Emperor angle scratching

[crook6693]

Hey

I have an adult emperor about 8 inch's in size who always eats well and is a good width, for the last 2 months he keeps going down to the sand on his right side and rubs into the sand.

never the left side and on the left all looks normal and breaths normal that side, on the right side it looks very slightly swollen and breaths quicker on the right side?

all other fish are fine, fluke solve has been carried out twice due to what I have mentioned and the odd flick of his head, I cant see anything else on his body or around and 2 months is along time, I cant use cupramine in my FOWLR as I have a shark.

Thanks JC

 

[Newsmyrna80]

What is fluke solve? Have you tried a FW dip on the emperor?

 

[crook6693]

Fluke solve is from a vet and is widely used here in the UK, deals with worms and flukes, google would be best to see.

we cannot catch him to dip, any ideas

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Have you added any livestock to the tank in the last couple of months?

 

[crook6693]

no, nothing added for a year, I run 110 watts of uv at 3500 litres an hour too so not sure what is or good have been in the system, just very strange as only one side and he grunts more than he ever use to.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Ok, so nothing added in the last year means we can rule out parasitic. Let's look at environmental and pathological. Is it possible he has something lodged/attached to his gill?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Do you have a cleaner shrimp or maybe a Heniochus? My Heniochus was my "nurse" fish when I had my large emperor and she took care of all of my butterfly's as well. Might consider adding one, they were a favorite fish in my tank among all inhabitants and had a "cleaning" station where all fish came by to get cleaned, even in the gills and mouth. Quite the site to see.

 

[crook6693]

I have lion fish, triggers and puffers so cleaning crew are limited,

Heniochus is that a long fin banner, I did not know they were clean up crew.

any other options do you think, I would luv to catch the emperor but I have no chance in my tank setup

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I have lion fish, triggers and puffers so cleaning crew are limited,

Heniochus is that a long fin banner, I did not know they were clean up crew.

any other options do you think, I would luv to catch the emperor but I have no chance in my tank setup

Not a clean up crew per se but they are to me a "nurse" fish. No not a "banner fish" but a butterflyfish.