Combtooth Blenny Flashing, Hiding and not eating

[JK_Nert]

I have a fairly new mixed reef with only 3 fish and some CUC, my combtooth blenny has been flashing for about a week, previously he was swimming around all over the tank and now won't eat and is always hiding. He was in observation for about week before adding to the display tank, did a FW dip twice and nothing came off. Everyone else in the tank looks to be doing great, and my corrals and growing like crazy. I tried to catch when I was noticing (still am trying) but it seems almost impossible due to my rock work, a bubble trap I'm guessing won't work either since it's not drawn to food. I'm thinking he's almost on his last breath since no food for a week and his underside looks shriveled and looks pretty bad... Any suggestions are appreciated, except tearing my rock work apart... I have tough skin so you don't have to be nice, just be helpful...please...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Welcome to Reef2Reef and sorry for your trouble!

I'd suggest at a minimum posting the info suggested in the quote below, and if possible reading through the link below that (particularly the "Aquarium Parameters," "Water quality," and "In-depth Information" sections) to figure out what info you can share here with the #fishmedic to get the best diagnosis and treatment advice possible:

Please provide as much of the following as you are able:

• Brief description of the issue you are observing and answers to the following questions:
  • How long have you had the fish with the condition?
  • Did you quarantine with medication when you first acquired the fish? (If Yes, which medication?)
• Current water quality measurements
• Clear photos of the issue taken using WHITE light and/or a short video of any behaviors (post in your response or on YouTube).

If you can help us by providing as much of the above info as possible, it will make diagnosing and providing recommendations for treatment MUCH easier! The Fish Medic team will get back to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, other members of our community may also share their experience with similar situations and advice that they may have regarding your situation.

You may also feel free to provide a more detailed description of the condition if you wish to share more info than the above list.

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Also, for future reference (don't use it this time) with these sorts of issues, posting in the forum linked below can get you help faster:

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

A forum for discussing treatment and diagnosing saltwater reef fish.

www.reef2reef.com

For actually catching the fish to try and treat it, though, the quote and links below may help:

One thing that you could try short of a full tank tear down to get the pseudochromis out is basically boxing the fish into smaller and smaller spaces until you can either catch it or remove the rock it's hiding in. The link below gives some specific ideas (yes, it's oriented toward large tanks, but the concepts work for small tanks too), but basically you drive the fish into a specific portion of the tank and block off the other portions. Once it's in a small enough space that it can't escape, you remove it. Not necessarily easy (and I don't know how plausible it may be for your setup), but it might be easier than tearing down the tank temporarily.

Method for Quickly Catching Difficult Fish Out of a Large Reef Tank with a Net

There are several techniques for catching a fish out of a reef tank. None of them are perfect or work equally for all fish, and many require time and patience. I have a 330 gallon mixed reef that's about 16 months old. In the past year, there have been a couple occasions where I've needed to...

www.reef2reef.com

Search results for query: Catch fish

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[Jay Hemdal]

I have a fairly new mixed reef with only 3 fish and some CUC, my combtooth blenny has been flashing for about a week, previously he was swimming around all over the tank and now won't eat and is always hiding. He was in observation for about week before adding to the display tank, did a FW dip twice and nothing came off. Everyone else in the tank looks to be doing great, and my corrals and growing like crazy. I tried to catch when I was noticing (still am trying) but it seems almost impossible due to my rock work, a bubble trap I'm guessing won't work either since it's not drawn to food. I'm thinking he's almost on his last breath since no food for a week and his underside looks shriveled and looks pretty bad... Any suggestions are appreciated, except tearing my rock work apart... I have tough skin so you don't have to be nice, just be helpful...please...

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

It is possible that the blenny has flukes. Dips don't cure those 100%, and only one species of fluke is large enough for you to see in the dip without a microscope. You could try dosing the tank with Prazipro,

Do you know what species you have?

 

[JK_Nert]

Update:

Unfortunately the blenny did not make it, after about 3 days, I was able to catch him, and it perished away within the hour, everything seems to be doing fine after Prazipro. Fingers crossed no more issue