HELP..box fish acting weird..

[mr_fobber]

my box fish, itz like.. on the bottom of the tank. But itz kinda weird. I havent fed it for like 5 days? so i was like... OH crap it must be hungry so i fed it some frozen mysis shrimp. it eats fine, at first it try itz hardest to chase the shrimp and it ate like a few, but now itz on the bottom of the tank again. It can swim and it trys to eat... but it kept going back down to the bottom. Itz in a 20 gallon tank with a baby snowflake eel. I had small bubbles problem in my tank for a few days because of a broken skimmer.... wut should i do?? wahts wrong with my boxfish? what can i do right now? is it going to die?? please help.. thanks alot!!

 

[beth]

You didn't feed it for 5 days? Why is that?
20 gal tank with a snowflake and a boxface is rather small.
Post up tank info, water readings, fish info, etc. The thread at the top of the forum details info that is hobbyists should provide when posting in the Disease Forum.

 

[mr_fobber]

oh hmm sorry about that... here it is
20 gallon tank with some live rocks, itz been up running for nearly a year. I have a small box fish, one baby snowflake in there and im adding one tiny black frogfish as im posting right now. This is my growth tank, so when the fish gets big, ill transfer it out to my main tank. I dont add any supplement in it. My cheap Jebo skimmer just broke, or iono what happen to it..it discharge alot of bubble in the tank, so i just unplug the plug, so right now i dont have a skimmer in there. I forgot wut my water reading was, but i remember it was in perfect condition a few days ago when i tested it. I didnt feed it for 5 days, well.... lets say that i didnt feed what it usually eats, which is frozen mysis shrimp. i was unable to go to the store and buy some when i ran out last week, i was busy this whole week so yah. But i did fed it chop shrimp but it didnt really eat alot during the 5 days period that i my mysis ran out. It just nip at the chopped shrimp thatz all. I dont know what is wrong with my box fish, but it seems like itz in perfect condition, but it always sit on the bottom. so do u think itz just too weak cuz it havent been eating? i however got the mysis yesterday and i dont think my box fish is going to miss any meal for the rest of the month if it dont die. well thanks.... =)

 

[fishtanker]

you'll need to post acutal readings from your test kits for anyone to give you some help.
one thing i can tell you is that you need to feed your boxfish a couple times a day. boxfish aren't able to sustain themselves without a constant supply of food. i feed my boxfish a lot of different food. (shrimp, scallops, mussels, and octopus)
i also add nori (seaweed selects or sea veggies) every other day since greenstuffs are about 60% of their diet in the wild.
Boxfish are really cool fish if you can maintain there feeding requirements.
good luck

 

[mr_fobber]

yah.. my box fish is fine now =) itz swimmin around. ... fish tanker... can i ask u a question? i saw ur tank on ur icon, and i can see the box fish. Well.. i also see some expensive fish in the same tank where the box fish is at. Arent u worried that one day if the box fish just decides to exclude the toxin it has in it, and kill off ur whole tank? why r u risking all ur other fish's health and decide to put ur box fish with them?

 

[fishtanker]

actually the chances of a boxfish releasing its toxin is extremely rare. its more of "an old wives tale" and usually its the blue boxfish that will do it.
you are correct that technically i am risking the other fish in corals in the tank by housing a boxfish but i just cant pass up on their personality. very intellingent fish that can be long lived if requirements are maintained