Sick royal gramma

[Shex613]

Help! I'm a newbie and yesterday did my 1st water change. My tank is 2 weeks old and is a 29g. I got RO water from a friend and just have a 4# lr right now as my other 30#'s of LR is curing at lfs-salinty is at 24, 0 ammonia and nitrite is at .50 which were the parameters yesterday before I did the water change. I have a clown and a royal gram, both have been great no problems but this am the gram has been at the top, tail is down and fins have a white spottiness. Of course it's Labor Day and lfs is closed-


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[bribo12]

I see a couple issues. The tank isn't cycled. You've added to many fish at once. Your nitrite is high, do you not know nitrates? Btw That's a bicolor pseudo not a gramma. Much much much meaner fish.


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[Shex613]

The lfs had him as a gram....just wonderful, how discouraging. But thanks for the clarification. I know the tank is still cycling but was told it was ok to add these 2 fish as they were paired at the store together and to help with cycling. The RO water came from a great source and now I don't know who/what to believe. My protein skimmer comes in this week and I'm gonna do another wc


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[bribo12]

Definitely keep up on the wcs. That will help but he really doesn't look good . If the RO came from a friend it is probably good but it seems the lfs gave you bad advice. Really sorry


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[PB_Smith]

increase surface agitation/add some air stones to increase the oxygenation of the water.
Nitrite impacts the fish's blood's ability to carry oxygen and could be why he is hanging at the top where the water is more saturated.

when you say the rest of your rock is "curing" at the lfs, what do you mean? did you buy dry rock and they are culturing it for you or was it fresh from the ocean and needed to actually be cured?
If you bought dry rock and they are culturing it for you, they are just taking advantage of you as you would end up with the same result if you just put it in your tank from the start. If it's "live" rock to help get your tank established, why isn't it in your tank now when it is most needed?
Something seems a little fishy about that.

Yes, that is a bicolor. They have a distinct line differentiating the body color, in royal gramma's the colors merge into one another softly.

I would take what the lfs tells you with a big grain of salt.
While hardy fish, those two are certainly NOT the first choices for doing a fish-in cycle.

 

[Shex613]

Our very little fish store and I bought 50#'s of dry Rock and he is curing it at the store as I don't have the means to do that-which I'm purchasing 30#'s of it. In the mean time I bought a chunk of LR (already cured) and these 2 fish as they were in the same tank at the store which had been there together for quite sometime-I'm in that store all the time so I witnessed that. With the already cycled water, from a larger tank that I got, and over much debate, I married it all together. Everything has been doing great-levels, temp happy eating fish until I did my 1 st water change now a sick bicolor

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

No such thing as cycled water. You need to research a soft cycle, you have your fish living in poison at the moment. IMHO take the fish back, get your rock and cycle the tank properly before adding livestock. This will also give you time to research and come up with a plan for success.

 

[Mebbid]

No such thing as cycled water. You need to research a soft cycle, you have your fish living in poison at the moment. IMHO take the fish back, get your rock and cycle the tank properly before adding livestock. This will also give you time to research and come up with a plan for success.

+1 I couldnt agree more. Also, the lfs that told you its okay to put salt water fish in a cycling tank, go ahead and ignore their advice in the future.