Royal Grammi losing color

My royal grammi, over the last week seems to be losing, or getting splotches on, his purple color. He has recently choosen to hide upside down under a rock ledge and hardly moves that i can tell. it also looks like he is breathing rapidly, even though he is at rest. all my other fish are fine and active.

pH-8.2
ammonia 0
salinity- 1.026
calcium -450-500
alk- 4.5-5.0
temp-78-79

 

Royal Grammas are one of my favorites.. sorry to hear this..
Looking at those numbers.. you're alk and calcium are a bit high, doubt the calcium would do anything, but the alk may. Not sure though.

How long have you had him?
How are your nitrates?

 

checked everything again, this time nitrites, and nitrates both 0
my alk is 4.0 and calcium is 400.
i have had him about 2 weeks. tonight he is out and about. his purple still looks a little blotchy but he is out and active.

 

That's good news!
Is he eating well?
What are you feeding him?
Got a digital camera?

Those numbers are great now by the way...

 

Yes he has started eating well. he sometimes eats flakes, but he also likes myses shrimp. I think he is doing better. i'm honing in my water quality on all levels now because i just made my first coral purchase, a small group of star polyps and some other soft corals i will have to identify, and a frag of a green, almost flourscent, (looks like a short fiber shag rug) hard coral. any way, he looks better. maybe the water quality helped him shrug off a parasite or something. thanks Matt.

 

Thanks? What the heck did I do? ;D [smiley=jester.gif]

Get some frozen food like Formula I or the like to give him a little better diet than shrimp. I never had much luck with flakes with saltwater fish.

 

you were concerned, and the only one to respond!! so thanks! and thanks for the tip on formula 1.

 

Flakes are very high in nitrates. I feed mysis shrimp exclusively that is fortified by the supplier. Twice a a week I add Zoe vitamins and cyclopeze. My fish are colorful, healthy and eat like pigs!

 

Speaking of Formula1, how do you go about feeding that stuff? I've noticed that it has a 'gel binder' that seems to hold it all together. Do you just float the piece, put it in a blender, food processor, table saw or what?? ;D

 

Hikari Marine -S is an awesome food that really colors up fish!