Okay, I picked up a new tank the other day and two inhabitant with it: a royal gramma and coral beauty. The gramma acted wierd as soon as I released him into a temporary tank at home. He just floated around the bottom, and then finally just laid on the bottom ostensibly dying. This was two days ago. I left him in my qt and placed the other fish in the DT. He has been under the rock on his side since then, and I just went to move the rock and he swims off like nothing is wrong.... Idk if he is dying, or stressed from the move. For a day, I thought he was dead because he did not move an inch. He even had food dropped in there with him and it just laid on him for hours, but if I put my hand in the water he takes off swimming kind of wierd. Anyone have this type of situation before?
so confused.....
- Thread starter mullinsd2
- Start date
100%hydrophylic
New member
did you acclimate him properly? sounds like hes either dieing or in shock to me
100%hydrophylic
New member
wait, what? im confused. i always drip acclimate everything just because. probably overkill for alot of things. but did you cycle the DT?
Sorry, I knew that would be confusing. The tank was stil set up when I picked it up, and we bagged him in his own water of course. Then, when I got home, I placed him back in his own water that I transported with me in 5 gallon jugs. The guy gave me some of the water from the set up to take with me. I did this, so I did not have to mix more water to put him in; I did not want to leave him in the bag until I got the tank set up.
100%hydrophylic
New member
ohhh ok so you didnt even really need to acclimate except temp. hmmm, thats really strange. i may have to agree with xtm though. make sure theres no signes of disease, and test your water just in case. i wouldnt think they would have that hard of a time adjusting if its the same exact water theyve been living in
100%hydrophylic
New member
is he breathing hard? or twitching/ jerking his head?
BuddhaKiss
Active member
I read that royal grammas sometimes have "odd" swimming habits such as swimming upside down under a cave overhang or sideways close to the call walls and such. Again, this is just what i've read as my royal gramma has never really displayed this type of swimming behavior...maybe yours was.
That is exactly what he is doing.... he literally looks like hes laying on his back dead, and then swims like that, but not often. He also sticks to the side of this little cave I have for him in the qt. No hard breathing, nothing other than a wierd wierd looking, death swim lol idk it doesn't look normal
Macimage
Active member
How long has the tank that you put the fish in been setup?
I am confused, but it sounds as though it may be cycling as your first post says you picked up a new tank the other day.
If it is newly setup, then it is too soon for fish. Even if you purchased tank that was set up, moved it and reset it up, it will still go through a cycle.
Joyce
I am confused, but it sounds as though it may be cycling as your first post says you picked up a new tank the other day.
If it is newly setup, then it is too soon for fish. Even if you purchased tank that was set up, moved it and reset it up, it will still go through a cycle.
Joyce
Okay, I set up my 'new' tank and the next day I put fish in it because it is well estabished; i kept the sand bed; all of the rock in it came from my tank; the rock that didnt come from my tank came from another well established one; all the fish that I put into the new tank are doing great! The gramma is in a 10 gallon all to himself because he has been acting wierd from the second I got home. I already talked to some peope on here about this, and they said this would be fine. I experienced a small ammonia spike, and that was it. The gramma is in his own tank acting dead.
noahm
Active member
It sounds like he is just putting himself in a comfortable state as weird as it may be. The new surroundings are probably confusing to him and so he is just hiding out for a while. A lot of fish have this kind of behavior and from the sounds of it he is not dying, so probably just give it a few days or stress free time. If he were exhibiting heavy breathing or other stress factors, I would be concerned, but seems ok from your description.
Good luck.
Good luck.
HighlandReef
Chalice Monger
it almost sounds like your tank is brand new and not cycled,
did you buy from lfs?
did you buy from lfs?
BuddhaKiss
Active member
The tank is not brand new, it appears he bought the set up from a local hobbyist. Established tank, liverock, etc. Nothing more than a tank move from the sounds of it. Needless to say, you will always experience some type of ammonia spike. Anytime you disrupt a tank to move it, you will disrupt the biological filtration in some way.....but again, it should be minor. IMHO, I say just leave him alone for a while and let him acclimate to his surroundings. Perhaps perform a few water changes to alleviate the stress of the ammonia spike.
I have done so buddhakiss, and I had a rock fixture for him to hide in while in quarantine. Finally last night he came to his senses and began to actually swim instead of float.. I gave him some food, acclimated his water some more, and then put him in the display. He is acting "normal" now, whatever that means for a gramma, and he is displaying much better signs: swimming instead of laying on side, interacting with other fish, and he actually ate well this morning! thanks everyone for the help.
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