Sick Lionfish

[luvinslots]

HELP!!! Our lionfish has stopped eating. We generally feed him frozen krill. We've tried ghost shrimp but he's not interested. I notice he's shedding a little and white strips are now orange. He's pretty lifeless and basically lays at the bottom of the tank breathing. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

 

[beth]

Lions can shed when they have been kept in poor conditions. Need some details about the fish and your history with him. How long have you had him? What size is he and what size is the tank? What are your water readings?

 

[jerrybsal]

Is krill the only thing you feed him? You should be mixing krill,silversides,squid,shrimp there is plenty of frozen food to give and fill all requirements. Is he in the tank by himself if not maybe take him and put him in a QT to take away any stress.As a last resort try feeding a goldfish it will be easier for him to see it. See if that gets him going,if it does do it a couple of times and then go back to mixing frozen.Good luck....

 

[luvinslots]

Thanks for the replys. We've been feeding him only frozen krill because that's what we were told by the local "specialists" to feed him. Until now anyway. We've had him for about 3 months. He's almost 6 inches long. He's in a 40 gallon tank with two puffers about the same size. We're in the process of cycling a 110 gallon tank to move them into. Chemicals have been O.K. until about a week ago. Ammonia was high. We do 25% water change just about every two weeks. We just went through a battle of ich about a month ago. All seemed to be O.K. He wasn't interested in the ghost shrimp. Will try some of the others. Goldfish might be a good idea since we've actually wondered if he's blind. Even when he was well seemed he couldn't see the krill.

 

[beth]

ABSOLUTELY NO gold fish. Lionfish can die eating goldfish. I am not a lionfish keeper but I can tell you that high ammonia [even in the past] and battles with ich can cause serious problems.
How did you treat the ich? Why did you have ammonia? Is the tank that these fish are in uncycled?

 

[jerrybsal]

Beth, There is nothing wrong with trying goldfish to stimulate a lion fish into eating.The only thing is very clear "a Couple Of times" If you do this long term he will die but a few days to get his health back will not hurt. My Lion has been around almost 7 years and I got him eating with a couple of goldfish.Some lion have a hard time seeing ghost shrimp.Luvinslots as soon as he shows signs of recovery start feeding silversides,fresh squid from the grocery store,shrimp and krill both frozen and freezedried.A mixed diet of frozen will get him going.Seeing your fish starve is no fun, goldfish are horrible long term but at this point you have more to lose by him not eating .Again its only for a couple of days.Beth is correct about the ammonia keep that a zerne last thing for the goldfish before putting him in the tank rinse him off with fresh water for about 30 seconds to clean him off. Good luck...

 

[jerrybsal]

luvinslots I forgot to ask on the last post who is your "local Specialist" in Phx. I live in Surprise ,I am wondering who these idiots are.No fish can live on one single food source.

 

[luvinslots]

Well, he's still hanging in there. Still hasn't eaten I don't think. We haven't tried the goldfish yet. Going to get some of the other stuff suggested today. He's actually moving a little more. Skidish like he used to be when something got near him. (that's the best way I could describe it). Ocean Floor is the aquarium shop in town that told us to feed the frozen krill. Every other shop we went to told us the same. They would also tell us to try Ocean Floor for some of our stuff. So, when ever we had questions, we would talk to them. Kevin is the manager over the saltwater area. Others would tell us different stuff. So we figured we were doing good sticking with him. As for the ammonia level, we think our chemicals were old so our readings were off. The ammonia registered high when we used new chemicals. That was 2 weeks ago. "Spike" stopped eating about a week ago. This tank has been running since March so it's fully cycled. Our new one won't be ready for another 5 weeks (we just started it last weekend). It's much bigger. If he lasts, I'm sure it will be better for him. thanks again for all the help. We really appreciate it!! I'll post another reply tomorrow.

 

[luvinslots]

Forgot to mention... We used copper solution in the water to get rid of the ich. (Again as suggested by Ocean Floor). It took two doses (2 days part) but it worked. We also took the carbon out of the filter during that period. It's been over a month since then. Spike didn't have it as bad as my puffers.

 

[luvinslots]

Goldfish didn't work. Neither did silversides. He's just not interested. He acts like his fins on the right side of his body are damaged. He'll extend the left side but the right side stays closed. When he tries to move he scoots like he can't get up off the bottom of the tank. Going to keep trying to feed him.

 

[beth]

Are you sure he does not have ich? That 2 day treatment just isn't adequate to treat ich?
Can you put this fish in a quarantine? There isn't much that can done or suggested for treatment in the display.
Jerry, rather than argue the point about feeder goldfish let me quote Robert Fenner, a well known, professional, published aquarist. Basically, feeding goldfish to lions is a common knowdege misnomer in the hobby:
"I'd like to mention another type of "disease", environmental; from comet feedings I've seen time and time again: Death from "gut blockage" in particular in lionfishes and their relatives. There is a tendency for feeder 'skulls' (crania) to block over the opening from the stomach to the intestine in this group. From necropsying enough scorpionfishes to fill a fish store I would guess "feeder blockage syndrome" as their single largest source of mortality."

 

[luvinslots]

Thanks for the reply Beth. I truly appreciate it. The ich was about a month ago. It took just about a week to clear it up totally. I meant we had to add two doses of the copper. Our dog face puffer is purplish so it's easy to see the ich. I saw it on Spike too at that time. I doubt he has it now since the others don't. We tried to put him in a small fish tote at the bottom of the tank when we were trying to feed him so the others wouldn't eat his dinner. He wouldn't eat the goldfish so we took it out as soon as it died. He wouldn't eat the silversides either. We were afraid to leave him in the small tote that it would make him worse.

 

[beth]

Small tote?

 

[luvinslots]

One of those small 5 gallon plastic tanks with a plastic lid and handle. It said "fish tote" on the label.