Beth or Terry - Fish in QT not eating

[joe carey]

I have all my fish (Yellow Tang, Hippo Tang, Purple Firefish, Firefish, Royal Gramma and a Heniochus Butterfly) in my 29 gallon QT. I initially treated them with Spectrogram for Fin Rot and am also doing hyposalinity for Ich. Everyone was doing great and eating well until the other day when I introduced Garlic. First, I soaked their food in minced garlic. I accidently let some of the garlic pieces get into the tank. After that, I changed my method of mixing so no more garlic pieces got into the tank, then switched over to the garlic drops for fish. Since right around that time, the Yellow Tang and the Heniochus Butterfly have not eaten. The Tang picks a little, but doesn't seem to eat any of the food. The Butterfly has no interest, but still looks and acts ok. The Tang looks really thin and drawn around the stomach, but also still acts ok. All other fish look good and are eating fine. I have also been changing about 1/3 or so of the water everyday to keep ammonia and nitrite levels low. The fish have about another 2 weeks in the QT (January 25). Any ideas on what I can do to get them eating again? Also, when I start putting them back in the display tank I was going to reintroduce them 2 at a time, letting the levels go to 0 before sending the next two in. Sound ok? Thanks in advance for any help. :help:

 

[joe carey]

The ph is 8.4. The Hippo Tang is only about 1 1/2" and is doing fine. He swims around when the lights are on and hides in the PVC at night.

 

[beth]

I think Trojan is correct. Too many fish, and they are stressed.
Are the tangs getting enough vegetarian foods?
Do you have ammonia or nitrite in the QT?? This will definately cause fish not eat. What are you feeding them?

 

[joe carey]

I agree that there are too many fish in the QT, but where else can you put them when you have an Ich breakout in your display tank? (Maybe several Rubbermaid containers with a few fish in each?) There are low levels of ammonia and nitrite in the tank, despite my constant water changes.
Right now I am feeding them a combination of pellets, veggie flakes and frozen brine, with a few garlic drops on them.
They are not due to be taken out of the QT until January 25. I am going to start increasing the number of water changes I am doing, but other than that, I really don't have any ideas on how to resolve this problem, so I would really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[beth]

Any levels of ammonia or nitrite is toxic and can/will cause fish not to eat.
To cut down on pollution going into the tank, I would suggest that you consider using fresh foods to feed your fish. Take a look at the FAQ Thread and the fresh foods receipe their. To accomodate vegetarian fish, you can also add seaweed selects directly to this mix of food.