Pale domino

[redchick2]

I noticed last night that my domino was swimming about in an agitated manor, he has also faded from the rich black to a pale brown. I checked the water ph, nitrate, nirtite amonia, temp. etc. and everything is normal. The other damsels, and mandarin, and inverts seem fine. I tried to isolate the ill fish, but just stressed him out more trying to catch him. He seemed a bit better this morning, but still not right. Any suggestions on what could be causing this? I'd hate for him to die, but don't want my whole tank to be infected.

 

[roka64]

My blue devil would turn from blue to almost black, from time to time. Some fish will also pale before lights out.
What are your normal water readings, in actual numbers?

 

[melosu58]

When I used to have them I noticed they would fade when stressed out. Keep an eye out for stress factors.

 

[redchick2]

Right now I am using the basic dip strip that changes colors, so don't have the actual #
's. Nitrites and amonia show no reaction. Nitrates show a very slight reation. PH shows ideal.The temp is 79.5. More advanced tests are not in the budget right now. I took some water up to the LFS this morning and was told everything looks fine.
The fish is not showing "time to sleep, let's get pale" color change. He is almost completely bleaching out, gasping and swimming like the hounds of **** are on his butt. When I get home going to do a 50% water change and see if that helps him any.

 

[redchick2]

Dang the drama... Major ich outbreak. I put all the fish in the hospital, and they all got dipped, symptoms or not. How long do I need to leave them out of the main tank to break the cycle?

 

[Innovator]

Leave them in qt for at least 30 days. You dipped them, with what or in what?

 

[melosu58]

I just hope you did not do a FW dip with them all. All it does is stress out an already stressed out fish even more. Most do not survive it IME.

 

[redchick2]

No I bought an OTC formaldehyde dip. It cleared up all the spots, and the ones that were treated in time are doing great. Norman, the domino, was dead when I got home with the meds. He was the first one to show symptoms. He was dead within 24 hrs of me first noticing that he looked pale and aggitated.

 

[Innovator]

Watch your fish very carefully since Formalin is very strong and is not considered a medication to eradicate ich effectively. If you treat with formalin again add an airstone to keep the water turbulent and well oxygenated. Your better off using Cupramine (copper) than Formalin in getting rid of ich with hypo being a safer solution.

 

[redchick2]

I did not medicate the tank, just gave the fish a 30 minute bath. they all "look" disease free now and are eating and swimming in a normal manner. the only adverse reation I noted was the manderin. His skin seemed to sluff off in places. Now he looks fine and is vibrant again. I hope I don't have to re-treat, but am watching like a hawk. The hardest part now is resisting the urge to put them in the main tank, were they (and I) want them to be. A month seems like forever!