Is My Royal Gramma All Right?

I got my Royal Gramma about 3wks ago and it seems to have this strange behavior which I'm not sure is normal or not since I've never owned one of these. First off, he looks healthy, eats really well and has no signs of disease. However, when he goes in his pvc pipe (this is a QT tank) he'll lie flat on his side and his breathing will slow down, like really slow down, to the point where I think he's going to stop breathing. But when he comes out, he swims around normally, breathing normally like nothings wrong. He only does it when he goes into his pvc pipe. It's almost like he's trying to conserve energy or something, I don't know. He's done that from almost when I first got him. Water parameters are good, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20, Salinity 1.009 (hypo since day 2 of QT), temp 79F, 8.2pH. Is this behavior normal or is there something else going on? Is it Hypo related?

 

Not sure about your situation but I wouldn't do hypo that low. Thats just me though.

 

A couple articels I've read say to have salinity between 1.008-1.009 to really kill it. Is that wrong? Please let me know!

 

The Royal gramma behaves like that, even in their natural habitat, some you might find them upside down....><)))).>

 

Sweet, thanks man, was getting worried since it has been doing that from day one.