Maximum fish frustration!!!

[SoupySteve]

Okay, I get my Gramma home from ET. The second I release him into the tank, he buries his head in the rockwork. Kinda odd, I thought. Oh well. Yesterday morning, he's stuck to my overflow. Dead. Now, my remaining Gramma's health appears to have taken a turn for the worse. I thought the cleaner shrimp had taken care of his issues, but apparently not. He looks worse - a lot worse than ever before. Now, it appears that my Flame Angel has a bit of whatever illness my Gramma has. From what I can tell, it isn't Ich, but maybe "Oodinium"??? Anyhow, I guess the next move is to get ALL my fish out of the display and put them in a medicated QT. My question is, does anyone have advice on how to catch the little guys without stressing them more or removing all the rockwork? Can a fish trap be made? Any advice is appreciated. Also, does anyone know if a freshwater dip would help my fish???

[LargeJohn]

THAT REALLY SUCKS, STEVE!!!

I'm not 100% sure about the treatment. I think copper is prescribed for ICH and/or Amyloodium(sp?). Can you get a good look at either fishes eyes? If they are cloudy, then I might suspect a bacterial infection, which you would need to treat with antibiotics (Maracyn). You will probably get a lot of better help in diagnosing than I can give.

As far as catching a fish, I haven't personally done this, but have read of several folks having success.

1. Don't feed the tank! Let everyone get hungry.
2. Take a clean, clear plastic 2 liter bottle.
3. Poke some small holes in the bottle to allow it to sink.
4. Cut the top off the bottle 3 or 4 inches below the spout.
5. Invert the top and re-attach (with nylon ties) to the rest of the bottle (with the spout pointing in)
6. Put a biggish piece of shrimp or a frozen cube inside the bottle and set it on its side in the bottom of your tank.
7. Fish go in, but he don't come out!

Good luck!

[inlandreef]

I bought a gramma from ET and the next morning it was headless? No idea why it happened. I went down and bought another one along with a Naso and there both doing fine.

[SoupySteve]

Please (anyone) look at my gallery to see a pic of the Gramma. It's not Ich, and Oolidium (? I think that's what its called) is supposedly fatal in 3 to 4 days. This fish has had its blemishes since late August.

[LargeJohn]

Have you seen the fish scratching on anything or behaving unusually??

Does he eat OK?

[SoupySteve]

Eats fine, no scratching, just kind of shy - but I hear they like the rockwork anyway...

[SoupySteve]

Well, I didn't see the lil' fella all day today. I found him almost completely eaten by the hermits behind some rockwork. I guess on the bright side, he won't infect the other fish now... :(

[LargeJohn]

Sorry to hear this!!! :(

[twfields79]

Dude that suck, although he did look pretty bad when I saw him. Off the subject did you get your eggcrate canopy built?

[SoupySteve]

Yup! One side was easier than the other - but if I have another carpet surfer, it's gotta be the most accurate jumper ever - only a small strip is left uncovered - I left that space for feeding purposes.

[twfields79]

sweet!!