Leaning fish?

[euro_Boy_To]

I just got my first SW fish.. I made sure I get a straight one.. the first store a lot were leaning(and some dieing) so I didnt even buy from there.

By the time I got home it was good, but when I acclimated it , it started leaning inside it's plastic bag.. from then on it's been leaning, but its very active.

In the morning it was acting strange.. going up and down in the corner a few times and swimming up as if there is a down current on him and he just keeps falling. He even hid in the rocks almost face up.

The first day it was hiding, but night/morning came and now it's just flying around the tank.. ate it's food too.

It's a yellow tailed damsel. All my levels were at 0 and my shrimp was almost all dissolved before I put him in.. but I didn't do a big water change, only about 10%...

will he recover? is there something I can do.
is it somewhat normal? he seems all in good shape.. I just hate to see him leaning.. it's a tiny bit, not too much and sometimes he rights himself for a bit..

He's still very scared.. hides when anything moves around the tank and changes colors..

thanks for any help..

Originally Posted by euro_Boy_To

By the time I got home it was good, but when I acclimated it , it started leaning inside it's plastic bag.. from then on it's been leaning, but its very active.

How did you acclimate the fish?

It's a yellow tailed damsel. All my levels were at 0 and my shrimp was almost all dissolved before I put him in.. but I didn't do a big water change, only about 10%...

All levels are zero for NH3, NO2 and NO3? How long has the tank been cycling?

What is the temp, salinity and pH?

I would do a couple of large (25%) water chnages over the next few days. Once some more info is known about the tank, we can go from there.

Cheers
Steve

[euro_Boy_To]

temp 77.8
salinity 0.0225
I just checked ammonia,nitrate,nitrite, all at zero, and PH is 8.2

the water he came in the PH was around 8.0

I put his bag in the tank for 15 min and it warmed up.. created some moisture on the bag inside so his water must've been cooler..
then I opened it up and put some tank water inside, waited a few minutes, added some more thank water, then I netted him and put him in the main tank..

I think I didn't wait long enough after putting in the water/didn't put enough water..
would that cause this?
and does he get better?

I m gonna do a 25% change today and see what happens.

[FishFrik]

Salinity at 0.0225? U meant 1.0225 right?

[euro_Boy_To]

oops..
yes that's what I meant.

He seems to be doing pretty good now.. half the time he's pretty straight, and half the time he leans a bit.. but he's very hyper.

Every 10-20 minutes he raises his top fin up and opens his mouth for a half a second.. does this mean he needs more oxygen?

I don't mean to doubt you but a newly cycled tank without any nitrate reading? You really sure about that?

As far as the fish is concerned, sounds like acclimation stress. More commonly the shipping/LFS water will be on the lower side than most keep their tanks at. Yours is not as bad but still a possible problem. Fis cannot tolerate quick increases in salinity. Long acclimation times are of no use either. Fish need to adjust to higher salinities over days, not hours. I can't say for sure that is the issue though.

Have you done the larger water changes yet?

Cheers
Steve

[euro_Boy_To]

I've done a bigger water change yes..

He's still leaning a bit.. 5 degrees or so.. not much at all.. sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right.. but he swims around straight and has no problems swimming..

he's very shy still,

hiding in the rocks most of the time and runs away from any movement outside of the aquarium...

is this normal behavior ? he seems very curious, looks at you and comes out a bit, then runs back inside..

As for my tank.. well, no readings yes.. I actually never did get a cycle and it's been 3 weeks since I have my LR in, and 2 weeks since the shrimp. The shrimp got all dissolved.. and the ammonia went up so slightly and then back to zero..

I'm assuming the rocks were enough to keep it going with zero levels.. I just checked and everything is still at zero.

Do a few more good sized water changes with well aged/aerated SW over the next week. It may help improve things further.

Originally Posted by euro_Boy_To

is this normal behavior ? he seems very curious, looks at you and comes out a bit, then runs back inside..

Don't know, you've never said what species of fish this is.

I'm assuming the rocks were enough to keep it going with zero levels.. I just checked and everything is still at zero.

It is possible for a tank to cycle in this fashion in regards to ammonia and nitrite, it's just very odd for there to be no appreciable nitrate. The last stage of the nitrogen cycle is non aerobic and takes time to process. Have/can the numbers verified by the LFS?

Cheers
Steve

[euro_Boy_To]

It's a yellow tailed damsel.
Is there any way to tell if it's a he or she?

and yes I can go by the LFS to get a water test.. I'll do that today.

Originally Posted by euro_Boy_To

Is there any way to tell if it's a he or she?

Not in this species no. It is a rather nervous fish though so I hope you have plenty of places for it to hide.

Cheers
Steve