Genicanthus bellus problems

BobDBobby

New member
Hey everyone, I've asked everyone I can think of about this and have no one else. So I'm praying someone here can help me.
Here's the set-up
75gal reef tank with ~125lb fiji lr 100lb ls
a 55gal fuge with chaeto
return pump is a mag 7 and i have mj1200's on a wavemaker in the tank
It's been up and running for the past 6 months and only one micromussa death do to stupid power outage. Mainly softies and lps and few sps. Stock is a 8 green chromis, 2" tomini tang, and a pair of pink skunk clowns. I just got a pair of bellus angels on friday shipped. There were some mix ups and the box was late 2 hours so i tried to get them in the tank asap. I drip acclimated for 1.5 hours taking out water from the bag ever half hour. The female was vertical in the bag with her mouth out of the water. the male looked fine and was very smooth and horizontal. the male looked like he had no problems. after the 1.5 hours the female looked worse so she went in right away
the male still looked calm and fine. right when the female went in she did great. she swam with no problems. oh also these fish were at the store for 3 weeks and they both are eating frozen and flakes.
so the male went in next and he seemed fine too
they were both breathing hard but nothing major. during this time i left only the actinics on and fed mysis a few hours later and they both ate with no problems
during this time the female stayed right next to the glass not moving and the male was swimming all over the place. everything seems fine now but the next day things got a little crazy. morning the actinics turned on and the male started chasing the female. i thought theyre just playing cause theyre "supposed" to be a pair. so the lights come on an hour later and the male stops chasing...wierd. the first day they eat well. the next day i start to see problems. the male is still breathing hard and the female is fine, no problems at all.
oh and the male had 3 white spots so instead of thinking about what it could be i went out and got a cleaner shrimp
so the female is still doing well and the male is still breathing hard and doesnt even come out anymore
i did water tests when i noticed this and i found out the ammonia and nitrites are around 0.4 and the nitrate is 20mg/l
a lot higher than i thought so i did a ~18 gal water change. and lowered the salinity to 30. it was at 32 before. i lowered the salinity over 4 hours.
the fish is still breathing hard and now jolts around at times hitting the rock and glass
it looks violent
no tattered fins and no visible signs of anything wrong other than the breathing and not swimming.
he still moves his fins has anyone had this happen to them?
this is a first for me but i know what a fish looks like when they are about to die and I HATE NOT BEING ABLE TO DO ANYTHING
i also tested the water from the bag they came in and the pH was around 7 and the salinity was ~24
another thing is why is the female perfectly fine and the male is all screwy?
I DONT GET IT
TIA
exhausted and frustrated
Bob:(
 
The ammonia and nitrite are likely the worst of your problems. These guys, even on a good day, just aren't tolerant of poor water quality. Can you find a temporary home for them in order to give them some relief?

You mention that they were just shipped, but then you mention that they were at the store for three weeks. So were they shipped ...as in mail order ..from a store? How did you know they were eating as well as you say they were.? Just curious.
 
The only thing I have to go by is their word of mouth and that the female is eating, and the first day the male was eating too. At first I thought it was water quality too but then the female is doing really well. And I can understand that the other fish probably adapted to the lower water quality but then there's the female. Why would the female do so much better than the male? The pair were at the store for three weeks, so they told me. I asked for pictures constantly of the fish and they kept holding off and not responding until ~2 weeks after I asked them. And the pictures were really blurry but enough to tell that they were male and female. And yes they were mail ordered.
But, the male did die last night. I would still like to understand what happened since I've never heard of anything like this.
 
Well, certainly one of the risks of buying mail order. I'd be making a phone call though.

Let me know how the other fish does, and what transpires if you make that phone call.

Good luck!
 
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