Fox face shedding slime coat daily?

[alexkowalik]

I’ve recently added a Fox face from WWC to my 75G reef tank and it’s been great! No aggression towards him from the tank mates however I’ve noticed my tank has pieces of his slime coat floating throughout the water column almost constantly. I’m aware a fox face will shed its slime coat on occasion but it appears to be happening a bit too often. His colors are a bit dull at times during the day but he eats nori regularly and is a pig actually… appears very healthy otherwise. Is this cause for concern or is he maybe just a bit stressed still from the addition to a new tank? (Been in for a few weeks now.)

Sorry for the long post but i just want to be sure he’s ok.

Thank you for reading!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve recently added a Fox face from WWC to my 75G reef tank and it’s been great! No aggression towards him from the tank mates however I’ve noticed my tank has pieces of his slime coat floating throughout the water column almost constantly. I’m aware a fox face will shed its slime coat on occasion but it appears to be happening a bit too often. His colors are a bit dull at times during the day but he eats nori regularly and is a pig actually… appears very healthy otherwise. Is this cause for concern or is he maybe just a bit stressed still from the addition to a new tank? (Been in for a few weeks now.)

Sorry for the long post but i just want to be sure he’s ok.

Thank you for reading!

If they look like little strips, some foxface will web themselves in their hiding spot for the night and you will notice its not throughout the day

 

[alexkowalik]

If they look like little strips, some foxface will web themselves in their hiding spot for the night and you will notice its not throughout the day

That’s a very good possibility, so far every time I come home from work around 5pm the tanks filled with his slime flakes and seems to be for the rest of the night. I just started running filter socks in hopes of catching some of it so it’s not clouding up the water.

 

[alexkowalik]

Here’s the foxy.
I will try to get a good photo of the slime in the water column tomorrow when I get home from work.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here’s the foxy.
I will try to get a good photo of the slime in the water column tomorrow when I get home from work.

The only caveat is that mucus-shedding fish like foxface and some scorpionfish may do so with more frequency when they have a high parasite load. Just watch for secondary symptoms: rapid breathing and scratching/flashing.

 

[alexkowalik]

The only caveat is that mucus-shedding fish like foxface and some scorpionfish may do so with more frequency when they have a high parasite load. Just watch for secondary symptoms: rapid breathing and scratching/flashing.

I attempted to count his breaths per minute and it appeared to be around 120 or so. It’s hard with him swimming around constantly. However I haven’t noticed any flashing, he is still quite timid and likes to hides in the rock work and camo himself every time I feed frozen to the tank. How long on average does it take them to fully shed their slime coat? And at what frequency is “normal” ?

 

[alexkowalik]

I should also mention he was in an observation tank for a month before going into the display and showed no signs of disease or parasites. However I’m not an expert.

 

[alexkowalik]

It’s hard to see the white spots in the water but there’s bits of his slime coat everywhere.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I should also mention he was in an observation tank for a month before going into the display and showed no signs of disease or parasites. However I’m not an expert.

Observation quarantine doesn’t work for flukes, which is my concern here. The fish should be breathing less than 100 beats per minute.

I don’t know what the normal skin shedding is for these guys, I don’t usually even take notice of this.

I wonder if a praziquantel fluke treatment might be warranted? 2.2 ppm is reef safe, you dose it twice, 8 days apart. You can also use Prazipro. In either case, the tank must have good aeration.

 

[alexkowalik]

I checked his eyes out and no cloudiness, I did a recount of bpm, and it doesn’t appear to be too fast, it’s hard to count while he’s swimming around. However he was purchased fully quarantined in therapeutic copper levels, as well as treated with prazzi for flukes and dewormed. However I will keep an eye out for any possible fluke symptoms. I have a full stock of meds on hand including prazi, so if needed I can treat. I didn’t know that it was reef safe also, that’s good to know! Not much is..

 

[alexkowalik]

So I recently discovered after watching the tank closely that the floating matter in the tank is not his slime coat, it's his poop... it almost looks like clear flakes. he is eating nori constantly and is quite fat. Does anyone happen to know is this is normal behavior? He has a bit of a belly on him so maybe feeding too much?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I recently discovered after watching the tank closely that the floating matter in the tank is not his slime coat, it's his poop... it almost looks like clear flakes. he is eating nori constantly and is quite fat. Does anyone happen to know is this is normal behavior? He has a bit of a belly on him so maybe feeding too much?

Fish can sometimes gorge on nori. In rare cases it can cause an impaction, but my concern is always that the fish will fill up on nori and then not eat enough high protein, meaty foods. You should be feeding this a good brand of pellets (I use NLS) as well as mysids or some other high protein frozen food.

 

[alexkowalik]

Fish can sometimes gorge on nori. In rare cases it can cause an impaction, but my concern is always that the fish will fill up on nori and then not eat enough high protein, meaty foods. You should be feeding this a good brand of pellets (I use NLS) as well as mysids or some other high protein frozen food.

I feed rods frozen herbivore mix daily, (I actually have some NLS pellets as backup when I’m feeling lazy.) However the foxface hides as soon as I take the lids off to feed. I believe he’s still warming up to his new environment. I’ve seen him eat frozen when he was in the observation tank but I’ve yet to see him go after the frozen yet.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I feed rods frozen herbivore mix daily, (I actually have some NLS pellets as backup when I’m feeling lazy.) However the foxface hides as soon as I take the lids off to feed. I believe he’s still warming up to his new environment. I’ve seen him eat frozen when he was in the observation tank but I’ve yet to see him go after the frozen yet.

Just beware of the "observation effect", where you are so concerned to see if the fish is eating, that you get too close while watching, causing the fish to shy away from eating. Watching from a darkened room, ten feet away is the best way to avoid that.

Jay

 

[alexkowalik]

Just beware of the "observation effect", where you are so concerned to see if the fish is eating, that you get too close while watching, causing the fish to shy away from eating. Watching from a darkened room, ten feet away is the best way to avoid that.

Jay

Interesting, I didn’t know that was a thing. I feed the tank with the room lights off and sit back across the room on a couch. Even taking a peek from inside the doorway as I sneak up on them.