Fuzzy Dwarf Lion wont eat and shedding

[ashleigh234]

Thank you so much for your help on this one!!
I will definately give an update as to what has happened so that if anyone else gets the issue it will help them out as well.
By any chance are you able to put up some pics of what an empty belly, and a full belly would look like ... i have never really looked at it ... and since he hasnt eaten in a week i wouldnt want to look and think, ok, that must be skinny, as if he does have food in his belly still then that wont be right.

 

[cranberry]

I think I have a really bad full belly pic somewhere. brb.

 

[cranberry]

You can see his belly bulge.

 

[ashleigh234]

That should definately help me when I have a look tonight! Thanks Cranberry.
I will see if I can get a decent picture of him for you as well, i doubt the camera will work, but if I manage to get one, I will post it up tomorrow.
If he has a full belly, how long before they would normally be ok again? If at all?

 

[cranberry]

I've only had to miss one feeding and it's gone.
After the water change, if he doesn't go for the shrimp, we'll start to br concerned.

 

[ashleigh234]

I just hope the lfs is open tonight after work. Fingers crossed, otherwise I will be taking time off tomorrow while they are open!

 

[cranberry]

Hopefully we'll get him eating again. I find the fuzzies to be one of the easier to convert to frozen. But there are some lions in every species that just won't "go:.

 

[ashleigh234]

We have progress!!!
I did a 12% water change last night.
Before I did this, I put a few live brine shrimp in the water ... this got my little lions attention ... he ate a few and you should have seen the big smile on my face!!!
So I drained the water out and put more brine shrimp in and left the pumps off so it would be easier for him to catch them, silly lion decided he wanted to eat a few off the ground as well which resulted in him coughing up sand.
But he ate!!!! Yay. All of the other fish had a field day as well, I think I will have to go and get some more.
Cranberry, question for you - if he was to eat these, how many brine shrimp would actually fill a lion up? I would imagine quite a few ...

 

[cranberry]

Don't even consider it..... carnivores require a diet heavy in proteins, the brineshrimp are worse for them than they are for other fish.
Very good sign.

 

[ashleigh234]

I thought that may have been the case, but just in case it is all he will eat for the time being I would rather fill him up on those than have an empty tummy. I could only get these from the fish shop last night as it was the only one open and thats all they had, but once he starts eating again, they will be a good treat for him and the others every now and then.
The fact that he started to eat these straight away after putting them in the tank makes me think that he may have struggled digesting a fish and doesnt want to eat them anymore?
I looked at his belly last night (before food) and it didnt look full, which is good, but also didnt look too skinny, so i suppose thats good too.
Other than ghost shrimp, what else would be good to feed him? I will get him eating properly again every second day for a week or two, then look at getting him on to prepared foods, and live as a treat (once he is set on prepared of course, could just imagine him refusing the prepared again after giving him live lol)

 

[cranberry]

Ghosts are the best food. I train mine using guppies, but I don't feed them that on a regular basis.

 

[ashleigh234]

Cranberry, I couldnt find any ghost shrimp so I brought some prawns, they are from brackkish? waters whether that makes a diff or not i dont know.
Are prawns ok to feed? I got the smallest ones I could, but i think a few of them are still a bit on the big side, if too big, will he attempt to eat them? hes had 1 small one and he loved it, once he got his eyes on it he just went straight for it. I gave up on the feeder fish, he still wasnt interested in them.