Worriesome Cardinal Behavior

[Sbayze]

Hello all,
I have a Pyjama Cardinal I ordered from FFE, it arrieved last thursday. When I got it had a bit of mouth fungus on it. I started treatment of Maracyn on the next day. The Fungus had gone away on the second day of treatment. Today was the last day of treatment. I have been observing in the last few days that the fish twitches its Dorsal Fin, and its Pelvic fins both at the same time. I have never ever seen this happen before. it does this about once every ten seconds or so, and it stops for a period of time. then does it again.

I had also gotten another Pyjama Cardinal with this one, but the thing passed away on easter. THe one that is still alive right now did the twitch thing with the other one in the tank that died, and since the two were a male and female, I thought it was a shimmy dance or something. But now that the other one is gone, it still twiches.

I have looked at the fish very carefully and there are no signs of external parasites. He is eating quite well, and everything else is fine. This morning I noticed his caudal fin was clamped a tiny bit. But, now it is not clamped at all.

I have no other tankmates except for two small left handed hermits, and a turbo snail. I dont think those guys would be stressing the cardinal out.

Tank is 8.3 ph, and 1.021sg, and zero nitrates. I feed it live brine, it isnt accepting flakes or pellets. I havent tried any greens yet.

Any Ideas? Anyone come across this problem? If this is an internal parasite, does anyone recommend any medication. Or anyone recommend any precuationary medications or supplements? I have enough Maracyn to do at least two more treatments. SHould I start another treatment?

Anyways, I thank you for reading this, and I apprieate any response concerning this.

Steve Bayze

[gas4544]

Steve,
Welcome to reefcentral! There's allot of people around here with Banggai's, but I don't hear allot about Pajama Cardinals. They are pretty cool looking, though.
Perhaps Frank Marini, our resident Cardinal guru, has some answers for you.
By the way, that was a very clear, informative post you wrote.

[FMarini]

Hi:
resident cardinal guru??? okay...well i can tell you this cardinal use their stablizer fins to maintain motionless in the water column. I have seen these fish twitch either their pecs, or their dorsal or any combination to maintain bouyancy. So the twitching i cwould consider normal. The more water movement the more these fish will twitch. Now when i say twitch, i mean a sharp flicking of the fins they extend and rapidly retract.
My concern is w/ your use of antibiotics. No offense but wait until you actually see symptoms til you start adding meds to the water. I'm hoping the adding of maracyn (which is an antibiotic and not a fungicide) didn't screw to baddly w/ your biofilter. The lip fungus most likely cleared on its own, as the fish got established and accustommed to your tank so his immune system revved back up.
W/o actually seeing your set-up and this cardinal I would say what your observing is a usual behavior from these fish.I can recommend you go to a LFS and observe a school of these cardinals and see if their habits are similar to what your observing
my opinion
frank

[Sbayze]

I thank you gas4544 for mentioning the Guru


Thank you for your comments Frank (your a guru in my book). No offense is taken, your opinion is very much welcomed. Now that you mention it about bouyancy (something I never thought of) it makes sense.

I dont believe that the Maracyn messed with my bio too much. I did have to add some ph buffer to raise my ph. The PJ card looks good. I was just concerned about the flicking. I thought it could have been an internal parasitic infection.

No LFS has any PJ's in the area, otherwise I would have been down there in a heartbeat watching those guys.

But, in the next few months Im going to be adding a pair of Bangaii's. I hope to be commenting on my bangaii enjoyment.

Steve

[Sbayze]

Well... It seems like my ammonia has jumped quite a bit a few days after my Maracyn treatment ended, to about 3.0. I dont like that. I did a partial water change. My cardinal now seems to tilt at an angle now. Not all the times, but it seems like he has to correct himeelf. And he hasnt been eating at all today. Its just an observation, I feel like Im a hypocondriact for my fish.


Cheers
Steve