Ropefish Diagnosis Help

Hello everyone,

I made my first post here a few days back 'cause I was asking for a suggested # of ropefish to order... well, I got them in and it's unfortunately been nothing but bad news so far. I might need to move this to another section to get some specialized help... please let me know if that's the case.

Housing:
They are currently in a fully cycled and very well maintained 56 gallon until they're ready to move to my 105 display tank. There are no fish present that would cause any harm to the Rope fish. (1 BN Pleco, 2 Angelfish, 1 Dojo Loach)

Purchased: 3 Ropefish. They were picked up from the airport Thursday night. Two were healthy and fairly large, one was very small and had an odd look to him.



In case the image isn't showing up or isn't clear, symptoms include:

1. Black marks all over his body
2. 1 eye completely clouded over
3. Slightly swollen neck area
4. No appetite
5. Difficulty swimming
6. Extremely laboured breathing
7. Lethargic, just falls down from gulping air and gives no mind to how or where he falls. His head ends up bobbing up after a while and he just sits in that position until he needs oxygen again.

Here's a video of how he swims:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-EZW-jl9Uw (the video didn't orientate correctly, Youtube is fixing it but for now its just a dumb portrait angle) I can't just retake the video because he falls to the ground and doesn't move until he absolutely needs to come to the surface to breathe. I barely ever manage to catch him.

Earlier today I saw him laying upside down and assumed he was dead... nope, he's still just laying there miserably with his laboured breathing.

I have accepted the fact that I probably won't be saving this fish, but what about the others? I would like to know if anyone has experienced this because the other two have been exposed to whatever it is that this one has.

Please, any advice at all would be immensely appreciated!

Brittany

I don't see an edit post button (sorry if I'm blind)

Here's a video of him laying at the bottom, it's a lot more clear than the image is.
[video=youtube;Co5jndUvEUM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co5jndUvEUM[/video]

I also pan to the other two ropes at the end. Those two seem healthy. They're both playful and even eating out of my hand.

The little guy passed away last night. if I notice any cause for concern in the others I'll make a more detailed post.


Thanks for looking.

I acclimated them over the course of 45 minutes. After 30 I opened the bag to add some tank water every 5 minutes. The bag was small and about 70% air so there wasn't much water.

He did seem doomed from the start. It was difficult to get a shot of his neck, but it was a little swollen and completely stiff. He might have just injured it during shipment.