New Dwarf Zebra Lionfish...is he breathing ok????

ogredawg

ogredawg

Member
This is my second lionfish, my first one only lasted 2 days and that was last week. My new lionfish has eaten 3 ghost shrimps so far (within 2 days). He doesn't wonder a lot, he actually just stays in one spot the whole day then he'll move a little big at night.
My problem is, he looks like he's breathing heavy. Does it look like it to you, or does he look normal?
http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r...t=MVI_0248.flv
 
ogredawg

ogredawg

Member
Tank is 50 gallons with 15g sump filled half way
Turnover rate is 11-12x per hour
Ammonia, Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = between 5 and 10
PH = 8.0
Temp = 78.9
Salinity = 1.023
He's been in my tank since saturday night. so 2 and a half days in my tank.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Has he just eaten? Heavy breathing is pretty common right after a meal.
On a side note, don't keep feeding that or any lion freshwater foods... not good for him. Get him weaned onto marine based food (squid, raw table shrimp, etc) asap.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by ogredawg
Tank is 50 gallons with 15g sump filled half way
Turnover rate is 11-12x per hour
Ammonia, Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = between 5 and 10
PH = 8.0
Temp = 78.9
Salinity = 1.023
He's been in my tank since saturday night. so 2 and a half days in my tank.

Can you describe the acclimation process you used?
BTW, the member you want to get in touch with is VLioness. She's the resident expert on lions.
 
ogredawg

ogredawg

Member
He's been breathing like that since I got him. The lfs manager said to lower my salinity because it was on 1.025 now its down to 1.023.
I'm just feeding the shrimp right now, and wean him later to frozen food. Maybe krill or silverside
 
ogredawg

ogredawg

Member
I just did the regular acclimation process. Let the bag float for 15 min. then opened the bag and poured 1 cup of my aquarium water every 10 minutes and did that 2 or 3 times. Then put the fish in the tank and dumped all the water in the bag.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
If he was breathing like that at the lfs, that's one thing, but if he started doing it when you got him, it's possible he got ammonia burn from being in the bag. If that's the case, there is nothing you can do but wait.
If he's eating, that's a very good sign. A sick fish won't eat.
However, your acclimation process...
I deduce by matter of math that you are going from bag to tank in 20-30 minutes. This is way too fast. You should be acclimating fish over a period of at least an 1-3 hours, sometimes more if it's a sensitive fish, and the total amount of water dripped in should be at least 2-3 times the volume of water in the bag.
A lionfish is pretty tough, but you should study the drop acclimation methods defined on this site for a method that is much more reliable and less stressful to the fish.
 
v-lioness

v-lioness

Member
SCSInet Thank you and I agree with everything your saying, the acclimation was fast.
Sometimes lions just do not ship well, I always recommend leaving them at the LFS 7-10 days before bringing them home. I recommend that on any fish, many LFS will hold them for you and you can start to wean the lion over to frozen foods right in the LFS. Buy your ghost shrimp and krill there, they are in small tanks, it makes it much easier.
Watch for shedding, you may see a whitish stringy skin floating around your tank, they breath like this through shedding also.
Your lion looks young, you can feed ghost shrimp but you have to feed the ghost shrimp something nutritional before feeding them to your lion. Feed the ghost shrimp, squid, octo, raw shrimp, cyclopezee, Pellets, than feed them to your lion.
I would feed every 2-3 days right now, plus try to wean over to frozen, which can be tough to do, pick up a feeder stick from your LFS and try krill, small chunks of raw shrimp, small frozen sand eels and so on...... Try the frozen foods (thawed) if your lion will not eat, than feed the ghost shrimp.
You want the lion hungry so you can wean over to frozen foods but young lions can starve pretty fast.
How big is your lion?
Kaye
 
ogredawg

ogredawg

Member
Originally Posted by V-Lioness
SCSInet Thank you and I agree with everything your saying, the acclimation was fast.
Sometimes lions just do not ship well, I always recommend leaving them at the LFS 7-10 days before bringing them home. I recommend that on any fish, many LFS will hold them for you and you can start to wean the lion over to frozen foods right in the LFS. Buy your ghost shrimp and krill there, they are in small tanks, it makes it much easier.
Watch for shedding, you may see a whitish stringy skin floating around your tank, they breath like this through shedding also.
Your lion looks young, you can feed ghost shrimp but you have to feed the ghost shrimp something nutritional before feeding them to your lion. Feed the ghost shrimp, squid, octo, raw shrimp, cyclopezee, Pellets, than feed them to your lion.
I would feed every 2-3 days right now, plus try to wean over to frozen, which can be tough to do, pick up a feeder stick from your LFS and try krill, small chunks of raw shrimp, small frozen sand eels and so on...... Try the frozen foods (thawed) if your lion will not eat, than feed the ghost shrimp.
You want the lion hungry so you can wean over to frozen foods but young lions can starve pretty fast.
How big is your lion?
Kaye
My lion was in the LFS for 4 days, and looked pretty good in their tank. He's about 2.5 inches body length. He's swimming around a lot last night when the lights were off, and still moving around pretty good right now with the room lit. Although he's still breathing the same. All the other fish in the tank are breathing normal which makes me think it's not my flow, temp., or salinity. What else could it be?
BTW he was in the bag for 2.5 hours when I got him. Was that too long, long enough to cause ammonia burn?
Thanks everyone
 
v-lioness

v-lioness

Member
How do the fins Look?
Are the eyes clear? No hazy or cloudiness to them.....
What are the tank mates? Anything that may harass or stress the lion?
He's swimming around a lot last night when the lights were off, and still moving around pretty good right now with the room lit.
Lions are night swimmer's, you may even want to try weaning the lion over to frozen foods at night after the lights are off.
Kaye
 
ogredawg

ogredawg

Member
Originally Posted by V-Lioness
How do the fins Look?
Are the eyes clear? No hazy or cloudiness to them.....
What are the tank mates? Anything that may harass or stress the lion?
Lions are night swimmer's, you may even want to try weaning the lion over to frozen foods at night after the lights are off.
Kaye
When I got it, the right fin look like it got picked by another lion that was in the lfs tank, but everything else was fine. Eyes are clear and the only tank mates are two false perc clowns, two green chromis, and a cleaner shrimp. And I don't see anything harrasing him except couple times the shrimp tried cleaning him. Someone actually told me today that it might be my PH. It's on 8.0 right now and she said try to bring it as close to 8.2 as possible because same thing happened to her Lionfish when she got it. I'll try feeding it again when I get home.
 
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