Fish paralyzed/in shock after dip?

[Newms118]

I just dipped a chromis and a chalk bass for about 40 to 50 minutes in Paraguard. Everything seemed fine, the fish didnt seem stressed when in the dip, they swam around fine but weren't trying to jump out of the water. I then caught the fish with a net, moved them back to the QT tank, put them in, and they seemed to go into some sort of shock. The chromis went completely grey like it was really stressed, tried swimming and just sort of sank to the bottom. Its just sitting there upright breathing fast and acting stunned. It wont move around. When I did this to the chalk bass, it was like it went completely limp. Its front fins worked but its tail just seemed kind of stuck. It flipped and floated around a bit, then kind of pushed itself against a tube so it didnt move. Now its just sitting on the bottom of the tank, breathing a little fast but not moving.

Before the dip I checked temp and salinity, which were a match. The dip saltwater was mixed all day, and then when I added the Paraguard, I continued to mix for about an hour. I used an airstone during the dip for continued aeration. And I say again, while in the dip water the fish seemed fine and swam fine. The chalk bass just sat at the bottom near the heater and when I moved that it swam to hide again. Was really hard to catch with the net as well, very fast.

What gives?

 

[CuttleGuy]

When doing treatment its always good to drip acclimate them into and out of it.

 

[Newms118]

When doing treatment its always good to drip acclimate them into and out of it.

So this is more of an acclimation issue? Just seems strange that if the salinity and temp were the same, the fish would react this way. And it seems like its more from an absence of the Paraguard since the fish going into the dip was fine but going from dip back to QT tank was traumatic.

 

[Deinonych]

When doing treatment its always good to drip acclimate them into and out of it.

I've never heard/read that. Citation?

 

[Newms118]

Update

The chromis is still dark grey and sitting in its same spot. still breathing but not terribly heavy. The chalk bass is also still in its area but as moved just a bit. Theres also like a trail of slime/bubbles come from it, so it looks like the fish has ramped up its slime secretions. What does it mean when the fish is secreting more slime after being re-introduced to a tank? Hopefully they survive the night .

 

[Newms118]

Update

The chromis is still dark grey and sitting in its same spot. still breathing but not terribly heavy. The chalk bass is also still in its area but as moved just a bit. Theres also like a trail of slime/bubbles come from it, so it looks like the fish has ramped up its slime secretions. What does it mean when the fish is secreting more slime after being re-introduced to a tank? Hopefully they survive the night .

So both fish survived. The chalk bass seems like its back to normal, just a little sluggish. The chromis has returned to swimming like, for lack of a better description, drunk.

Here is what the fish looks like prevously (ignore the red spot):

Here is what the fish looks like now:

The chromis just swims around but wont eat anything. It seems to bump into objects every now and then, and it doesnt seem to react to me anymore. Like the fish used to spook easily. Now if I wake my hands it just ignores me and swims around, its like the fish is drugged up or something. Only drugs in the tank is CP at 60 mg / gallon and Prazipro.

 

[CuttleGuy]

I've never heard/read that. Citation?

You should know any drastic change of temp, parameters, pH, oxygen etc puts stress on fish. Drip acclimating would ease them back into the levels. Also keep in mind how small these fish are and when fish loose color it's most likely stress.

 

[Naraku]

I've dipped many types of fish.

I think you probably overdosed the formalin.

its supposed to be 1ml/gal for 45 minutes

 

[Naraku]

Never mind, thought you were talking about formalin.

 

[Newms118]

You should know any drastic change of temp, parameters, pH, oxygen etc puts stress on fish. Drip acclimating would ease them back into the levels. Also keep in mind how small these fish are and when fish loose color it's most likely stress.

I understand. Unfortunately the fish is still acting the same. I think its gone blind. See my post here.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2592063

I changed the water and replace the drugs, but this time only 40 mg / gallon for CP. No change in the fish. It wont eat, it just swims around, dont think it even sees the food.

 

[Deinonych]

You should know any drastic change of temp, parameters, pH, oxygen etc puts stress on fish. Drip acclimating would ease them back into the levels. Also keep in mind how small these fish are and when fish loose color it's most likely stress.

Sure, but the proper way to do dips is to match all parameters first so you don't have to drip acclimate the fish.