I have an Irrubesco that has recently had a change in behavior and color. I have had this fish for about a month and a half now. I originally bought 2 of them (both femles), but took one back because of severe aggression. I kept the one what was less aggressive. When I got her she seemed healthy, color was good, good appetite, normal behavior.
About two weeks ago I got 3 gobies to put in with her (fresh water bumblebees). Since then she is spending most of her time surfing the glass at the back of the tank in a spot where there are no plants. She has also lost her color, although it does seem to come back a little when she feeds, but turns very light again when she goes back to surfing the glass. She also has a decreased appetite and won't feed directly from the eye dropper anymore(she used to see it, and immedietly come up and get the food inside). She will eat a little bit, but doesn't have the appetite she used to. She doesn't have that round belly that she used to, it doesn't seem sunken, but she does look thin. She used to always be "hunting" for something (snails), but is either hiding or surfing the glass now. She used to come to the front of the tank when I would come into the room, but no longer does.
I do around a 40-50 percent water change each week. Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates between 10 and 20, ph 7.2, temp is 78 degrees. The tank is about 2 or 3 years old. There is also a Bristle nose catfish and 3 Amano shrimp in the tank (29 gallon long).Do you think this is a possible illness, or a stress reaction?
Loss of color
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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purplecandle
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 2019
- Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 2:18 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Currently
2 Adult Green Spotted Puffers
1 Fangs Puffer
1 Baby Green Spotted Puffer - Location (country): USA (NC)
Re: Loss of color
Are you saying that this behavior started at the same time you introduced the gobies? If so, Gobies can be territorial and they fight and defend territory. Since the gobies are there, your puffer may have less territory and thus may be stressed out. Also, those gobies would probably thrive better in brackish water. Yes, they can live in FW, but they thrive in Brackish water.
Re: Loss of color
Yes, it did seem to start around the same time that I got the gobies. The person at the LFS said that these are the freshwater gobies (Brachygobius xanthozona). The store is very large and specializes in freshwater fish only and they seem very knowledgeable. The gobies are doing great, eating well, bright color. I haven't seen them showing any aggresion towards the puffer.