Sick fish?

[fyrfytr]

2 days ago my wife noticed that our velvet blue damsel was discolored. Instead of being all black he was brown in spots and swimming like crazy. A quick Google search brought up it could be a nitrate issue. I already had a bucket of water mixed for about a 10% water change. Same Google search said or could be a being bullied issue, so I changed about 30%-40% of the aquascaping.

Been watching him and it seems to come and go. I cant find any locical reason. He is being bullied some, but he does it right back to the same fish.

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[fyrfytr]

Sorry its a poor picture, he wasnt the easiest to catch on camera

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[MrTuskfish]

What is your nitrate level? I doubt that nitrate is a factor; nitrate has to be sky high to bother any fish and damsels are especially tough. I think this is one of the Neoglyphidodon genus damsels that turn from very pretty little fish into rather drab and very aggressive terrors. Just guessing; it could be just starting its change now.

 

[spieszak]

does it come and go at lights out/lights on? A lot of fish lose color when "sleeping" and it returns once they are active again...

 

[fyrfytr]

@ mrtuskdish - I have it at home, I wanna say it was around 50. Whatever it was, it wasnt a recient spike. My nitrates have been a little up for a while, working on getting them down. That same Google search mentioned the loss of color in the specific species/type, but it comes and goes so I am not sure that it is a color change issue. One of the other issues it mentioned was if it was being bullied, and I am prone to think that it is. We got the blue velvet with a domino of about the same size and at the store it was labled as an orange tail damsel but I am more inclined (after a live aquaria search) to think it is a fiji blue damsel.

@spieszak - it does not come and go with the lights its just not that easy for me

 

[MrTuskfish]

Nitrate at 50ppm won't hurt fish at all. Nitrate is a problem for coral and other inverts, not fish (generally). Nitrate at 50ppm is really on the low side for many FOWLR tanks.

I think the fish is a Neoglyphidodon oxyodon; the vertical stripe is typical of that fish.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Nitrate at 50ppm won't hurt fish at all. Nitrate is a problem for coral and other inverts, not fish (generally). Nitrate at 50ppm is really on the low side for many FOWLR tanks.

I think the fish is a Neoglyphidodon oxyodon; the vertical stripe is typical of that fish.

 

[fyrfytr]

So my wife agreed, it was in the 50ppm range.

Saga deepens....So I decided to try and make a fishy jail out of the craft stuff that some people are using for their overflow boxes. In the meanitme I was gonna isolate the blue velet in a fishbowl (small I know, but it is only for a few hours so I could craft the jail). As I was chasing him around the tank his color was returning to the point where he was all black. Lights were on, then lights were completly off the tank as I was chasing him and out of the rocks. In the end, I went to bed (work 3rd shift) frusturated and without the fish caught...but back to his normal color.

So today with the wifes help I tried to catch him again...his color was really a pale tan but he did eat some food. As soon as I put the net in the water to catch him he nose dived for the bottom corner of the tank...and his black color returned. Since my rock isnt live yet, could this be some sort of camofloge since the domino damsel has grown in size and he hasnt and is now being chased around the tank?

 

[MrTuskfish]

Isn't this your fish? I just saw that BZ has these fish on sale for $7, amazing.( http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=786&cid=15) I kept a few of these fish many years ago and they terrorized fish many times their size. They became lionfish food, if my memory is right. This group of damsels is especially nasty; even for damsels. Unless you can keep him with much bigger fish, you'll be surprised at what a monster some of these pretty little damsels become.

I really don't know what you're worried about; color changes like this are common; especially when certain fish are being highly stressed. I'm not even certain why you're chasing him. Almost all damsels are very hardy and quite pretty and many beginners keep them for those reasons. IMO & IME; the beauty wears off in a hurry and most folks can't wait to get rid of them. Any chance your LFS suggested damsels as "cycle'' fish? This happens quite often. Again, the nitrate isn't any concern at all.

 

[fyrfytr]

@mrtuskfish - thanks for all your help with this. That is my fish, and that is 99 cents less then what I paid for him at my LFS. My wife was convinced that I didn't know what I was doing when it came to saltwater tanks so she went along with me to supervise the purchase of fish to keep the cost down. When we went into the store we got lucky that we had the store manager helping us who has saltwater experience. My limited knowledge was able to tell me that he had a good idea what he as doing and he steered us towards damasels to start knowing we had a freshly psudo cycled tank and wanted hardy fish at a lower cost. We ended up with him, a domino damsel, and what was rang up as an orange tail damsel but I am pretty convinced it is a fiji blue damsel. They were really pretty and covinced my wife that saltwater might not be too bad.

Having always kept a very clean fresh tank for years, him changing color worried me that I was looking at ich or some sort of marine fish diesease or parasite that would spread to the rest of the tank.