# What's wrong with my fish



## Dax (Sep 29, 2010)

New at this. Moved an established setup into my new tank, same size:
60 gal, 60 lbs live rock
protein skimmer
HOB filter
Canister filter
Large Heniochus 6"
Large BTA 10-12"

3 weeks now the setup "looks" fine, except Nitrates high (>150). Been working on it, but still high. The anemone has been "looking" fine and eats fine. The Heniochus has been shy and comes out only once the lights go out. He eats when food floats past his face, but other than that nothing out of the ordinary.

Here's the new problem, went out this morning, everything was fine. Just got back maybe 8 hours later, the Heniochus is looking and acting weird. The black stripes are faded (almost gray) and he is swimming outside of his normal routine with the lights out; If it was a person I'd say he was drunk .. moving slowly and bumping into things.
WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON ?
Do I need to do anything?
Currentlly, it's lights out. Should I try feeding? Should I turn on the lights? The water is the same as it was before.


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## acer (May 18, 2010)

what are you feeding it? 

leave lights off until they are supposed to come one in the morning.

might be caused by stress, but I think it's more of it not getting enough nutrients from what you are feeding it. maybe try a different food. 

and do you have pics? preferably clear ones


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## Dax (Sep 29, 2010)

He back in his cave, so hard to get a picture right now, but I've been feeding it mysis. I did find that the canister filter was unplugged while I was gone (8 hours). There should have been enough flow plus the HOB filter was still running. Look slike some of the colour is back.

Should I feed it or wait another day? I see it eating some of the critters on the substrate from time to time.


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## acer (May 18, 2010)

try a little bit and see if he'll eat. also try getting another type of food it. imo it's better to have a couple types of food on hand so the fish can have a better diet. 

but yeah, sounds like it was stress related.


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## Dax (Sep 29, 2010)

I hear people talking about stressed out fish and am still learning what that means. I can guess for some of the reasons for stress, but the symptoms I'm not sure about, as well as as recovery. 

I hear spots are a sign of stress, discoloration probably too. This also makes them prone to disease. What I'm not sure of is what to do (other than remove the obvious signs) and how long it takes.

I have mysis, squid, brine shrimp and some veggie mixture; all frozen cubes. I figure this is a good mix. I tried some seaweed, but it wasn't too interested. Should I look into flakes or pellets?


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## acer (May 18, 2010)

oh, thats a good mix then... i thought you meant you were just feeding it mysis. 

stress symptoms... are actually kind of similar to anything that gets stressed... pale colour, rapid breathing, lethargic movements, pacing... 

there might have been a change in water quality with your canister filter being off. did you test the water when you noticed the fish acting funny?


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## marblerye (Jul 25, 2010)

*in my opinion it just sounds like fish that are asleep..*

fish usually hide in small crevices in the rocks but if it's too big or decides to pick a spot outside the rocks such as a corner, it'll just hang around there while it sleeps.

i've never had a heniochus but what you described is what usually happens when my clowns (which i do not have anymore; gave him away) are sleeping. fish colors tend to fade when lights go out, they can almost appear to lose their stripes altogether and appear to be completely faded. if you shine light on them or turn on the light inside the room, after a few minutes of this they can get startled and go into a subconscious pattern of swimming very rapidly back and forth blindly while bumping into anything and everything along the way.. this is VERY bad for them because they can swim into rocks and hurt themselves. mind you, they are probably still asleep because they swim up and down, and across the tank bumping into things.

if this sounds like what's happening with your fish, you just need to keep lights out in the room where the tank is. with my tank, i can't run moonlights all night because they are way too bright for my tank so i have them shut off when no one is around to see the tank (12am).


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## Dax (Sep 29, 2010)

You may be right. Usually, when I've been home, some type of lights are on, so I've really noticed if the fish loses color during lights out. The color mostly came back the next day, but still not quite the same. Unusual but I'll keep watching.


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