I'm kinda in a dilema.

Alright, well... This is what has happened. My boyfriend's mom freaked out and decided that she didn't want a 55 gallon salt water tank anymore and she was going to kill the fish inside of it. I felt really bad so I told them that they could bring it over to my apartment. When she decided she didn't want the fish anymore she drained all the water in the 55 gallon tank and stuck the fish in a 15 gallon tank. They then transferred it to my apartment. It was roughly 3-4 hours later.

The fish is a Lyretail Wrasse. They've had him for about 2 years. I'll be completely honest. I really don't know much about salt water tanks. I'm the one who mixed the water. When I mixed the water.. I mixed it in a 3 gallon bucket. I used regular water and I made sure that it was 78 degrees and I made sure I added enough salt to make it read 1.021. I also added the recommended amount of Prime and some kind of Reef safe stuff that my boyfriend told me to add over the phone. I repeated that step until I had the tank almost full. I made a little bit of salt water and tried to climate him in the smaller tank before adding him to the larger tank. I added the rest of the water from the 15 gallon tank into the 55 gallon tank and slowly put the fish in. I was also filtering the tank with a filter that was made for a 30-60 gallon tank. When he was in there he went straight to sleep.

Well, as it was filtering the filter stopped working. So I used the 15 gallon filter for the time being and it filtered it pretty well. When I woke up the next morning the tank was completely clear and my fish was fine, he was swimming around and I fed him. I think I fed him a little too much. I used the baby shrimp and I put around 9-13 pieces in there. He ate all of them though. I then went to wal-mart and bought another filter for the fish tank. It was another 30-60 gallon filter. I washed the pads out with clean water and then it started filtering. He was swimming around frantically like normal wrasses do. Around 8 o'clock that night I decided to show my roommate how he ate, because I was excited about it. So I fed him another 5-8 pieces of baby shrimp. He didn't eat all of them so I tried to scoop some out. He went to bed and so did I.

The next morning he was laying on his side at the bottom of the tank. I noticed that the temperature dropped a few degrees so I turned on his heater to make it go back to 78. I figured he was in shock because of the temperature. But, I checked the salts, ph, and water temperature. Everything was completely normal. This happened about 5-6 days ago and he's still laying on the bottom of the tank. He'll move around sometimes and he's breathing fine. I just don't know what to do because I know he can't stay that way forever. What should I do? I think that if it was something Chemically he would already be dead, and if it were shock he would of already shook out of it. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do? Please help me.. =P

 

Welcome to the boards, I wish that I could help you but I don't know anything about salt water fish. From my experience here on this fish forum most people just read these posts without replying. My advice to you would to call a salt water store that specializes in salt water guys. Especially since your concerned about his health.
I would love to be wrong about people on this fish forum, I've been watching it for awhile now and that is what I've experienced.
good luck and keep us informed. Knowledge is power.
:?

 

Well thanks anyway. What's the point of having a forum if no one can help you or reply to you? lol. I posted on Saltwaterfish's site too, so hopefully they'll respond with some kind of feedback. I guess I could look up some salt water fish stores around here, but geeze having a salt water tank is way too much work! =( I just want him to live. =((( Thanks for your help and appreciate you responding so quickly.

 

No problem wish I could help you out but I have African Chiclids no salt water guys. I have posted here and got no responses so I search the internet and read books. I hope that one day we get some more interaction here on this board. Yes from what I have heard salt water tanks are alot of work.
I usually post on the cat and dog forums here.

 

Hello. I don't frequent this forum very much but saw you're post and decided to try and help. How is the fish doing currently? I would like to know some for information.

Have you been testing for Ammonia and NitrAte?

Did you add any chemicals, uncured live rock, etc. to the tank?

Has the fish been rubbing itself on the substrate, or decor?

Since this was sort of a last minute thing, the tank wasn't cycled correct? Because to me it sounds like the tank is going through a cycle which will effect the inhabitants. If this is the case I would recommend doing frequent water changes. Test the water parameters often. As for temperature try to keep it stable. When it comes to feeding feed only small amounts 1-2 times a day.

 

Hello Used, nice to see a post here on the fish side!! Glad that you are attempting to help out on this thread. Hope to see some more posts from you.