New Ocellaris not eating and breathing heavy

[Kaos]

I just got an Ocellaris (1") Saturday. He is in a 55 gal. FOWLR w/ another Ocellaris (2.5") that has been in there about a month. The established Ocellaris fought w/ the new one for a few minutes when I first put him in. But once he submitted they have been friends ever since (the larger, established one, will often swim near the new one and hang out for short periods). Well the new one has been breathing heavily since Saturday and still hasn't eaten. I have been feeding them Cyclopeese, Brine Shrimp Plus, and mixed frozen fish foods. The little one swims around during feeding but will not eat. I'm starting to get concerned because his swimming has slowed down allot since I got him and he is still breathing rather heavy. If it matters I FW dipped for about 20 sec. before going into the tank. The only other inhabitants in the tank is a CB shrimp and some Nassarius snails. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[IslandCrow]

If you have a hospital tank, you may want to put him in there. I had a small GSM that showed similar symptoms, and I believe what he had was brook, but it didn't show any physical manifestations until pretty late in the game, and unfortunately I lost him, but fortunately, he was in QT, so it didn't affect any of my other fish. Anyway, I'm hardly qualified to diagnose your fish, but keep an eye out for any discoloration, spots or anything else strange. Keep trying to get him to eat, and you may want to post this in the fish disease forum as well. Ask the experts there if they would suggest treating with antibiotics as a precautionary measure. As for the FW dip, I don't think 20s would stress him out at all. FW dips are usually given for at least a few minutes. Anything shorter than that is probably not likely to kill any parasites that may be on the fish.

Good luck, I hope the little guy gets better.

 

[Kaos]

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately I came home from work tonight to find him dead. I don't understand why I can't keep anything other than my Ocellaris and CB shrimp alive. Both of them are absolutely thriveing. I guess I need to be more picky at the LFS. It seems when I go they only have one or two of the fish I want. Their water isn't the greatest and they sell out quickly, so you have to get the fish fast. I realize it's not the best way but it's the best way available to me (mail order really isn't economical for me). I've learned from it so I guess it's not a total loss. Thanks again.

 

[IslandCrow]

I'm really sorry to hear that. I wouldn't be at all surprised if your fish was already sick at the LFS, and there very well may not have been anything you could have done. The maroon clown that died on me seemed to be about the same story. I actually never buy fish from the LFS closest to me, and I drive about 50 miles each way to Pensacola. Of course, if you have no other options nearby, that makes it tough.

If the fish coming from your LFS are suspect, you may want to consider doing a longer freshwater dip. 3-5 minutes is generally suggested, though I've also heard from one of the experts on this site that anything under 5 minutes may not be effective. Just keep a close eye on the fish and take it out immediately if it shows signs of stress. I had a tang die on me recently, and I think it was indirectly caused by the stress of a 5 minute freshwater dip. I'd given the same fish a 4 minute dip on a previous occasion with no ill effects, though. Another option is to do a formalin bath. I, personally, cringe a little at this as a preemptive measure, because I don't think we really understand the long term affects of formalin on fish, but there are quite a few people here who do formalin baths for all their new fish. It is very effective at treating external parasites. Here are a couple articles describing the procedures in case you're not familiar:

Formalin Bath

Freshwater Dip