Sick Lionfish With Mystery Illness! Help?

[thedude1278]

3 weeks ago tomorrow my lionfish began laying on the bottom of the 90 gallon tank. No signs of disease, he just stopped swimming around. And he stopped eating. He would randomly move about the tank and lay in different spots. Ive tried feeding him with a feeding stick but it scares him. i treated with melafix but it didnt help him. He has no signs of ICh. He isnt breathing heavily and gills are not inflamed. Tomorrow is 21 days that he hasnt eaten! 21 days with no food and he is still laying on the bottom, alive. It defies logic. He still randomly moves about but it seems like its very hard for him to move. Some days are better than others. I have NO idea whats going on. I want to help him but i dont know what to do. Im building up a biologcal filter for my QT tank but that takes time unfortunately. Its very hard to get food down to the lion even if he was eating becasue he shares the tank with a healthy HUNGRY Harlequin Tusk. Help?!?

 

[kingsmith]

I would say post your tank parameters, any changes that took place around the time that he got sick and when he did eat what were you feeding, I have no idea but people that can help will probably want as much info as you can give

 

[thedude1278]

My ammonia and nitrite are 0.
Temp 78.
pH 8.0 (a little low but not dangerous) Working on getting it raised.
Nitrates were almost 40 but are lower now. That shouldnt have been in the danger zone though.
Alkalinity is a bit low but not too low.
Phosphates were testing at 0. (kind of hard to read the test though)
I was probably overfeeding the lion, but not majorly. I can't imagine that would be the problem.
I have been battling cynobacteria. Maybe that is it? I have some red slime but not alot. I have quite a bit more green slime than red. Lion was sick weeks prior to any treating of the algae.

 

[barracuda1]

your lion probably had his gas bladder damaged by the wrasse, he might be crippled for now indefinatly

 

[thedude1278]

I never thought of that. i bet you are right. Thanks for that! That would absolutely explain it. Is this common with harlequin tusks? He is semi-aggressive, especially at dinnertime, but ive never seen him flat out attack the lion. I have seen him nip at the lion, but only on one or two occasions. And not since i started feeding them on opposite sides of the tank. (Kinda tricky but i found a way to pull it off) I want to replace the lion if this one dies, but i dont want a new one to suffer the same fate............

 

[hammerhed7]

what were you feeding the lion prior to this problem? It is possible he has a problem with his swim bladder, but if there are no signs of exterior tauma I would doubt it was a result of a tankmate.
Lions can develop liver problems if not fed a varied diet, or if the are overfed, or fed live freshwater fish. Most lionfish problems arise from their diet, they need a varied diet of fresh seafood, and should only be fed every other day or so, and occasionally letting him go 2 days without eating.

 

[thedude1278]

I was probably overfeeding him. I tried to only feed him every other day but there were times when I gave in to his begging. Sometimes he would eat quite a bit at one time. Sometimes the Tusk would get disoriented and the lion (who was always on point) would quickly snatch up his portion as well.
I didnt feed him live food nor freshwater fish.
He had a varied diet of crab legs, shrimp, squid and silversides. He was growing very quickly and was a fabulous specimen. I shouldnt refer to him in the past tense, he is still alive, but he has to be on his last leg.