Atlantic Jewel Damsel Flashing (scratching)

[ShooterRick]

Since I am new to this hobby I do not yet have a quaranteen tank. I watched this fish for 3 days at the dealer before the purchase. She has been in my FOWLR tank 2 days. Tonight she began flashing from time to time. She is eating well and no other fish showing symptoms. I did a 20 % water change the day I got her before placing her in the tank. No spots of anykind are evident.

I was informed tonight by my wife that when the dealer bagged her she did so with a bare hand instead of the net. GRRRRR! I had left the room for a few moments and didn't see that. Could it be slime coat damage? How long if it is velvet or ich will it take for spots to become visable? Could it be stress?

Water: PH-8.2 Ni,NA, Amonia, all not detectable. Spec. Grav. 1.024 . I do have a noticable diatom outbreak that is getting better and a clean up crew going to town. This Jewel seems to continually graze on the diatoms? She will often pick up snails and transport them to other areas of the tank? hmmm

On edit: I ? my wife for specifics. The dealer had cornered the fish with the net but removed it from the tank with her hand! PLace it in a plastic box of water from the tank and then transfered all to the bag. I think I am not a happy camper!

[reeferbill]

Back up 1 step and set up a hospital tank and don't wait until all the fish get sick , treat when you finally know what it is. A hospital tank can be a 10 gallon set-up that will save you alot of problems from fish diseases to coral parasites. Read the Sticky's on how to set it up properly.

[Reefing Madness]

Since I am new to this hobby I do not yet have a quaranteen tank. I watched this fish for 3 days at the dealer before the purchase. She has been in my FOWLR tank 2 days. Tonight she began flashing from time to time. She is eating well and no other fish showing symptoms. I did a 20 % water change the day I got her before placing her in the tank. No spots of anykind are evident.

I was informed tonight by my wife that when the dealer bagged her she did so with a bare hand instead of the net. GRRRRR! I had left the room for a few moments and didn't see that. Could it be slime coat damage? How long if it is velvet or ich will it take for spots to become visable? Could it be stress?

Water: PH-8.2 Ni,NA, Amonia, all not detectable. Spec. Grav. 1.024 . I do have a noticable diatom outbreak that is getting better and a clean up crew going to town. This Jewel seems to continually graze on the diatoms? She will often pick up snails and transport them to other areas of the tank? hmmm

On edit: I ? my wife for specifics. The dealer had cornered the fish with the net but removed it from the tank with her hand! PLace it in a plastic box of water from the tank and then transfered all to the bag. I think I am not a happy camper!

Thats the way those boys do it. Inexperienced LFS.
But, fish swimming and eating means your in good shape. Getting used to its territory. And yes, some fish like to play with the crabs and snails, move them about. I do not believe they damaged the fish coat. Grazing on Diatoms is weird. But, all sounds typical to a newly added fish. They jsut do wierd stuff when they are first introduced.

[ShooterRick]

Since I had done a 20% water change the day we brought home the fish and since no spotts were evident and the fish was swimming well and eating I chose to simply dose the tank with a stress coat type product from AP. Today the fish is no longer flashing and no spots are evident. Her tank mates all look well and happy. A purple (strawberry) psuedochromis, a marroon clown, a yellow tail blue damsel. These are all somewhat aggressive fish and each has its own general area in my 29 fowlr tank. I consider this tank fully stocked and also have some small Pencil Cap. Red Flame , and Ulva macro algae. The only other stock I forsee for this tank is after a few months a nem for the clown. My diatom outbreak is subsiding rapidly and the clean up crew is hard at work as well. I very small amount of green algae was on the glass tonight but seems not to be out of controll. Thanks for all the help!

OH I have 96 watts of T5 lighting on this tank. 2 daylight 12ks 2 true blue actinics, and 4 led moonlights all on timers.

[Reefing Madness]

Since I had done a 20% water change the day we brought home the fish and since no spotts were evident and the fish was swimming well and eating I chose to simply dose the tank with a stress coat type product from AP. Today the fish is no longer flashing and no spots are evident. Her tank mates all look well and happy. A purple (strawberry) psuedochromis, a marroon clown, a yellow tail blue damsel. These are all somewhat aggressive fish and each has its own general area in my 29 fowlr tank. I consider this tank fully stocked and also have some small Pencil Cap. Red Flame , and Ulva macro algae. The only other stock I forsee for this tank is after a few months a nem for the clown. My diatom outbreak is subsiding rapidly and the clean up crew is hard at work as well. I very small amount of green algae was on the glass tonight but seems not to be out of controll. Thanks for all the help!

OH I have 96 watts of T5 lighting on this tank. 2 daylight 12ks 2 true blue actinics, and 4 led moonlights all on timers.

Sounds like a winner to me.

[ShooterRick]

Sounds like a winner to me.

Thanks for the encouragement. I have plans for a 100 gal. reef tank and am now considering how I want it to be set up. After this intitial scare I think I will keep the fowlr and slowly reduce its bioload and remove most of the live rock when I set up the 100. I can then use it as a isolation/hospitol tank in the future. I know its a bit big for that but since I have it I might use it that way. If I do can I pull say 2/3rds the water out to move it to a bedroom and then replace the water once moved? Will this crash the 29 fowlr if I do this? I would replace the 4 fish with say a school of 3 or so blue chromis to keep it up and running.
..

[Reefing Madness]

Thanks for the encouragement. I have plans for a 100 gal. reef tank and am now considering how I want it to be set up. After this intitial scare I think I will keep the fowlr and slowly reduce its bioload and remove most of the live rock when I set up the 100. I can then use it as a isolation/hospitol tank in the future. I know its a bit big for that but since I have it I might use it that way. If I do can I pull say 2/3rds the water out to move it to a bedroom and then replace the water once moved? Will this crash the 29 fowlr if I do this? I would replace the 4 fish with say a school of 3 or so blue chromis to keep it up and running.
..

2/3rds is alot. I usually only say in extreme circumstances to only replace 1/2 the water. I'm not gonna just guess on this one. Maybe someone else has a better idea on the 2/3rds thing. I do know that all your bacteria is on the rock and sand, so, if I'm thinking this out correctly, I think you could. As long as you have that saltwater set up for 24hrs before and at temp.

[reeferbill]

I'm glad your new addition is okay! Happy Reefing!!

[leebca]

I didn't catch the size of the tank you think might be too large for a QT. The size of the QT is important. You really don't want it to be too big, or parasites might not reproduce fast enough to be evident.

Go slowly with the move and give the new tank time to 'get old.' Good luck!