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Bubbles and Lips, Skimmers and Fish Injury... Rubbing face due to
reflection 5/8/07 Good
Morning everyone! <Good morning to you.> I have two questions
that probably could be answered on the chat forums -- but I can't
seem to register right now. I hope that gets fixed
soon. <Me too.> I was fiddling with
my CPR Bak Pak protein skimmer this weekend. It hangs
directly off the back of my display tank and the little pump that came
with it seems to be failing. The original pump was a Rio 600
RVT which seemed to do an OK job, but I was never happy with the open
face of it. <Standard pump that comes with it, but does not have the
greatest reputation for reliability.> Nothing ever got
sucked in but I've always been concerned, so I got a MaxiJet 1200
as a replacement. This pump solves the open face problem,
but the air intake tubing just being jammed in the filter screen seems
a bit cheap to me. So anyway, I was experimenting with
using an air pump to force air into the intake of the pump rather than
allowing venturi action and I got good results by regulating how much
air was sent in ... and it was my intention to pump the rest of the air
into a regular air stone in the main tank ... until I realized that I
rarely if ever see air bubbles, air stones etc. in marine
tanks. So what I'm asking is if there are technical
reasons why people don't put air bubbles directly into the display
tank? <A couple of reasons, one is that they get clogged
very quickly especially with all the life in a marine
system. Secondly the popping bubbles make quite a mess with
salt spray. The first effects you more here, you will need
to change your airstone frequently here.> Second
question is about a new acquisition, a Coral Beauty that is alone in a
quarantine tank. He eats very well and is very VERY
active, spending his entire day swimming back and forth right in front
of the glass-- maybe even against the glass. He refuses to
use either of the PVC caves I've provided (one white PVC the other
black ABS) and prefers to sleep wedged into the suction cups from where
the heater used to be (heater was moved to prevent burned CB
problems). But his upper lip is a like a thick
white stripe. It doesn't look like any sort of
growth or covering like a fungus ... as much as it looks perhaps a tiny
bit swollen and perhaps rubbed. From all that swimming in
front of the glass, maybe? Does this suggest any action
other than just further observation? <Sounds like a
physical trauma, maybe a shipping injury or even a burn from the
heater. Either way just keep up the water quality to prevent
infection and observe. I'm guessing with a little time
this will heal.> Thanks again!!!! <Welcome> <Chris> Popeye On A Flame Angel? Trauma... leave lights on <Hi, Scott F. here with you.> I have a Flame Angel that has been in QT and doing GREAT! I added him to the main tank last night and all the lights where off. The QT tank has one piece of live rock in it so not really any caves. The main tank has a ton of LR in it so it has a lot of caves. He went in the main tank ok without issues and found a little cave to play in of his own. This morning we couldn't find him and started getting worried. Well, we finally found him and he had a bubble over one eye. Everything that I read on your site says that one eye usually equals being hurt. I just wanted to check and make sure that this is what you think the case is because he was swimming kind of funny too. Do you think that he probably hit his eye in the NEW caves and might be swimming funny (comes out of the rock, swims on his side, then straightens back up and goes back into the rock) because of the eye and new surroundings? <This is a definite possibility. Unilateral (one eye) Popeye is almost always caused by an injury. It is also entirely possible that the fish is a bit disoriented after this trauma. It's hard to be 100% certain without seeing the fish, but I'd bet that this is what's happening here. The good news is that this type of injury can be easily treated with Epsom salt in the QT tank to help draw down the swelling> The purple tang that was in QT with him and was added last night as well is doing GREAT. <Good to hear> I did notice that my cleaner shrimp really cleaned the Flame Angel for a while verses what they cleaned the Purple and the two Chromis. Almost had the Flame Angel pinned trying to clean him. Could this indicate some sort of bacterial infection? <Well, it's really hard to say. In all likelihood, the shrimp simply found very willing "customers" in these fish, and merely did a very thorough job.> Thanks for all the help AGAIN! JB <My pleasure, JB! Regards, Scott F.> It Ain't Over Till The Bloated Fish...Lives (Centropyge "Bloat') Dear Piscatorial Crew: <Scott F. your Fishy Friend tonight!> Hola! <Good evening!> Could you please tell me more about the Centropyge "bloat" syndrome. I've scoured the net for info and apparently it's endemic to dwarf's. But why do they develop the bloating during initial shipment? <Well, this malady is thought to be caused by decompression trauma. Many of these fishes are collected at depths that require some decompression. Some collectors insert a needle into the fish's anus (yuck!) in order to "help" the fish decompress. This, and other decompression "techniques" can result in a serious internal infection caused by bacteria.> They are finicky eaters and I'd imagine it's hard to ingest bacteria. Also, there is an instance of a Centropyge Bicolor eating Cryptocaryon from a surgeonfish and contracted the disease 2 days later. How do you cure it apart from feeding antibiotics? Or does this mean, "That's all folks, the show is over"? Please advice. Best, Bazza <The resulting infection can be cured with antibiotics, either in the water, or in the food. It's quite possible to save an affected fish, if quick action is taken! Good luck! Regards, Scott F> - Treating Pop-eye - I have a coral beauty with pop eye. Having read up on this it seems to be an injury. He is eating well and behaving normally. <Ahh good, good signs.> I have read your FAQ's and just want to ask some specific questions. I do not have a separate tank and would like to treat in my main tank. its a 55gal. <Should be able to treat in place provided no one is hassling this fish. He needs peace and quiet.> I do a 20% water change every 3 weeks and my water quality is good. In my tank I have A bubble tip Anemone, several kinds of shrimp, flame scallop live rock, yellow tang, cinn clown, damsels, several varieties of star fish hermit crabs, feather dusters, snails, clams, will the Epsom salt harm any of these??? <No, should be safe to use in small amounts.> Also would I add the Epsom salt right to the tank or do I need to dissolve it first???? <I would dissolve it first in a glass of tank water.> Once added will it effect my Specific gravity much??? <I can if you add too much.> & Should I compensate for this??? <Not for now, but good to run the tests anyway. Cheers, J -- >
Coral Beauty's eye and Naso Tang Bob, this is the first time I am writing you. I have been reading your FAQ on your website and found it very informative. <Good to hear> I have a couple of questions that I am hoping you can help me out with. I recently upgraded my 50 gallon aquarium to a 125 gallon aquarium. I initially had a Dragon Wrasse, Tomato Clown, Coral Beauty, and a small Blue Angel. Everyone was doing fine after I moved them into the 125 gallon aquarium and after a couple of weeks I went out and bought a small Naso Tang. I started noticing that one of my Coral Beauty's eyes was starting to get cloudy. I didn't want to catch it and put it into a quarantine tank right away because I thought that maybe the Coral Beauty had gotten scratched or something when I netted it and moved it into the 125 so I just left it alone and kept a close eye on it to see if it would just heal on it's own. <Doubt if the Naso introduction had anything to do with the cloudy eye... suspect the cause is what you state... and would have done the same...> I didn't want to stress it out any more especially since I had just gotten done moving it a couple of weeks earlier plus the Coral beauty was swimming around normally and actively eating as usual so I didn't think that it was infected with anything. While I was keeping on eye on the Coral Beauty I was tending to the new Naso Tang and trying to get it to eat. For the first few days it would pretty much hind behind rocks only coming out if I threw in some brine shrimp in there. <Typical... they're actually big algae eaters in the wild> That seemed to be the only thing it was interested in, pretty much ignoring everything else I tried to feed it. After it would eat a little brine shrimp, it would just go back and hide behind some live rock. Initially, I thought it was just shy and not yet accustomed to the tank and was expecting it to become more active when it felt more comfortable. That hasn't happened yet. What I have noticed though is that his fins have started to look like someone has been nipping on them. I have been observing the fish for quite some time and I haven't noticed any signs of any of my other fish being aggressive towards the Tang. <Likely the fraying is from being caught, moved, lack of nutrition...> I have finally moved my Coral Beauty into my hospital tank because it has been about a week and her eye has gotten worse. It is not only cloudy but now has swelled up and gotten very big. I'm not sure what this is and what might have caused it or how to treat it. <Still believe the root cause is mechanical trauma... a possible infection, secondary.> I have also moved my Naso Tang into a hospital tank because I now think that it might have tail rot or something. I haven't noticed any of my fish picking on him so I don't know what else would cause his fin to look like it has been getting nipped. His lack of swimming around has made me think that it is sick but I am not sure what he has and thus have no idea on how to treat him. <I would probably have left the Naso in the main/display tank and hoped that it would have "rallied"... otherwise, a percentage don't adapt to captive conditions (more than half)... and the quarantine system is likely compromised by such an active tankmate... and this fish will unlikely (re)sume eating there.> If there is any advice you can give I would greatly appreciate it. I really liked my Coral Beauty and would have to lose her and I had high expectations of seeing the Naso Tang owning the upper part of my 125 gallon aquarium since all my other fish hang out pretty much in the bottom half of the tank. Thank you. Gianluca <I would wait yet another week on the Coral Beauty to see if the eye will resolve and start to show signs of curing (the cloudiness will dissolve first, but the swelling may take several weeks. The Naso... I would likely place it back in the main tank (be careful of the sharp processes on caudal peduncle) and hope for the best (You do have live rock with some algal material growing on it I trust... in both the display and quarantine systems). If the eye continues to dis-improve I would likely daub it with a cotton-swab and a mercury-based medicant (mercurochrome, Merthiolate, Merbromin) that is used on children. I would wait a good week on this decision as I state... and weigh the damage of handling against the hope of repair of the eye. If the eye appears smooth on its surface, wait. Bob Fenner> Vertical angelfish Bob, I have a Japanese pygmy angelfish that was until a few weeks ago. The problem is that she swim almost vertically all the time, head up. Her pectoral fish are going like crazy and her tail only moves in small quick wiggles. <Not good... sounds very much like internal problems... maybe from decompression during collection...> Is this a swim bladder problem or something else? She has been eating all the Ocean Nutrition foods but just looks very odd. <I do hope the fish "straightens out". This does happen at times> Do you have any recommendations on what to do with her? The system is fish only with a few invertebrates, all the other fish are fine and eating good, the clams and anemones I have are also doing good. Please let me know what you think, thank you in advance. Dave Wilson <Wish I had more to tell you, but this sort of complaint either solves itself of its own accord or... not. Bob Fenner>
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