firefish depressed

Hello all, I recently begin noticing that my firefish is acting depressed and sad.. all it does is hide behind rocks and in his little caves! It comes out to eat a little then goes back lying on his sand... he even sometimes swims kind of funny...

i added him on Jan. 19 and had the tank for about 3 months now...

PH 7.8
Nitrate 40+
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Salinity is fine.
10lbs live sand
10 gal nano
15 lbs live rock
4 hermits, 1 shrimp, 1 green chromis, and nothing else in the tank!

Anything else i should test for?

 

Did you change anything recently? any other fish in there that could be bullying him? Firefish tend to be more peacefull which can seem like they are depressed, but I think that is the way they where unless he was out and abut for a while and then suddenly changed. Maybe try and get him a buddy.

 

yea that's what i was thinking, thanks!

 

Nitrates might be a lil high. Unless you normally have them at that level.

 

I wouldn't get another firefish as they are very territorial and if not a mated pair or introduced at the same time will just cause the 2 to fight. It sounds to me like you have another fish possibly bullying it (thats if you have other fish of course).

 

I second that. I've heard it's not good to keep more than 1 firefish unless introduced at the same time.

I was sad to find out because I wanted to get a purple firefish!

When I first got my firefish he hid under the rocks all the time...now he's out and about most of the time.

Maybe he got scared and in time will start to come out again. Is he eating?