Foxface stressed

[mattjacks]

Hi,

I am new to this site, and have joined as my foxface is showing signs of distress.

I have a 350litre tank which homes the following fish, 2 clowns, 1 false gramma, 1 blue damsel, 1 yellow tang, 1 regal tang, 1 flame angel, 1 goby watchman, 1 pistol strimp, 1 fox face, 1 cleaner wrasse, a bubble amemone, a few hermit crabs & a turbo snail.

I got the flame angel and the foxface last week, and they settled in semi ok (bearing in mind I have a yellow tang). The YT was not interested in the foxface much and seemed to be only interested in the flame angel - so he did not show any signs on stress when he joined the tank. All our levels are good (nitrate 0, PH 8.2, amonia 0,nitrite 0, salt level ok (0.022)

A few days ago we added more live rock (just because we needed more in the tank) and the clown fish were attacking my partner (I think they are trying to breed and didnt like his hand placing new rock into the tank) The Foxface seemed fine when all this was happening.

Today when we have got up the foxface was in the back corner at the top of the water with its fins out and brown coloured. We have given him some food pellets (formula 1) and so far he has not gone near this, we have also put some new dry seaweed into the tank and not gone near this either.

Can anybody have a guess why he is hiding at the top and not being his normal self, if you need more information let me know.

Sorry for the long post, just very concerned.

Matt

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND, MATT!

There are a potential few complications that have come about. New live rock sometimes goes through another curing phase which can cause spikes of ammonia and nitrites. Something you may not have detected. If this fish was so poisoned, it may recover IF there is no more ammonia and nitrites present. Test the water for ammonia AND nitrites four or five times during the day for the next 5 days, especially, 1-2 hours after each feeding. Use only a test kit (not test strips) for this testing. If all readings all the times are none-detected, this then may not be the case.

However, the fish is more or less behaving as if another fish is attacking it. Have you sat in front of the tank for a couple of hours to observe all the behavior of your fishes? Once they get used to you, their true nature tends to come out. You may find that one or more fishes are not happy with the Foxface.

The Foxface in general is a timid fish and other fishes in a community tank tend to pick on them. However, I would not put one in with a pair of Anemonefishes. A pair of Anemonefishes is just too aggressive (as your partner found out).

I don't know how the fish was acclimated. However, this can be a bad reaction to acclimation. If it is this, the fish may recover or. . .not, on its own. Nothing to do now about this.

I assume from the post the fish was not quarantined and highly recommend you begin using that procedure. You are risking the lives of many fishes. Your loss in time, expense, and emotional investment would be considerable if a single fish at this point in time brings in a disease that kills all or most of the others.

Next to last comment: The tank is too small for members of the Tang family, which includes the Foxface. If you want to keep these kinds of fishes, and when they get to be over 6 cm long, they need a tank no less than 2 meters long and of no less than 700 liters for this grouping of Tangs and the Foxface. However, this is not related to the immediate concern you have, as is my last comment.

Last comment is on your choice of foods. Not directly related to this problem, but I strongly urge you to stop feeding flake and pellets. More is explained here on that topic: Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition