help lazy sick lionfish.

xloptuny

New Member
2 days ago my volitan lion stoped eathing (been feeding it every other day) yesterday it just sitting on the bottom of the aquarium. Doesn't really move around just in one place and keeps its fins almost tucked in around its body. it used to be quite active. Ammonia = 0, PH = 8, Nitrate = 0,
Nitrite = 0, Gravity = 1.022, Salinty = 30. How can I help him.
thanks
Bryce
 

xloptuny

New Member
on average once every 36 hours half the time rosey reds the rest damsels, the pet store was feeding it rosey reds and i hadnt gotten it off of live food yet.
Bryce
 

hot883

Active Member
Originally Posted by Xloptuny
on average once every 36 hours half the time rosey reds the rest damsels, the pet store was feeding it rosey reds and i hadnt gotten it off of live food yet.
Bryce
To me Bryce, that is the problem. I have a fuzzy dwarf that was only fed brine at the LFS. He went several days without eating. I vary his diet with dried krill soaked in garlic and zoe (vitamins). I also feed him silversides, squid etc. Stay away from freshwater fish as food.
Also only feed him until he gets a slight buldge in the stomach area. More lions are killed by overfeeding and fed with the wrong foods than anything else. HTH, Barry
 

xloptuny

New Member
I was just looking at him and there are holes in the skin/webbing between the fins and a couple of the spikes are bare of skin. i'll try and upload a few pictures.
 

xloptuny

New Member
I had a coral beauty in with it but it was removed a day after the lion was becoming lazy. The lion is 2-3 inches long. the dwarf angel was 1.5 inches long. For the most part they stayed in seperate ends of the tank and never interacted.
Bryce
 

unleashed

Active Member
from the pics he does have clouded eyes ...not a good sign
new lions can be very tricky to get used to a new enviroment and getting them to eat properly is a sometimes a task all in itself..do a google seacrh for lion stopped eating and you should get a listing of many topics about this issue look for the ones from wetweb...
those should be a god help
 

geridoc

Well-Known Member
About 35 years ago I had a medium volitans in a 55 gal that developed exactly the same symptoms as yours, especially the holes in the webs. He eventually died, but at about the same time I found that there was a small leak in my submerged heater, and there was an electrical current in the tank that was causing problems with the other fish in the tank as well. I have always used a grounding probe since. Check your equipment for short circuits or salt leaks and be sure everything is plugged into a GFCI. Whether this is actually the cause of your problem, I don't know, but it couldn't hurt to be sure.
 
N

nonphotosynt

Guest
For how long are you keeping this lion?
I would increase salinity, at least to SG 1.024 (I'm keeping it at 1.026). Even immediate rise is better than the low salinity, in my opinion. Is tempetarure in limits 78-80F?
Also, if you can, check on bacterial and viral diseases diagnostic and treatment, for saltwater fish. I never has this problem with my volitan or antennata lions, but have an impression that it loses tissue while being alive.
Rosy reds could transmit diseases, if were added to the tank without 3-4 weeks of quarantine.
I know, I know, very few of us have possibility to keep feeders fish in quarantine, plus the main feeders tank...
Ghost shrimp, being crustacean, is more safe, and much more of them can be kept in the tank, comparing to the rosy reds. I'm feeding them exclusively seafood (grocery shrimp and fish), this way lion can be indirectly fed by a seafood.
Ghost shrimp is much more expensive, but some Big Al's stores sell it in bulk for a lesser price.
As I understand, you are feeding damsels too, now and then, right? By accident, I discovered that a couple of the small chromises helped to restore health of my starved in LFS antennata lion very fast.
When the lion will be better, try to feed it pieces of shrimp (raw, unsalted, not freshwater) and the ocean fish.
Also, I would buy alkalinity test kit, at least Aquarium Pharmaceuticals KH for saltwater, pretty good and cheap, Salifert is better. Try to keep alkalinity in the limits 8.5-11.5.
If salt mix that you are using has high alkalinity, change the brand, or mix 1:1 with other salt mix, with lower alkalinity.
If you have in the fridge a bottle of cycling bacteria (like Seachem Stability or any other), you may try to add them into the tank - may be they can help to restore bacterial balance in the water - you know, like probiotics for humans.
Just a thought.
My sympathies to your lion, hope it will feel better.
 

v-lioness

Member
IMO Your lion has a bacterial infection, you should move this lion to a quarantine, pick up some K-mycin/kanamycin and treat for 5-7 days. Very easy to do...........
Your lion is young but needs to change over to frozen foods a.s.a.p. Volitans are pretty easy to wean over to frozen foods, pick up a feeding stick from your LFS (about $1.50), try frozen krill, frozen sand eels or frozen silversides thawed than introduce more of a variety such as Raw Shrimp, Crab, scallops and so on.
Soak all of your foods in vitamins (pick these up from your LFS), since this lion is young offer small chunks, though you can feed a young lion daily, you should only feed a small chunk soaked in vitamins. As this lion matures you can start feeding every other day, right now my lions are older and only eat every 2-3 days. Feed until you see a slight bulge in the stomach area, any more can be considered over feeding.
Stop the Rosie's, you can use ghost shrimp as mentioned but feed the ghost shrimp something nutritional before feeding them to your lion.....
I have been out of town or I would have responded sooner, hope your lion is doing well.......
Kaye
 

xloptuny

New Member
My lion died about 2 days ago. Could red or green algae caused and issue with him? I've been using "real ocean water" from *****. I had him for about a month before he stoped eating.
 

v-lioness

Member
Sorry to hear about your lion, Lions have been observed in the wild with holes in their fins, so I was not so concerned with the fins. Yet tank mates can stress a lion and cause fin damage, What else was the lion kept with?
If the fins were lets say disintegrating/falling apart, I would say fin rot but the eyes tell another story with your lion. The eyes were hazy/cloudy, that is the reason I say bacterial infection, this can be caused by a number of things. Diet plays an important role when keeping lion fish long term, though I can not rule it out, I am also not sure if that was the cause, Shipping, Stress, Stray Voltage and so on can play a role, What size is your tank?
Kaye
 

xloptuny

New Member
It was kept with a coral beauty, couple snails. It was in a 30 gallon tank that would of been upgraded within 6 months. they never seemed to pay attention to each other. the lion was purched in town.
 
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