blue spot stressed? what to do?

[nemo320]

I have a 29gal biocube. Put a blue spot in 4 days ago. He immediately found a hole in some lr and stayed there for the day. By morning, he made a burrow and was eating well. This was day two. On day three, I noticed he wasn't eating and was slightly panting. He seemed irritated at a giant snail that liked to burrow next to his home. He would spit sand at him, which I thought this was funny and just part of his personality. Today, I did my regular water change and even prior to doing so, he still seemed stressed. He was panting a little and still wouldn't eat. After doing the water change and other weekly maintenance such as cleaning the glass, he is perfectly still except for his panting which has increased.

I removed a giant snail today. I also put some small objects next to his burrow and turned the lights off early. His color seems to be fine and there seems to be nothing physically wrong. I've read many forms about blue spots and have not been able to diagnose the problem. Water checks out fine, 81 degrees in temp. Other fish are mystery wrasse, two clownfish, and a scooter blenny. The blenny doesn't really bother him, he usually scoots right past or stays away in general.

Any suggestions?

 

[reefsmoker]

Water checks out fine, 81 degrees in temp.

Water checks out fine is gonna get you in trouble round here, we wanna know exact parameters.
81 in my opinion is a bit high - higher the temp = less oxygen in the water,maybe a cause....
also was the water you changed with 81 degrees?? water even a few degrees difference in that small of a water volume can be very stressful for all the tank inhabitants - aka temp shock - idk chime in with your perams and we'll try and help more =)

 

[nemo320]

i test my water weekly with an API test kit, results as follow:
pH 8.3
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm
salinity 1.024-1.025ppm (hard to tell exactly with my spectrometer)

i get my water from lfs and everything is consistent. i do weekly 5gal changes and journal everything i do to my tank except feeding and cleaning the glass. i feed every other day usually, sometimes daily depending on my schedule, but like i said, usually every other day.

the water i added was room temp, most likely a few degrees lower than the tank; however, simple math says my temp would only decrease approximately 2 degrees if the new water i added is at 70 degrees. i was told 81 degrees is a good temp at lfs. if not, what temp should i have it at?

my concern is that even before the water change, he had irregular breathing patterns. and side note, sand was moved around in front of his burrow during the change and from the snail. it did not affect his actual tunnel under the lr, just in front of it. i came home just now, he wasn't tucked all the way in it as he was when i wrote the original post. his color is still normal. breathing is the same (as in he is still heavily panting). all my fish are hiding/in their territory, and have not been in his view for the last 3 hours. the snail is gone and his burrow hasn't changed.

 

[nemo320]

he is moving a little now, almost all the way out of his burrow, flairs his fins when you come close to the tank. started breathing really heavy for a second, then back to his panting, but at a mildly slower rate it seems. my tank is in my bedroom, lights in the room are off along with the tank and nobody is in there. when i go near the tank, i move cautiously. now that he is all the way out of his burrow, i can see nothing is physically wrong.

also, he was at the lfs a week before i first saw him. i put a down payment on him and got him the following week (i wanted to see he was healthy before i made the purchase, did the same thing with my wrasse). he was fine there and fine for the first two days here. but these past two days is when he seems to have become stressed.