baby cat shark is red on his side and one spot on tummy

[jacobzking]

any guess on this? we've had this small male about 12" for 4 days. he's eating very well (about 3 pieces of either krill or lance fish per day). he's active at night. during the day he buries himself between live rock and live sand (he's made little tunnels to hide in. but last night we noticed this red area between his 2 front sets of fins. you can see it on the bottom as well (just a little, it sort of wraps around just a bit to his belly).

here's a video:

125 Gal (plenty large for the time being)
ammonia currently at .025 ppm
nitrate and nitrite 0
ph 8.2-8.4
78° F
1.025 Salinity
tank is 6'x18"x24"
100lbs live sand
15lbs of live rock (clustered in the middle)
9 damsels (6 yellow tails and 3 striped)

FWIW: Reefo Octopus BH1000ss skimmer and Eheim Pro 3 2075 canister filter

UPDATE:

Its actually just on that one side, not both like I had originally thought. So far he's doing ok. The ammonia just went up from 0 to roughly .025 after adding Mr Sharky, just a minimal spike from the extra bioload in the tank (all that was in there before was the damsels).

I could run some ammono lock or whatever to kill the ammonia, but I'd rather just let it cycle itself out unless it goes up any higher. Would .025 ammonia really be enough to irritate the shark?

 

[mr_X]

maybe ammonia poisoning? i would be doing some large water changes to get rid of the toxic ammonia.

 

[jacobzking]

24 hours later, ammonia has dropped to 0 on its own (no chemical help; i think it was just a small cycle due to the new bioload) and Mr Sharky looks 99% better. I think he just scraped himself on the rocks. he didn't want to eat tonight, but I think he's just full from being slightly over fed the last couple days. he shouldn't eat again till tomorrow night anyway. wish me luck!

 

[Bige]

Good luck! I want a shark and cant bare the bare the thought of killing one. Take good care of him or her. Beautiful shark. I really wish you the best of luck.

 

[Krypt]

I would have to agree with the ammonia poisoning. The redness is irritation of the gills from breathing in the ammonia. The ammonia level in any tank should always be 0, nothing higher is acceptable.

 

[jacobzking]

I would have to agree with the ammonia poisoning. The redness is irritation of the gills from breathing in the ammonia. The ammonia level in any tank should always be 0, nothing higher is acceptable.

here's the daily update... the redness has mostly gone away (99%) but his dark brown spots have faded to a light brown and he's being lethargic. i can pick him up and he won't respond; he's almost stiff. but he is still breathing and moving around a little.

YouTube - Cat shark a little pale

any advice? should I let the ammonia cycle out on its own, or should I use a chemical to kill the ammonia?

 

[Innovator]

If the NH3 is now 0 then it is 0 and shouldn't "re-cycle." Usually bacterial infections set in quickly with juvenile sharks, which is what I'll take a guess at it being (the breathing is labored along with the signs you have already mentioned).
If you do not have access to QT then perform water changes 25%-50% daily. If you have a QT then antibiotics (Nitrofurazone in a QT) might be in order.