ich?

[kevin]

Picked up a purple firefish over the weekend. It went into hiding every time my melanarus wrasse went by. I assumed my wrasse didn't care.. but today when I got home the firefish's fins were all tethered. Yesterday I was able to see 2 white spots, but it was only on a very certain angle. Today one spot is pretty visible. I'm assuming it is ich. I've been trying for last few hours to get the firefish out. It's way too quick for me. My nasty pistol shrimp has been after it also. I can't tear apart my rocks because of my harlequins and bta's. I'm worried about my other fish catching it. Probably didn't help anymore that I tried to catch it for a few ours.. probably extremely stressed. If it's not one thing, it's another!

 

[MadReefer]

Try the soda bottle trick. The firefish should fit in the opening and not bigger fish. Then you can quarantine it.
Keep us posted.

 

[Sunny]

Bottle traps works if fish is eating. IMHO,a fish that is so stressed right now, would not go near a soda bottle.
Wait for lights out. See where the fish is hiding. Then after an hour try the flashlight trick. This is just about what can be done in this situation.

Another thing is, if it is indeed ich - you are not helping your cause by chasing a fish in the tank with the net. The other fish that are not showing sighs yet, may get stressed and get ich too.

It is always a catch 22.

Good luck, Kevin.

Sunny

 

[kevin]

I agree about not helping my cause. I stopped after a little while because I didn't want to stress the other fish. The wrasse is a sleep now & the firefish is out and about. She's accepting mysis dosed with selcon. Her breathing seems fine also. I don't know if because my blues are on, but I don't see the white dot anymore. I even put a flash light on the fish & it is gone. Either way, my wrasse still hates the firefish. I highly doubt he'll get over it. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

My fish stock list:
melanarus wrasse
(2) black & white clowns
(2) barnacle blennies
purple fire fish

I've had few other blennies & gobies. Pistol shrimp took care of most of those I believe.

 

[Sunny]

I agree about not helping my cause. I stopped after a little while because I didn't want to stress the other fish. The wrasse is a sleep now & the firefish is out and about. She's accepting mysis dosed with selcon. Her breathing seems fine also. I don't know if because my blues are on, but I don't see the white dot anymore. I even put a flash light on the fish & it is gone. Either way, my wrasse still hates the firefish. I highly doubt he'll get over it. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

My fish stock list:
melanarus wrasse
(2) black & white clowns
(2) barnacle blennies
purple fire fish

I've had few other blennies & gobies. Pistol shrimp took care of most of those I believe.

The question really is, if all other fish are fine and eating do you really want to risk an outbreak?
Secondly, if you give it sometime then maybe they will start liking each other. Sometimes, it helps to just let them settle things and nature take its way.

On the other hand, if she is eating try the bottle trick

Sunny

 

[kevin]

I appreciate the suggestions! We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'll continue to feed it mysis soaked in selcon. I feel bad because if it lays out it faces the wrasse, if it goes into the rocks, it faces the pistol.

The wrasse pays no mind to the clowns, blennies, & every other invert except snails.

 

[kevin]

Question. Does ich always look like sand on the outside of the fish? The fire fish has white marks, but it's flush/flat on the fish... like it's part of it's skin

 

[Sunny]

It is fin damage from the fight/assault by the wrasses. A pic would help ...

 

[kevin]

It is fin damage from the fight/assault by the wrasses. A pic would help ...

She seems to be doing better. She's been hiding in the back underneath the big rocks until either it's food time or the wrasse goes to bed. When food is out, the wrasse could careless about her. Still eating like a pig.

 

[kevin]

I would like to say the firefish & wrasse has settled their differences. She's now out & about & the wrasse no longer cares!

 

[Hawkeye]

nice. I was worried about a bad ending to this story. Ideally in the future firefish should be one of the first few fish added to the tank due to their docile nature.

I had a yellow coris wrasse that would have killed any similar shaped fish (wrasse/firefish) in there.

 

[kevin]

Might of spoke too soon! Came home from work & the firefish is missing and my barnacle blennies are breathing extremely fast & not eating. The wrasse didnt eat as much. Welp, they do always say to QT fish.. guess I learned my lesson.

 

[Hawkeye]

How is it now? Did you find it?

 

[kevin]

How is it now? Did you find it?

nope, totally gone! My tank just doesn't like new fish, hah. My blennies seem to be breathing normal again, hopefully they'll accept food later. Wrasse & clownfish are perfectly normal.

 

[jgraz]

How long since the last sighting? When I had one it was fine until the addition of a Kole. After that it would go into hiding for days at a time. A few times it was gone for a week or more then it would show up again. Finally it went missing for over a month and never saw it again.

 

[kevin]

How long since the last sighting? When I had one it was fine until the addition of a Kole. After that it would go into hiding for days at a time. A few times it was gone for a week or more then it would show up again. Finally it went missing for over a month and never saw it again.

It's been missing for 3 days now. The pistol probably got to her. The blennies somewhat ate yesterday. They seem to be acting normal, but we'll see.

 

[Hawkeye]

sorry to hear that.

 

[kevin]

sorry to hear that.

Thanks. Everything seems back to normal. Blennies are eating just fine. Firefish is still MIA, assuming dead. I'm just glad whatever the firefish had it didn't affect the rest of my fish. I'll assume the pistol got her. It was just odd because my blennies were both breathing very fast. I'll stick to coral, lol.