[Rare Angels]

Lee,

I acquired a couple semilavartus butteflyfish on Dec 29th. They are both about 3.5 inches long, each is in its own QT. They both seem to be doing pretty good at this point but today I noticed one of them only moves the gill plate on the left side and at a faster rate then the other fish.

It seems like I read about something like this before but I don't remember anything about it, is this a permanent condition, a sign of a disease?

The QT's are identical in size and parameters, at least the ones normally checked. Each tank is a 25 gallon, 1.016 salinity, pH=8.3, temp =78 F, ammonia and nitrite=0, and nitrate =5.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Dave

[leebca]

Dave,

First, congrats on using a quarantine process. Very intelligent of you.

Reports have been coming out of Asia (mostly Japan) that (very few) fishes are exhibiting what they call (in Japanese) One Gill Breathing. No one knows what is causing this. However, it is reported that it hasn't been the cause of any fish death. Fish that have displayed this condition have recovered from it without any apparent side affect. Some recover in a month others take many months.

Provide the best nutrition and be on the look out for signs of any other condition or disease. Keep the water moving around in the QT to provide good circulation and make sure the room the QT is in is well ventilated with fresh air. If you're not using a sponge filter, then I would drop an air stone into the tank and run it with a moderate stream of bubbles. Other than this, I wouldn't take any particular action at this point in time.

If the fish is not eating, then in addition to the above be prepared with good nutrition when it does start eating, and while waiting for it to eat, lower the specific gravity slowly to between 1.014 and 1.016. If it is eating, I would not alter anything. Your numbers look good!