Help!!! Acclimation Freak Out ...Me & Midas Blenny!

[JR8999]

I just brought home a gorgeous Midas Blenny. Been watching him for over a month at my LFS. Today he was looking great...swimming gracefully all over the tank. His coloring was a vibrant bright yellow at the LFS. The drive home was about 30 minutes. There was a 5 point diff in salinity so I had to drip acclimate for about another 30 minutes. His coloring was understandably terrible becuase of the stress of the trip etc. I finally have him in the QT and he is not looking good at all. He is huddled in the corner with labored breathing. His coloring is very brown and not the bright yellow he had a couple hours ago. I've never brought home a fish that looked so healthy at the LFS and looks so terrible in the DT. Please tell me it's just temporarty stress???
Thanks!

 

[Sk8r]

FOr some reason my answer didn't post. Turn out the lights and give him a pvc pipe joint to hide in.

 

[gone fishin]

Take a breath and do as Sk8r suggests.

 

[JR8999]

Thanks to you both. Sk8r...love your posts, plain english, common sense topics and a calming effect on us newbs. I have 3 peices of PVT near him. He is a large MB (4")
He looked so majestic in the LFS. Bummed out I stressed him so much. I hope he survives.

 

[JR8999]

** pvc

 

[gone fishin]

I am always amazed at the places a fish can squeeze into.

 

[JoelA7]

Hi JR keep us posted. I have a Midas in the last week of QT. He started out swimming constantly as in for about 24-36 hours, before becoming more blenny-like. Really has adapted well. Tolerated copper. Eats everything so far even interested in pellets. Hope yours makes it they are really cool fish.

 

[JR8999]

Thanks for the feedback Joel. Day 2 (been in QT for 18 hours) taken to one of the PVC pieces. Some movement in and out of the pipe but nothing I would deem healthy. His coloring is still dark brown. I originally thought he may have been a little big to start out with but his active nature at the LFS won me over. I feel terrible at his current state. I hope to see some steady improvement. I also added a Chromis to the QT at the same time and he seems to be doing very well.... go figure.

 

[Waters40]

He won't regain his bright yellow coloring until he is 100% stress free....which probably won't happen until he is in the DT.

 

[Mike Ordner]

I agree that off color is not a bad sign. This is his camouflage color. Better question is he eating anything yet? If you get him eating and water parameters are good in QT then he should be fine. They can be very shy until they acclimate.

 

[JR8999]

Thanks guys. I will try to feed him tonight when I get home. I have pellets and mysis. I will try both. I also will do a partial water change but I'm very apprehensive about him jumping out of the 10g QT while I have the lid off. He was jumping like crazy in the bag before I put him in.

 

[Zer0.]

My Midas is just about ready to come out of QT, for what its worth I did not drip as salinity was within .001, and the blenny still seemed pretty stressed. He hid behind the heater for almost 2 weeks, and looked like an old banana peel (brown splotches) and would only come out to grab a fast bite during feeding time. now he is out swimming all the time, a brilliant gold color and looking happy as can be.

Sounds like you did everything right, I assume you dripped at a quick enough rate to get the salinity with .001 or .002 in those 30 min? As others have said just give it some time. Mine love both hikari mysis and PE mysis.

Hope he does great, mine is alteady one of my favorite fish. Love hsi eel like swimming and color .

GL!
-Z

 

[Zer0.]

Forgot to mention I also supplement his diet with both NLS pellets and formula 2 pellets. Which both he seems to like.

 

[JR8999]

Thanks Zer0! Your responses are reassuring.
I will try some PE mysis and NLS pellets tonight.

 

[TangySushi]

Make sure to keep a screen cover over the tank, midas blennys are good jumpers

 

[JR8999]

Yeah I'm very concerned about him jumping. I have a solid cover on the QT. I want to make sure I vacuum excess food out of the 10g QT without him going skydiving. He tried to jump as the LFS was taking him out of the DT and he was jumping in the bag on the way home.

 

[JR8999]

Update: the MB was moving around a bit more. I tried some mysis and he gobbled it down! His color is coming back a bit but his head is still brown. Ammonia seems to be creeping up in the QT so I did a 30 % water change. Based on his improvement just in the first day I'm thinking he will be ok. Thanks to all for your experiences and advice.

 

[Crooked Reef]

For what it's worth my Midas blenny kept his brown head for about 3 or 4 weeks after being out in the display. Behaved fine, out swimming and all. Unfortunately he dissapeared while I was on vacation and my mom was taking care of my tank. Awesome fish. I think that they just keep their stressed colors for a while.