I want to make sure my Potters Angel is alright

[splix]

I've had my potters for about a month now. He has plenty of caves to hide in which he takes advantage of. He's eating really well, even pulling frozen cube food out of the water column which i know is rare for these fish.

The weeks prior he was swimming around picking at rock, and not very afraid, but you could tell he was timid. He was out enough that you would know he was in the tank.
Lately in the last week he has been hiding to the point that I dont see him at all unless I look for him. He went into a cave that I can see into so I shined a flashlight to get a better look at him to make sure he was ok, and I didnt see anything wrong with him. He's not got ich that I can see, he looks fine. I couldnt see if he was flashing his gills though.
Just now I saw him come out of one of his spots and rocket around the tank a few times at full speed then dive back into a cave.

When I feed the tank he will come out to get food but then hides again for the rest of the day.

I just want to make sure he's OK. It's like he's deathly afraid of something all of a sudden. Nothing has changed.

155 gallon tank. Water parameters are perfect. 1.0255 salt. 0 amm, 0 nitrit, 0 nitrate.
Very minimal fish load. It's him, a gold head goby, and 2 juvinile black ocellaris. I do have hermits and tiger strip snails for cleanup crew.

 

[splix]

I just caught him in his cave again and could get a better look at him. He's not flashing gills.

Is there something I should look for with him?

 

[Deinonych]

Was this fish quarantined prior to introduction to the DT?

 

[splix]

Yes. He went through a prazi round. I know potters dont transition well either. Would he have gotten something from the QT to DT transition? It's been a month now though.

 

[scooter31707]

As long as he is eating, I wouldn't worry about it. They can be very tricky to care for. Some people get some that are perfect and some get some that just won't play by the rules. I think you just may have a shy one.

 

[splix]

he's shy for sure. He seems ok, it was just his drastic behavior change that concerned me the most.

 

[Daniel62]

who else is in the tank with him?

 

[snorvich]

The time line is concerning given reclusive behavior.

 

[splix]

2 juvenile clowns and a gold head goby with him in the tank (outside of inverts)
I had blues only on the tank last night and he was out and about running around as normal, actually swimming around the top area of the tank. As soon as he saw me though he hid. He never used to do this.
Something about people being at the tank freaks him out all of a sudden.

 

[splix]

He has swim bladder disease for sure. He came out of the rocks last night after the lights went down and I was watching him and he was head up at the surface. I thought he was just trying to pick at stuff on the top of the water. He was swimming a little funny but he then started swimming normal and went back down into a cave. The thought of him having SBD crossed my mind at that point but him swimming back down I thought "nahhh, probably just me freaking out".

Well today he was in caves all morning resting just over the sand swimming and staying in place like he has been, and swimming from cave to cave. I came down stairs a few hours later and noticed he was out but swimming very weird so I watched him. Sure enough, he just went head up vertical and was bouncing there right below the water surface. He got caught in the top current and floated over to the drains and was stuck to the side of one. I thought I just watched him die, but he was alive. I netted him (he started flipping around so I knew he was very alive) and I put him over into my QT that has been running fallow. I'm glad I had it running with the heaters. Tested salt, temp, and PH to make sure they matched before I put him in.
Now that he's in the QT, he's just bobbing towards the bottom of the tank, heads up. He's trying to swim around but he cant. He's breathing normal but a bit stressed I'm sure. He's looking around I can see his eyes moving. I did notice behind his front fins seems bulged.

I dont know how to treat it, or what to even do. I put tripple sulfa in the water just as a broad spectrum anti-bacterial.
People are saying to needle the bladder but holy hell I've not not even the slightest clue on how to do that, where, what to make sure not to do, etc.

Water in the DT has been perfect ever since he was in there. 1.0255-1.026 salt, 79-80 temp, 0 amm, 0 nitri, 0-1 nitrate, .1 PO4. He was eating out of the water with the rest of the fish and picking at algae on the rocks. This all of a sudden happened this week, maybe started to develop last weekend.

 

[Code4]

I hope things are looking up. I am considering getting one.

Shelley