percula breathing rapid

[TRichardson79]

I need some advice. I bought a pair of tank bred true perculas a couple weeks ago. They are not a mated pair. Although I did get a larger one and a smaller one in hopes of them becoming a pair.
Today I woke up and checked on them and the smaller one of the two is breathing rapid. Has been all day, just hangs out, with it's face buried in the rocks. At dinner time the smaller one did not eat. A few days ago it was eating very little but it's appetite picked up a little. Is this something to be worried about??

My params are:
Temp: 78.5
SG: 1.024
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5
pH: 8.0

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Probably a protozoan gill parasite of some sort. Flukes also cause similar symptoms, but are unusual except in WC fish.

I would give the affected fish a freshwater dip. Here's how you do it, if you're unfamiliar with the process: take a liter or so of RO water, heat it to the same temp as the tank, buffer it to the EXACT same pH as the tank, net the fish out of the display tank, place the fish in the quart of buffered RO water for 3 minutes (get a timer/watch with second hand). Watch the fish constantly -- if the fish lays down on the bottom (it probably will), tap the side of the container to get it swimming again. If the fish becomes unresponsive before 3 min have passed, net it out of the container and return it to the DT; really sick fish stress out easier in FW dips, and you don't want to kill it. If all goes well, after 3 min of being in the FW, net the fish out and return it to the DT. Discard the RO water.

 

[TRichardson79]

I had everything set up and ready to go for a FW dip but unfortunately I was unable to catch him and did not want to stress him out anymore, so I gave up. Little guy has a lot of places to hide in a 75g.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Understandable. If it is a protozoan, there's a good chance it is Brooklynella, which often infects the clownfish in a tank and leaves everything else alone. That's a bit of good news, I suppose. I hope the fish comes around.

 

[TRichardson79]

Now if it is Brooklynella, I would need to intervene and quarantine the fish and provide treatment. Correct? This is not something one would want to run it's course, which the end result would more than likely be the death of the fish.
I just find it odd that the larger one of the 2 is healthy as can be. The larger one is bullying the smaller one though, but I thought that was normal in deciding which one becomes female. I don't know if that is contributing to the stress of the smaller one.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Possibly aggression related stress is an issue -- not so likely in a 75g, but maybe. How small is the smaller one? CB clowns are shipped too small, sometimes. They seem to be really weak under, oh, an inch or so (I'm bad with judging size...y'know, the really little ones).

Brooklynella, IME, is cleared up by one FW dip. Sometimes it takes two dips, one or two days apart. I don't know of any med you might use in QT to treat it -- someone probably knows more than me on this.