Fish not eating - heavy breathing

[himynameis]

This morning I woke up to a dead firefish which I had in my tank for about two years. Didn’t look problematic the day before, ate and swam fine it seems, nothing out of the ordinary.

As I remove the firefish, I see my six line wrasse is mouth open/heavy breathing. Six line is tucked in some rocks so tough to see, but definitely not active as usual. Observing the others, the yellow tang looks to be breathing more heavy than normal. Clown pair looks ok, Tomini tang looks ok, bi color blenny looks ok. Everyone seems to not want to eat today (except the blenny), and it doesn’t look like the nori was touched from the day before.

Temp is stable 79F.
Salinity 1.026.
Nitrate 17
PO4 .30 (slowly lowering with some GFO from .45)
Ammonia 0

The tank is a 110 display, 25g sump with skimmer, algae scrubber, and activated carbon in a reactor. I did an 18g water change this morning after seeing the heavy breathing. Inverts all look fine at the moment.

This past weekend I rehomed a blue hippo tang, as he was getting big for the tank. Added a fire shrimp.

I did have a big wind storm in the area that knocked out power for 4 days. I ran my generator but the tank did get down to 76F in the display before I was able to get it going. Corals all seemed fine though, fish were active throughout the outage.

Any ideas?

 

[himynameis]

For reference, rapid breathing noted in the yellow tang is at ~132 bpm. It’s still swimming around the water column, but not like usual and not eating. No noticeable lesions, scars, swelling, etc.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This morning I woke up to a dead firefish which I had in my tank for about two years. Didn’t look problematic the day before, ate and swam fine it seems, nothing out of the ordinary.

As I remove the firefish, I see my six line wrasse is mouth open/heavy breathing. Six line is tucked in some rocks so tough to see, but definitely not active as usual. Observing the others, the yellow tang looks to be breathing more heavy than normal. Clown pair looks ok, Tomini tang looks ok, bi color blenny looks ok. Everyone seems to not want to eat today (except the blenny), and it doesn’t look like the nori was touched from the day before.

Temp is stable 79F.
Salinity 1.026.
Nitrate 17
PO4 .30 (slowly lowering with some GFO from .45)
Ammonia 0

The tank is a 110 display, 25g sump with skimmer, algae scrubber, and activated carbon in a reactor. I did an 18g water change this morning after seeing the heavy breathing. Inverts all look fine at the moment.

This past weekend I rehomed a blue hippo tang, as he was getting big for the tank. Added a fire shrimp.

I did have a big wind storm in the area that knocked out power for 4 days. I ran my generator but the tank did get down to 76F in the display before I was able to get it going. Corals all seemed fine though, fish were active throughout the outage.

Any ideas?

While Phos is elevated, should not be a factor. Heavy breathing and mouth open suggests flukes. If true, you will see loss of color and appetite, sudden darting, hiding, lethargic is nature and even cloudy eyes.
For best assessment, please post video under white light intensity - no blue and of at least 30 seconds.
Then do water change and add air stone until a cause can be determined

 

[himynameis]

I’ll try to get a good video when back home tonight. Ordered some prazipro to arrive tomorrow just in case. I think I dealt with some flukes earlier this year and recall doing the treatment. Could some temp dips have triggered this during the prolonged power outage? I probably had 3-4 instances where the display got down to 75-76F until I ran the generator again.

 

[himynameis]

Just got a report from the SO that the six line wrasse didn’t make it so pulling it out of the tank.

 

[himynameis]

Here’s a video under white light of the yellow tang. Trying to get one of the Tomini tang next, he hides under whites.

 

[himynameis]

Best video I could do for the Tomini tang, he hides behind rocks when I do white light. I’m noticing more open mouth with both tangs now. Definitely more lethargic. Still not eating. No visible spots on outside of any fish. Bi color blenny is more active than the rest and actually eating.

 

[himynameis]

@vetteguy53081 let me know your thoughts.

I do have one dose of prazipro on hand, with more on order. I can do that in the display (about 120g of system volume) run an airstone, remove carbon/gfo, and let the skimmer overflow. Not sure that I want to wait until it’s too late..hopefully it isn’t already.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 let me know your thoughts.

I do have one dose of prazipro on hand, with more on order. I can do that in the display (about 120g of system volume) run an airstone, remove carbon/gfo, and let the skimmer overflow. Not sure that I want to wait until it’s too late..hopefully it isn’t already.

That dose should last 8 days and therefore good. It takes prazi at least 2 days to start taking effect. Video provided is fuzzy to see anything

 

[himynameis]

I’ll start a dose and keep an eye on things. Which video comes through blurry?

note: I notice every so often both tangs do a subtle mouth open “yawn” with a small shake or head twitch at the end of it.

 

[himynameis]

First dose added. The plan is to let it run its course and observe for 72hrs then do a 20-25% water change. Then in 8 days (12/3) do another dose, followed by another 20-25% water change after 72hrs. Then add activated carbon and skimmer cup back to the tank.

Let me know if there’s anything I’m missing. Thanks for the help! Really hoping it’s “just” flukes.

 

[himynameis]

20hr after first dose observations:

Yellow tang breathing a bit more relaxed, counting about 108bpm. Less mouth open, but can see a quick gasp infrequently. Still hiding and no appetite, but no surprise there. Comes out of hiding to flare fins and intimidate as I watch, like normal behavior from him. No other changes visible.

Tomini tang in hiding in back of tank and hasn’t come out since dosing. Still rapid breathing but seems upright in his hiding spot. No visible changes. Still no appetite.

Clowns both staying put in the back of the tank where they usually are. No visible changes from them. No appetite.

Bicolor blenny out and about, poking at the nori and looking for food, looks like normal behavior for him, no changes from previous.

Inverts all look ok, no changes.

 

[himynameis]

Yellow tang now breathing normal, eating and out/about. Tomini tang still timid, breathing better but still a little faster than normal, not seeing him eat yet. Both clowns look ok but not much of an appetite from them, they’ll grab a pellet or two and that is it.

Lost my cleaner shrimp last night, not too sure why, looked fine earlier in the week, maybe a failed molt? No tank aggression ever toward him.

Did a 20% water change this morning and got the skimmer running in the cup and carbon running as well. Will monitor, and dose a second round of prazipro in 5 days. Unfortunately I’ll be out of town this weekend so will probably setup a camera to watch things remotely, with family on call.

 

[himynameis]

Dosing round 2 of prazipro today.

 

[himynameis]

Did a 20% water change, added carbon, and put the skimmer back in working order last night. Fish look active, normal, eating. Didn’t seem to lose appetite much like the first round of prazipro. Things are looking up. Thanks for the help @vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

First dose added. The plan is to let it run its course and observe for 72hrs then do a 20-25% water change. Then in 8 days (12/3) do another dose, followed by another 20-25% water change after 72hrs. Then add activated carbon and skimmer cup back to the tank.

Let me know if there’s anything I’m missing. Thanks for the help! Really hoping it’s “just” flukes.

Its takes a day or two for prazi to take effect. Glad to see noticeable improvement. For prazi, rather than 3 days -
dose at 80% of recommended and apply initial dosage known as an interval for 8 days, do a water change and do one more 8 day dose interval
Use airstone with prazi as it does reduce both oxygen and appetite. If running a skimmer, leave cup off first 24 hrs as skimmer will go nuts from the glycol solution in Prazi

 

[himynameis]

@vetteguy53081 are there any indicators to look for that might tell me if I need to do a third round?

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 are there any indicators to look for that might tell me if I need to do a third round?

Some will be, yawning
sudden darting
Signs on body of scratching
elevated breathing
loss of color