.026
NO3 0
pH 7.9
ammonia is still reading, but looks a little high around 0.1 (this is even after I did the 30% water change) - I added a teaspoon of amquel

The QT is 10 gallons, penguin mini biowheel 100, heater, airstone - i also have two large pvc fittings for hiding places. The tank itself does not have lights, and I've only been turning on the room lights to peek at the fish.

I'm even more worried now because she is still gasping, but also lying on her side. I didn't notice any marks/lesions on her skin or gill area.....

 

[steve-s]

Temp 74.5

pH 7.9

You need to address both of these. Check your newly mixed SW to see if the low pH is coming from there. If so, fix it and do a new water change. If the new SW is not the issue, check the alk in te QT and buffer accordingly. You need to get that above 8.0, oreferably 8.3.
You also need to get the temp up closer to 78°, 74° is far too low. Wouldn't hurt to drop the salinity some either, especially if using a swing arm hydrometer.

Address those and I bet you see some improvement fairly quickly.

ammonia is still reading, but looks a little high around 0.1 (this is even after I did the 30% water change) - I added a teaspoon of amquel

What test kit are you using. More commonly, once an ammonia binding agent is used, kits will give you a false possitive. Ammonia may or may not be present.

Cheers
Steve

 

[BlueDolphin]

I just checked the pH of my newly mixed saltwater and it's 8.3 - I also tested alk in the QT and it is about 2.7 (I have Salifert test kit for this one, Fastest for the others - which I know are notoriously inaccurate).

The temp. is increasing - I had the heater off for the water change - it is now 76.3.

I did the 30% water change this morning. Do you think I should do another one to try and get the pH up?

 

[steve-s]

I did the 30% water change this morning. Do you think I should do another one to try and get the pH up?

That might be the easiest. Test the alk of the new SW and see if it is also 2.7 mEq/l, if so, boost it to 3.0 mEq/l do another water change and see what that does. Alternately you can just add the appropraite amount of buffer to the QT to boost the alkalinity directly to 3.0 mEq/l. Don't go much higher though and do not use baking soda.

Be sure the tank top does not have a solid lid on it. Trapped CO2 will lower pH no matter the alk reading. You can replace any lid with eggcrate material.

Cheers
Steve

 

[BlueDolphin]

Thanks so much for all of your help, Steve. I will go ahead with the water change and so forth. I'll let you know the outcome! Thanks again.

 

[BlueDolphin]

I am sad to announce that my Rock Beauty didn't make it. Just as I went in to do the water change I notice her at the top of the tank and became excited for a moment because she was no longer lying on her side. But, then, she started swimming erratically and then sank to the bottom again.

When I saw that she had stopped breathing, I removed her from the tank to inspect her. I didn't notice any marks or lesions, but I did see a reddish area under one of her pectoral fins. I don't know if she hit the side of the tank when she was swimming around all crazy, or what. I had been inspecting her all day yesterday and just noticed that bloody looking area right before she died.

So, now, my question is - would it be best to rinse the QT with bleach before I introduce another fish? Sigh...

 

[steve-s]

Very sorry for your losss

If the red mark was not there earlier, it could still have been bacterial in nature but I suspect this was pH related. It's impossible to tell without a reading near about the same time. I would play it safe a steralize the QT before adding a new fish.

Cheers
Steve