Sick yellowtail damsek

[Massimo]

My fish isn't moving, he's on the bottom of the tank on the sand and he just lays there. Looks healthy but he just sits there... He's also constantly moving his mouth

 

[TheTodd]

More info...what are your parameters? How long has the tank been established? Any other fish and how are they doing? How is your water flow? Does the current break the top of the water for good oxygen exchange?

 

[Massimo]

All parameters are perfect. I have a coral banded shrimp he's doing fine other than losing one of his legs. It's been up since october 7th.

 

[Massimo]

And the water flow is good. I just added a 750 gph powerhead. I have the at the top moving the top of the water and a 240 at the bottom moving the bottom. Yes I know I need more movement eventually I'll get another powerhead. He was doing fine, after I did a water change and moved some of the sand hes been like this. I use tap water with a dechlorinator. All the other inhabitants are fine (3 hermit crabs and the shrimp) except for him

 

[TheTodd]

Was it cycled since that date or is that when you started it and you are using him to cycle the tank?

 

[Massimo]

It cycled after a week. I didn't have any animals in the tank when it was cycling.

 

[Massimo]

Here are some pics, he's gotten into a fight with my shrimp a while back so any scrape marks are from that. Also, when Ido manage to get him to swim he swims high then drops down to the gravel without stopping and it seems like it scrapes his belly

 

[Keithhjs]

It cycled after a week. I didn't have any animals in the tank when it was cycling.

Just curious how did you cycle it then? Add ammonia or add a table shrimp?
IMO it doesn't sound like you actually cycled. Usually takes more time than that.
What are you using to test with? If its the strips they are not accurate.
The more info you provide the better people here can help.
Hope your fish rebounds!

 

[Massimo]

I cycled it with a dead shrimp bought at my local super grocery store. I used the chemical stuff and I brought water samples to my LFS to get it tested.

 

[TheTodd]

My guess is that it did not cycle in a week. Almost impossible to do in less than a month with the shrimp method. If you tested water after a week, they probably were good because not much would have happened yet. You will get where your ammonia and nitrites are zero about 4-6 weeks in, which is where you want to be benefited adding fish.

Have you done a water change? Have you tested your water recently? You can't claim to have perfect parameters if you are not doing regular tests. At this point (probably cycling) things will change from day to day.

At this point, about 4-5 weeks in, you are where your ammonia and nitrites probably burned the gils, which explains the heavy breathing and strange behavior.

 

[Massimo]

It's been 4 weeks and my ammonia is at 0, nitrite at 0 and nitrate close to 0.... I doubt I'm still cycling. I test the water everyday and it's all at 0! Lmao I don't know what's wrong

 

[Massimo]

I did a water change last night

 

[TheTodd]

But if you tested every day and everything stayed at zero, it did not cycle. What are you using to test?

 

[Massimo]

I meant to say like after my cycle did happen, the waters been doing fine

 

[Keithhjs]

What test kit are you using?

 

[Massimo]

The test tubes one, forgot the name of the brand, it's the most used one. It's a master test kit lol

 

[Massimo]

First week I setup the tank I was getting high levels of ammonia, the nitrites then nitrates, since then everything's been at 0

 

[Massimo]

Brand is Nutrafin!

 

[TheTodd]

I'm not sure then. Maybe some of the experts here will have better ideas.

It still seems impossible to cycle a tank with shrimp in a week. Ive never used that method, but have never heard of it cycling that quickly. With the bottled bacteria (which is what I used), it would be a week, but that needs an ammonia source to cycle properly, which means either adding a fish or additives.

My gut tells me that it was ammonia and trites that burned the gils which is causing the weird behavior. My only other thought is that the tap water has something in it or maybe your salinity is off? What is that ?

 

[Massimo]

He was fine for the first 4 weeks I had him and now I don't know happened, maybe a mini cycle happened and I didn't notice... Could that be possible?