Are royal grammas naturally discolored?

[Sharkbait19]

Hi,
I’ve had my royal gramma in QT for over two months and he’s been eating well and swimming normally. It was from petco, so I decided to play it safe and dose some cupramine initially, despite finding zero signs of ich. I also gave it some hexshield to eliminate possible HLLE. After about a month and a half, I decided to transfer it into the DT, but during acclimation noticed grayish discolored spots on its side looking somewhat reminiscent of flukes. I FW dipped the fish to see if any fell off, but found nothing. I chose to stay on the safe side and put the gramma back into QT. I then ran a full treatment of PraziPro. Fast forward to today, after a few more days of observations, I’m trying again to move it. However, I looked at the gramma, and found the exact same discolorations in the exact same spots. I looked at royal gramma pictures online and noticed that mine isn’t the only one with such discolorations. Does anyone have experience with this? Do they just naturally (or in captivity) have lighter patches?

 

[Reef.]

I’m not expert on this but I would say that looks like the fish hadn’t been eating well and stress.

Royal grammas can be very nervous fish, they like to have caves to hide in and can be picky eaters, I would guess it’s the length of time it’s been in QT.

How is it eating?

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’m not expert on this but I would say that looks like the fish hadn’t been eating well and stress.

Royal grammas can be very nervous fish, the like to have caves to hide in and can be picky eaters, I would guess it’s the length of time it’s been in QT.

How is it eating?

It’s eating totally fine, and picks very aggressively at the foods a provide (pellets, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp)

 

[Reef.]

It’s eating totally fine, and picks very aggressively at the foods a provide (pellets, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp)

Tag the Vet guy sorry don’t know his name.

#vetteguy53081 if this him?

 

[Reef.]

Wait to get confirmation on this but I would put in display as over 2 months in QT I can not see what any longer in there would achieve.

 

[homer1475]

@Jay Hemdal is the vet guy.

 

[willforr]

I don’t know anything about what causes those discolorations but I just wanted to say that I also have a royal gramma and I’m not sure if that’s normal because mine is actually brightly colored. When I was in the market to buy them though, I did notice many of them that they sell at the store looked sick to a degree, at least to the stores I went to. I think yours may be sick, and just for some advice, petco in general really isn’t the best place to buy fish and I know that from experience. But here’s a picture of mine I took a while ago

 

[homer1475]

I'm not seeing any discoloration per se, but it does look pale from possibly being stressed in the QT.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I don’t know anything about what causes those discolorations but I just wanted to say that I also have a royal gramma and I’m not sure if that’s normal because mine is actually brightly colored. When I was in the market to buy them though, I did notice many of them that they sell at the store looked sick to a degree, at least to the stores I went to. I think yours may be sick, and just for some advice, petco in general really isn’t the best place to buy fish and I know that from experience. But here’s a picture of mine I took a while ago

I normally would never buy from a petco, but it had been at least a year and almost every lfs was having trouble getting one in, and I don’t like online orders.

 

[Reef.]

I don’t know anything about what causes those discolorations but I just wanted to say that I also have a royal gramma and I’m not sure if that’s normal because mine is actually brightly colored. When I was in the market to buy them though, I did notice many of them that they sell at the store looked sick to a degree, at least to the stores I went to. I think yours may be sick, and just for some advice, petco in general really isn’t the best place to buy fish and I know that from experience. But here’s a picture of mine I took a while ago

yours looks amazing.

Mine started out like yours but after a few months ended up looking like the OP’s, he stopped eating and started to loose colour the same as the OP’s.

Getting it in the display might turn it around?

 

[chaostactics]

I've had crisp looking ones and full looking ones. I've had one in my display for almost 2 years. It looks like how I'd imagine a fish if it's scales went salt and pepper the same way human hair does. Picked it up as a juvenile too. So who knows.

 

[Sharkbait19]

So do you think it’s likely safe to go in?? I definitely am in no rush to move it right now, but I’d also hate to keep in in QT and let it slowly deteriorate there…

 

[homer1475]

After all the meds, and time, I would put it in.

 

[Reef.]

So do you think it’s likely safe to go in?? I definitely am in no rush to move it right now, but I’d also hate to keep in in QT and let it slowly deteriorate there…

wait for the vet guy to comment but I don’t think any more time in there will help him, also after all the treatments he’s had, I would think it’s as safe as it’s going to get, to add it to the display.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Here’s a top angle. He’s looked this way as long as I can remember.

 

[Reef.]

Here’s a top angle. He’s looked this way as long as I can remember.

Hard to tell but he looks quite chunky in that picture, could just be stress.

 

[willforr]

I normally would never buy from a petco, but it had been at least a year and almost every lfs was having trouble getting one in, and I don’t like online orders.

I don’t blame you I probably would’ve done the same since it’s probably one of my favorite fish. I think I just got lucky with mine because I walked in to my lfs one day to see 20-30 royal grammas so I had many options

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal is the vet guy.

Not a vet, just a fish nerd (grin).

jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi,
I’ve had my royal gramma in QT for over two months and he’s been eating well and swimming normally. It was from petco, so I decided to play it safe and dose some cupramine initially, despite finding zero signs of ich. I also gave it some hexshield to eliminate possible HLLE. After about a month and a half, I decided to transfer it into the DT, but during acclimation noticed grayish discolored spots on its side looking somewhat reminiscent of flukes. I FW dipped the fish to see if any fell off, but found nothing. I chose to stay on the safe side and put the gramma back into QT. I then ran a full treatment of PraziPro. Fast forward to today, after a few more days of observations, I’m trying again to move it. However, I looked at the gramma, and found the exact same discolorations in the exact same spots. I looked at royal gramma pictures online and noticed that mine isn’t the only one with such discolorations. Does anyone have experience with this? Do they just naturally (or in captivity) have lighter patches?

Did you dose Prazipro 2x? If so, how long between doses?

The Gramma does look a bit thin to me.

FW dips will only show one species of flukes, (Neobenedenia) and Gramma are also prone to smaller flukes that you cannot see without a microscope, looking at the settled dip water.

Grammas definitely lose color in captivity - the ones I collect in the Bahamas are AMAZING compared to captive fish.

Jay Hemdal

 

[Sharkbait19]

Grammas definitely lose color in captivity - the ones I collect in the Bahamas are AMAZING compared to captive fish.

I’ve heard this, and I certainly believe it!! Some grammas look stunning!

I did do two doses for PraziPro, and spaced them a few days apart (3 days I think). The full treatment took about two weeks. The gramma is rather thin because it seemed to not eat towards the end of treatment, but started taking to food once the treatment was over.