Foxface freaking out

[mblieske]

I have a 5" foxface that regularly changes to his mottled black/white color at night when the lights are switched off, and at times when he suprises himself with his own shadow (jumpy character this one), no big deal. This morning he was a pitch black, darker than I have ever seen him and hasn't changed color all day which has never happened before. This evening he began to freak out and tried to jump out of the tank on several occasions, finally scraping himself badly on a rock, I believe he injured his tail section as it has taken on a reddish color under the yellow skin. He is now hiding in a crevice behind my live rock. The tank has very low ammonia,nitrate,and nitrites with a pH of 8.2. Salt levels are fine at 1.022, and the tank is generally clean and free of algae. There are a blue damsel, domino damsel, red lobster, and a flame angel in the tank with 30 lbs of live rock. I have a T5 light that I keep on during daylight hours. I'm feeding the tank a cube of omega 3 brine and flake food.I do 25% water changes monthly with RO water. The tank has been running for 2 months, but the damsels and foxface have been together for 1.5 years, and no one really picks on anyone. Any theories as to what is going on?????

[marshall.read]

any ammonia is really too much, but foxfaces are typically very hardy specimens. however, it could be something you are not testing for. Any chance the water has been contaminated with a foreign substance? also, the salinity is slightly low, but should be tolerated by the foxface. it could be possible that several factors are combining to cause the problem, such as ammonia + low salinity + damsel enforcing their territory. but if you are correct in that the damsels are not misbehaving ( and they are definately know for changing their behavior as they age ) then my guess is you have something present in your water that you are not testing. or perhaps, since you have 30lbs of liverock i assume this is a relatively small tank, the foxface may be too large for the system.

[mblieske]

My ammonia is zero, and I have a 60 gallon tank. I'm thinking that this is too small for a mature foxface. The damsels are not an issue. They are actually freaked out by the foxface.

[MKCindy]

60 gallon should give him plenty of room. Have you re-arranged your rock? Mine does not like change. Does he have any greens? He needs seaweed or sea vegetation too. Mine acted weird one day too, I suspect he got stung. Also, when my breaker flipped and the tank was low on oxygen, mine turned very dark and tried to jump. His scratches healed.