Last night I purchased some new fish. The fish acting up is the oriental sweet lips .. Yes I know it's a tough fish to keep.. But I acclimated the fish for 2 hours and while acclimating I dropped a few pieces of rods food in the bucket to see if it would eat.. And it grabbed some food . So after 2 hours I put it in the tank and watched it swim a little bit on the bottom.. Didn't go very far but looked pretty good.. About an hour after it was in the tank it came out and started swimming around. But then suddenly went crazy swimming around uncontrollably and looked like it was going for air. Settled down but would go upside down.. Then swim again.. I grabbed it and put it in a breeder net so I wouldn't lose it under my reef.. This morning I got up and the fish was still breathing but laying upside down. I touched the net and it went upright swam a few circles then went back upside down.. Anyone know what's going on? All levels should be normal but will check again tonight. Two days ago all levels were zero.. All other fish and corals look great. Added 2 clowns. flame angel. Unicorn tang and sweet lips last night.
New fish acting funny
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erichm20
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Well laying upside down is never good. Without knowing all of the water params it is impossible to determine the cause. Were all 5 fish added at the same time? If so there is more than likely a spike in ammonia and if the fish is/was swimming near the surface (piping) as if to get oxygen and/or lying on the bottom acting lethargic then it sounds like ammonia poisoning- are the gills red or look like they're bleeding? If its ammonia you need to do a WC ASAP to get it down. How large is your tank? Is the fish being picked on?
2 hours of acclimation is good so that probably wasn't it. Def do a test now to see how the water looks. Really w fish sometimes they just don't make it Also you should always quarantine new fish in case they have a parasite or disease- those are some expensive fish there- you'd hate to lose a few bc of introducing a bug...
Good luck I hope it makes it!
2 hours of acclimation is good so that probably wasn't it. Def do a test now to see how the water looks. Really w fish sometimes they just don't make it Also you should always quarantine new fish in case they have a parasite or disease- those are some expensive fish there- you'd hate to lose a few bc of introducing a bug...
Good luck I hope it makes it!
The sweet lips looks fine vissably .. It even has all of its color. I did add all the fish at one time. It stayed at the bottom for an hour. Then kept trying to swim into the current and putting its mouth out of the water. But then would settle down . Hit the bottom and flip over. I will do another water change tonight after work. I did accessivly feed the tank last night so the all the other fish would be too full to pick on any new arrivals.. But most was eatin.. Ammon. Shouldn't spike that fast would it?
TheTodd
Aquarium Advice Addict
So was it just the two fish you added, or all if them? Was not sure. What are your parameters? Sounds like stress and/or ammonia/nitrate issues.
Moving forward, if the fish makes it...Both of those fish, but especially the sweetlips, need a lot more room than a 150. I'm sticking with my observations over the years that putting fish in "too small " tanks causes problems, regardless of how small they currently are. Sites that give recommended sizes usually give minimums, which to me, relates to a minimum size fish. Add "expert-only" to the equation and the fish is in trouble. A lot of people do not know better or go by what their LFS says "might work".
Moving forward, if the fish makes it...Both of those fish, but especially the sweetlips, need a lot more room than a 150. I'm sticking with my observations over the years that putting fish in "too small " tanks causes problems, regardless of how small they currently are. Sites that give recommended sizes usually give minimums, which to me, relates to a minimum size fish. Add "expert-only" to the equation and the fish is in trouble. A lot of people do not know better or go by what their LFS says "might work".
All the fish added was under 3 inches. All the other stuff added is fine. Plus what was already in there is fine. Only thing still scared is the uni tang. He is normal color. Just hides under the rock. But with the sweet lips I just wanted to see if he would of made it. When he got big he was going to go to the pet shops 300g.. I grabbed him out of the net tonight and looked at him closely.. No marks no signs of anything. Gills looked good.. Not sure what did it.
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