Howdy.
My orchid dottyback is listless, and has been so for about a day. It has remained hidden in a rock although when I tried placing food nearby, it fled and has been hanging out under and outcropping. She swims sideways and upside down sometimes, and always slowly like she's mostly floating along the currents and steering a bit. She has always been active and a voracious eater, but didn't touch the frozen reef #2 I added this evening. It's hard to say if her colors are faded. She doesn't have bulging eyes nor white spots on her. She does look a little thin.
This all happened after a water change, about 10%. There's two changing variables involved here. First, my parameters were all very good with the exception of salinity. It had dropped to around 1.022 after I acclimated about 6 bags of critters. The drop was gradual as my ATO compensated for the water loss. That's the first variable.
After the water change, the salinity stabilized near 1.025 +/- a little bit. I used new salt, too--Tropic Marine Reef Pro; I had been using Instant Ocean. This is the second variable.
All of my other critters (inverts) and corals are doing great--nice and active, extended, etc.
I do not have a quarantine tank. I also feel that if I did, the stress of moving her might be too much. Likewise, if I did "throw together" a QT tank, it wouldn't be much use as it isn't cycled or anything.
Is this a wait-and-see? Do I continue feeding as normal? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris