sick lion please help ASAP

[teog]

I have a 160FOWLR..only about 35 lbs of lr..The tank has been up and runing for about 2 months now...I used an established 75 gallon and dumped it into the 160 and filled the rest with new water..it had a golden tail eel and about 20 blue leg crabs and some snails...last saturday I bought a large sized volitan and acclimated him like normal..before I placed him in my water was perfect...amonia,nitrite and nitrates were perfect..I check dailey and my lfs checks once a week...
The volitan ate fine for the first thee days...during this time my amonia and nitrates,nitrites went up a tad..but not much, i figured my tank was adjusting to the lion fish...2 nights ago my eel commited suicide and left the tank and died(he has done this before but i was home and placed him back into the tank)...the next day my lion fish decided to stop eating..and was not swimming as muched but stayed perched on some lr..I tried moving him with a feeding stick but would not move and would fight the stick.today also(day 2) he wouldnt eat and would not move but be perched between some coral decorations I have and would fight the feeding stick again.He also seems to be breathing heavy..
He looks fine to the eye but wont eat and wont swim around and breaths heavy...fortunetly I have a 29gallon tank the just finished cycling and no fish so I threw in some maracyn-2 and put him in there too to get treated. Was this a good or bad idea? He has been in there about 10 minutes now...What good be wrong?Could he have been sick at the LFS? PLEASE HELP!
Thanks

 

[fmarini]

Hi:
3 days of feeding? So can you describe what your feeding this lion, and how much. Do you notice any outward signs of disease. The lethary and perching means nothing w/ these fish, as you know, when full they become slugs.
So whats your water parameters right now?
My intial feeling is the fish is full and needs to rest. I usually only feed three/week, and i feed enuf food to make a slight bump in the lions belly, but not fill the fish. You want the fish constantly hungry.
Are you feeding live feeders or prepared marine foods?
I'm trying to narrow down whats going on
frank

 

[teog]

I originaly feed him 3 small pieces of krill the first three nights...I have never feed him live food...I saw him eat two silver slides at the lfs before I bought him.the fourth night he would eat and was lethargic...I checked my nitrite and nitrate this evening and it was undetectable...I also did my standard 15 gallon water change on wednesday too. Like I mentioned is now in a 29gallon hospital tank with a dose of maracyn-2...should I leave him or not? appearence he seems to be fine....

 

[teog]

anyone?

 

[pancho]

if i'm not mistaken you said your ammonia and nitrite level went up a little? if so then yes keep him in the hospital tank and do a water change in the old tank. my lion did this once but mine was do to new tank syndrome. and don't worry your fish will not starve so you can skip a couple of days before the next feeding. You also might want to feed the fish every other day. over feeding causes havoc in the ammonia and nitrate department. sorry about the eel.

 

[teog]

lion update- he has been in the hospital tank now for three days...he seems to be doing better. He did eat a piece of krill yetseday and was amazingly fast to eat the three live feeder too...the lfs said he was off feeders completely but Im not sure if i believe them 100 percent... I will leave him in the hospital tank for two more day just incase...