Flame Tail Blenny breathing fast

[IE Reefer]

Hey everyone,
Over about a week, I've been noticing that my Flame Tail has been breathing quite rapidly and I've been justifying it due to the amount of stamina it uses to swim around up until today, after feeding about 10 mins after I noticed that the flame tail is breathing quite rapidly but it hadn't been swimming around. I observed the fish notice any signs of disease or foggy eyes but nothing came up from my detection. Here's a quick video of the fish. Also, I have another fish in the same tank who breathes very rapidly, an ORA Sunset Dottyback, it's very timid and it breaths really fast and its left gill opens up further than the right, not sure if this fish gave the other its disease since they show off whenever near each other (opening mouths wide, almost about to fight). Here's an older video of it breathing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What is your ammonia and nitrate level and what test kits are you using?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey everyone,
Over about a week, I've been noticing that my Flame Tail has been breathing quite rapidly and I've been justifying it due to the amount of stamina it uses to swim around up until today, after feeding about 10 mins after I noticed that the flame tail is breathing quite rapidly but it hadn't been swimming around. I observed the fish notice any signs of disease or foggy eyes but nothing came up from my detection. Here's a quick video of the fish. Also, I have another fish in the same tank who breathes very rapidly, an ORA Sunset Dottyback, it's very timid and it breaths really fast and its left gill opens up further than the right, not sure if this fish gave the other its disease since they show off whenever near each other (opening mouths wide, almost about to fight). Here's an older video of it breathing.

Are there other fish in the tank? Do they have any symptoms? How long have you had these fish? When was the last time you added something to this tank?

The typical diagnosis for this is gill flukes. Water quality (usually lack of aeration) would show up on all fish to some extent, or even the invertebrates. Gill flukes can be selective as to which fish they attack. There won't be any external signs other than rapid/deep breathing. Velvet causes rapid breathing, but the fish dies from that rather quickly. Bacterial diseases can cause rapid breathing as well, but that is kind of rare.

You might be able to dose the whole tank with Prazipro - 9 days apart, with a 25% water change before the second treatment, and use good aeration.

I'll often suggest people try a FW dip to see if that helps the fish before going all in on a treatment, but catching these two fish will likely prove impossible.,..

Jay

 

[IE Reefer]

Are there other fish in the tank? Do they have any symptoms? How long have you had these fish? When was the last time you added something to this tank?

The typical diagnosis for this is gill flukes. Water quality (usually lack of aeration) would show up on all fish to some extent, or even the invertebrates. Gill flukes can be selective as to which fish they attack. There won't be any external signs other than rapid/deep breathing. Velvet causes rapid breathing, but the fish dies from that rather quickly. Bacterial diseases can cause rapid breathing as well, but that is kind of rare.

You might be able to dose the whole tank with Prazipro - 9 days apart, with a 25% water change before the second treatment, and use good aeration.

I'll often suggest people try a FW dip to see if that helps the fish before going all in on a treatment, but catching these two fish will likely prove impossible.,..

Jay

Yes, I have a Yellow Watchman Goby, Clownfish, Green Chromis, and a Mandarin Dragonet. None of them have symptoms from what I can tell. I've been having the Dottyback for a while now, maybe 4 to 5 months or longer, Blenny a month or two before. As in livestock, I added a Tux Urchin, fish wise the Dottyback (also the first one to have the rapid breathing since I've had him). Regarding Prazipro, I have a TON of Bristle Worms in my tank and after a quick search, I found out that it will kill them off and lead to an ammonia spike, any way to avoid this? Or should I just be on my toes after dosing it and making sure it doesn't bomb my tank? If I had the chance I would try to do a FW dip, but the Dottyback will be impossible unless I tear through my aquascape to get him, but the Blenny might be a bit easier because he is very attached to this piece of rock; whenever I try to remove the rock he hides in it so I might be able to do a FW dip on the entire rock with him in it. What do you think?

 

[IE Reefer]

What is your ammonia and nitrate level and what test kits are you using?

I use Hanna for Nitrate and API for Ammonia, I'll get the results in a bit.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I use Hanna for Nitrate and API for Ammonia, I'll get the results in a bit.

Do note that api notorious for false readings and your ammonia level likely higher than indicated If you have an LFS that does not use api kits for testing, take a water sample there and see what readings they come up with

 

[IE Reefer]

Do note that api notorious for false readings and your ammonia level likely higher than indicated If you have an LFS that does not use api kits for testing, take a water sample there and see what readings they come up with

For the time being, I'll just use API but I'll have to buy a Salifert Ammonia tester

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes, I have a Yellow Watchman Goby, Clownfish, Green Chromis, and a Mandarin Dragonet. None of them have symptoms from what I can tell. I've been having the Dottyback for a while now, maybe 4 to 5 months or longer, Blenny a month or two before. As in livestock, I added a Tux Urchin, fish wise the Dottyback (also the first one to have the rapid breathing since I've had him). Regarding Prazipro, I have a TON of Bristle Worms in my tank and after a quick search, I found out that it will kill them off and lead to an ammonia spike, any way to avoid this? Or should I just be on my toes after dosing it and making sure it doesn't bomb my tank? If I had the chance I would try to do a FW dip, but the Dottyback will be impossible unless I tear through my aquascape to get him, but the Blenny might be a bit easier because he is very attached to this piece of rock; whenever I try to remove the rock he hides in it so I might be able to do a FW dip on the entire rock with him in it. What do you think?

I’ve never tried dipping a rock with a fish in it, but maybe you can lift the rock up over a container and the blenny will fall out?
Prazipro has been implicated in killing worms, but in reality, it seems to just stun flukes and cestodes, other worms aren’t really affected. What you DO need to do with prazipro is really increase the aeration (not just circulation) in the tank during treatment. Also, the bottle says redose after 48 hours, you actually need to redose after 9 days - prazi doesn’t kill fluke eggs, so you need to let those hatch and then try to kill them before they can lay their own eggs….9 days is about right, but it doesn’t always work, and the flukes may return.
Jay

 

[IE Reefer]

Ok, I was finally able to finish testing the water, here are the results:
Salinity: 1.027
pH: 7.8 (used API so might be higher)
Alkalinity: 9.3
Nitrate: 4.95
Phosphate: 0.03
Calcium: 500
Magnesium: 1290
Ammonia: 0 (used API)

 

[IE Reefer]

I’ve never tried dipping a rock with a fish in it, but maybe you can lift the rock up over a container and the blenny will fall out?
Prazipro has been implicated in killing worms, but in reality, it seems to just stun flukes and cestodes, other worms aren’t really affected. What you DO need to do with prazipro is really increase the aeration (not just circulation) in the tank during treatment. Also, the bottle says redose after 48 hours, you actually need to redose after 9 days - prazi doesn’t kill fluke eggs, so you need to let those hatch and then try to kill them before they can lay their own eggs….9 days is about right, but it doesn’t always work, and the flukes may return.
Jay

Also, for the Dottyback, I watched it for a bit and it seems that its breathing has slowed down from the video shown above, can the fish pass gill flukes and not die? Or is it a death sentence once they have it? I'm asking this because I've never treated my tank medically for a long time and I haven't FW dipped the fish either and yet it seems as if the flukes have either reduced, died off, or moved to the Blenny

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Also, for the Dottyback, I watched it for a bit and it seems that its breathing has slowed down from the video shown above, can the fish pass gill flukes and not die? Or is it a death sentence once they have it? I'm asking this because I've never treated my tank medically for a long time and I haven't FW dipped the fish either and yet it seems as if the flukes have either reduced, died off, or moved to the Blenny

Typically no, without treatment, gill flukes won't go away without treatment. Something else may be going on here.

Jay

 

[IE Reefer]

Typically no, without treatment, gill flukes won't go away without treatment. Something else may be going on here.

Jay

Attempted to remove the rock for a FW dip for the Blenney, he was able to get out of the rock before I removed it, and after a couple of minutes of chasing him down he ended up in another hole in one of the rocks, any way to get him out? Maybe some sort of lure? I added a video of him and his breathing and also a video of the Dottybacks breathing.

 

[IE Reefer]

Bump

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Bump

The fish are breathing deeply, but their behavior is otherwise normal.
What is the water temperature?
Does the tank have good aeration (not just circulation)? A protein skimmer works, as do powerheads with their injectors turned on....anything making bubbles and breaking the water's surface?

The next course of action would be a prazipro treatment, 2x, 9 days apart....


Jay

 

[IE Reefer]

The fish are breathing deeply, but their behavior is otherwise normal.
What is the water temperature?
Does the tank have good aeration (not just circulation)? A protein skimmer works, as do powerheads with their injectors turned on....anything making bubbles and breaking the water's surface?

The next course of action would be a prazipro treatment, 2x, 9 days apart....


Jay

My tank is in my bedroom, so when I turn the fan on the temp lowers to 76F, but when it's off, it gets up to 78-79F. From my perspective, I believe that I have good aeration, but I'll attach a video to show the surface tension. I also have an oversized skimmer running on my setup, a SCA-302 and the total volume of my tank is ~37G. I might be able to get the Blenny and do a FW dip since he went back to its normal hole again, but I'll still buy the prazipro just to be safe.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My tank is in my bedroom, so when I turn the fan on the temp lowers to 76F, but when it's off, it gets up to 78-79F. From my perspective, I believe that I have good aeration, but I'll attach a video to show the surface tension. I also have an oversized skimmer running on my setup, a SCA-302 and the total volume of my tank is ~37G. I might be able to get the Blenny and do a FW dip since he went back to its normal hole again, but I'll still buy the prazipro just to be safe.

I just needed to rule out high water temperature and lack of aeration, and I don't think those are an issue based on your info. A FW dip (if possible) and then prazi would be my best suggestion....

Jay

 

[IE Reefer]

I just needed to rule out high water temperature and lack of aeration, and I don't think those are an issue based on your info. A FW dip (if possible) and then prazi would be my best suggestion....

Jay

I was able to complete a successful FW dip, the Blenny looks better, when I did take him out there were signs of flukes (from my understanding) such as two spots of discoloration (that's all that I could tell). Here's a picture of what was left after the dip.

 

[IE Reefer]

Also, I won't be home for two nights, should I do anything for the tank before I leave? Especially for the Blenny?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Also, I won't be home for two nights, should I do anything for the tank before I leave? Especially for the Blenny?

That’s always tough when you have to leave while a fish is ailing. I’d say just cross your fingers - the FW dip should but you some time, and treating fish and then leaving is also risky.

Also, I couldn’t see anything in the dip, but gill flukes are tiny and you’d need a microscope to see them.

Jay

 

[IE Reefer]

I ordered the medication during the weekend believing that it would come the next day and after forgetting about the shipment I realized that it was coming Thursday, but after seeing the fish's breathing and how fast it is, I'm not sure how long it'll last w/o it. What should I do in the meantime to help the little guy? Should I do another fw dip? Or just wait until Thurs?