Brand new Basslet acting odd? Maybe

[iceman14555]

I picked up a new member for my tank today, a strawberry basslet, since we needed a replacement fish according to my 5 year old. Anyway, as soon as the LFS person went to net the fish, it instantly flipped upside down and acted as if it was dead. We both mentioned it was a stress reaction. Well I took the fish straight home, about a 15 minute drive, and floated him in the tank. I've added him into the tank and he's still laying upside down acting as if he's dead. The fish is clearly breathing and looking around, but not moving. It's been hours now, I would have figured he would have snapped out of it by now, but I'm not familiar with basslet behaviors.

My tank is almost 4 years old. The other 3 fish are happy and no other inhabitants of the tank have appeared to show interest in the basslet. I added a dose of stress guard to the tank when I added him. Is this normal behavior, or am I about to have a dead fish poisoning my tank? I can post pictures if needed.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Was the fish acting odd while it was in the bag traveling home? If so, I’d say it got conked on the head when they were catching it up for you. That does happen from time to time. The store should cover that for you.
The fish could survive, so keep it calm (dim lights) isolate it in an acclimation basket if you have one, and see how it looks in the morning. If it does overnight, the dead body won’t be a real issue.

Jay

 

[iceman14555]

Was the fish acting odd while it was in the bag traveling home? If so, I’d say it got conked on the head when they were catching it up for you. That does happen from time to time. The store should cover that for you.
The fish could survive, so keep it calm (dim lights) isolate it in an acclimation basket if you have one, and see how it looks in the morning. If it does overnight, the dead body won’t be a real issue.

Jay

Thanks for the reply. No, it didn't get knocked around when they caught him. I watched, he wasn't hard for them to catch, and as soon as they cornered him and gently scooped him up. The fish instantly went belly up, it looked intentional, that why both myself and the LFS guy thought it was a stress reaction. The guy catching the fish has been in the business for some time, I feel like he's knowledgeable.

As for the ride home, the fish didn't get jostled around too badly. No more than a regular car ride would create. He's still just laying here on the bottom of the tank as if he was dead/dying, but breathing and looking around. He does seem to move a little, but only seemingly to stay in one place.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I picked up a new member for my tank today, a strawberry basslet, since we needed a replacement fish according to my 5 year old. Anyway, as soon as the LFS person went to net the fish, it instantly flipped upside down and acted as if it was dead. We both mentioned it was a stress reaction. Well I took the fish straight home, about a 15 minute drive, and floated him in the tank. I've added him into the tank and he's still laying upside down acting as if he's dead. The fish is clearly breathing and looking around, but not moving. It's been hours now, I would have figured he would have snapped out of it by now, but I'm not familiar with basslet behaviors.

My tank is almost 4 years old. The other 3 fish are happy and no other inhabitants of the tank have appeared to show interest in the basslet. I added a dose of stress guard to the tank when I added him. Is this normal behavior, or am I about to have a dead fish poisoning my tank? I can post pictures if needed.

lower lights and increase oxygen as it may suddenly come around but often as Jay indicated, a person can get aggressive with the net and fish trying to escape crashes into glass.
After floating the bag, how long and how did you acclimate the fish and did you equalize the salinity in the bag with that of the display tank?

 

[Blopple]

Upside down on the bottom, or floating on top?

Never mind, I can't read, sorry.

Hopefully he bounces back! If he was floating I was gonna say swim bladder. Sounded like what happened to my basslet.

 

[iceman14555]

lower lights and increase oxygen as it may suddenly come around but often as Jay indicated, a person can get aggressive with the net and fish trying to escape crashes into glass.
After floating the bag, how long and how did you acclimate the fish and did you equalize the salinity in the bag with that of the display tank?

They weren't aggressive at all, the fish tried to dart away a little, but didn't hit anything, and then when cornered, went belly up. Of all the fish in the tank, this one seemed the calmest. Now thinking of it, maybe too calm, like having an issue calm. If he doesn't make it through the night, I'm going to go back tomorrow and get a different one. The owner already told me if I have issues to come back.

The bag was floated about 15-20 minutes, and then the fish was removed from the fish store water and placed in the tank, like all of my previous fish.

 

[vetteguy53081]

They weren't aggressive at all, the fish tried to dart away a little, but didn't hit anything, and then when cornered, went belly up. Of all the fish in the tank, this one seemed the calmest. Now thinking of it, maybe too calm, like having an issue calm. If he doesn't make it through the night, I'm going to go back tomorrow and get a different one. The owner already told me if I have issues to come back.

The bag was floated about 15-20 minutes, and then the fish was removed from the fish store water and placed in the tank, like all of my previous fish.

Basslets generally hard to catch and active and yes too calm can be a red flag as it may have been sick or weak. Acclimation is important with many species and some can endure " Plop and drop" introduction while many need to have ph and salinity adjusted prior to release.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I agree - the basslet should not have been easy to catch. I've never seen one show a stress reaction like that, I think it was compromised in some way before you bought it.

Any improvement today?

Jay

 

[iceman14555]

I agree - the basslet should not have been easy to catch. I've never seen one show a stress reaction like that, I think it was compromised in some way before you bought it.

Any improvement today?

Jay

Hi Jay,
No he didn't make it through the night. I didn't think he would, but was hoping for the best. Luckily I was able to remove him without my 5 year old knowing. I was able to replace him with a Royal Gramma named "Raspberry," that's doing very well and my son is very happy with. While the other one is at the "vet." Thank you all for the helpfulness. The guy at the LFS also mentioned the more he thought of about it that other fish didn't seem right. He did right by me and didn't charge for the royal.

 

[iceman14555]

To give you all an update, since it's been a few days. "Raspberry" the royal gramma, has been settling into the tank very well, he seems to have set up a home in an area of live rock that isn't traveled much and he seems to be getting along well with the other tank mates. I have noticed the larger female of my clown pair kind of chase him off a few times, but not actually try to nip at him or act super aggressive towards him; more of a warning to stay out of my house seems like. They do seem to do ok while feeding together. I'm sure the longer he's there the more comfortable they will all become with one another.