Ich on my royal gramma

[DSREEFER]

Hi all. I have a 75g fowlr tank with 2 percula clowns 2 damsels a watchman goby and a royal gramma. The tank has been set up for about 3 months now. Ammonia-0 nitrate-0 nitrite-0 salinity 1.024. My royal gramma has been acting odd. It used to sit in a cave up on its bottom fins and now he sits on his side more often than not. I do see him eating but not as much as before. I adjusted some power heads to help with some junk settling on the rocks and it ended up blowing the sand around. I can't tell if the white spots on my gramma are pieces of sand or ich. None of the other fish have spots but I have seen a spot or two on the gramma before. So my question is, does this sound and look like it could be ich?

 

[jd371]

Looks like sand to me. I have the very fine sugar type sand and once in while it gets on him. Is he flashing on the rocks or sand?

 

[DSREEFER]

No I have not seen him flashing. If anything, He seems more lethargic than usual

 

[DavidGraves]

Any bullying?

 

[Sapelo]

Did you quarantine prior to adding the fish to your DT?

 

[A.Astore]

I thought it looked like sand as well but if he is acting out of sorts maybe you should pull him out into another small tank until you see where it goes from here. I know when my Royal first came he was laying on his side a lot and not moving around. He ended up with velvet which luckily he was in a QT and I was watching him like every gasp was going to be his last so I noticed it rather quickly. If you have him pulled and determine there is something in fact wrong you will be able to treat much more effectively.

Have you noticed any stringy poop? Heavy breathing? Again, this would probably be easier in a small tank vs trying to monitor in a larger one. It would be able to be small (even a 10 gallon with a heater and powerhead aimed just right). Some people use a Rubbermaid container but I like to be able to look directly at the fish.

Good luck and I hope it is nothing!

 

[DSREEFER]

So a little more history, Before my 75 I had a 15 gallon with the 2 clowns and the royal gramma. The royal gramma would come out and eat and acted normally. They were in this tank for just under a year and it wasn't until the transfer into the bigger tank that he started acting like this. I haven't seen any bullying towards him and he moves around the tank a fair amount but seems to always find himself on his side or vertically in a corner. He's not breathing heavy and I have not seen any stringy poop. I did not initially quarantine him but I have read how important a quarantine is and I am currently cycling the 15 gallon so it will be a permanent quarantine. I was thinking that he would be my first resident. Also I noticed that some of the white particles seemed like they were stringing along from his tail, I didn't know if this was from his slime coat or something else. Thank you for all the replies!

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I'm pretty sure that's sand on him.

 

[A.Astore]

Out of curiosity, why are you cycling your QT? I have noticed a few others say they do this and am wondering why people take the time to do this?

As long as there is nothing in the tank other than the needed equipment which was cleaned from prior use there will be no die off (no rock/sand). And Prime can be added as long as medication is not used right away to start the bacteria. Most people simply have their sponge filter in the sump of the display to be able to pull it to the QT when needed (I don't even do this for the TTM approach).

Just curious because I have seen this in posts before. Just making sure I am not missing something :uhoh3:

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I laugh every time I hear "cycle the QT" There is nothing to cycle.

 

[A.Astore]

Ok, I was pretty certain I was not missing something pretty major... but... you just never know