Volitan Lion is struggling!

[hocky98]

I got a volitan lion and wolf eel 4 days ago from my lfs. Both fish came from the same tank, so they were familiar with each other. The eel looks to be doing very well and the lion looked great up until tonight. My tank cycled and I removed the 6 damsels that were in there. I fed the lion 6 feeder goldfish in the first 3 days, and today the lion is hanging at the bottom of the tank. I tested the water and all of my readings are fine with a nitrate of 10. It doesn't have any visable ailments, but is just sitting there and only moving around a little. The water temp raised up from 79 to 81 degrres, because my fireplace was on. That is the only real change to the tank.

 

[beth]

I'm afraid feeding lionfish goldfish is a dangereous affair. They lack nutrition and the fatty material of goldfish is seriously dangeous for the lion. In your situation, since you have only had this fish a few days, the excessive feeding of goldfish likely resulted in an intestinal blockage [very common].
Do you have a quarantine that you can move the fish to to try antibiotics?

 

[hocky98]

right now I only have the one tank and it is a fish only tank with a star, wolf eel, the volitan lion and 2 hermits. Should I try to let it pass? Is there anything I can do right now without another tank? Can I treat the fish in the main tank?

 

[hocky98]

It has been 3 days now. He is not breathing heavy and has no visable problems. He is still lumbering on the bottom of the tank. When I try to feed him frozen prawn, he swims over to me, but will not come up for food and will not eat. Will this pass?

 

[aquaman]

It can be hard to get the adjusted to eating food that is not still alive. You should try different food, go to you local grocery store to the sea food counter and look for clam, shrimp or other UNCOOKED food, the stronger the fishy smell the better in my experience. (This is cheaper that food for a pet store but not vitamin enriched) You should also try to moving the food around like a injured fish, not to much though, this will simulate its prey, and again start to get it used to eating prepared foods. Hope this helps.

 

[beth]

I can't advise adding antibiotics to your existing tank. Inverts and live rock will not tolerate antibiotics anyway.
Did you try posting in the Aggressive Forum to see if the hobbyist who keep these type fish have some further advise?
I'll just copy your thread over there.

 

[fishy411]

how mmany people have told u to NEVER feed fw feeders. They cause fatty liver disease. Feed ghost shrimp and when he gets useds to eating from you than try frozen food

 

[hocky98]

I'm sad to say my lion did not make it. He looked like he was doing better, but when I got home from work yesterday, he was dead. My water levels are normal. I do have some cloudy water, but my guess is it's from algea. I assume he died from the initial poor feeded and could not recover.
My plan is to replace him on Monday, and start him out right with ghost shrimp. I've heard many different opinions on how much and how often to feed him, so I will try to feed him about 2 or 3 shrimp daily.

 

[fishy411]

u should only feed every other day i think. Untilk u see his belly slightly bulging.

 

[moraym]

Please do not add anything to that water until it clears up.
If you suspect algae, which is unlikely the cause (based on what youve typed), then wait a week or two. Continue to monitor your tank and levels, make sure the water is clear, perform a large water change, wait another week, and then replace if you must have another lion.
There could be other causes that you are unaware of, better safe than sorry. Some new water in there and a couple weeks to observe the situation is usually the best course to continue.

 

[katiebc]

we have a dwarf fuzzy and my hubby feeds him off a stick. He uses Frozen krill, thaws it in little cup of water from the tank then puts little pieces on the end of the stick, then slowly moves it around till here the lion comes, gulp! The lion is used to being fed this way and will darn near beg for food. The stick is a wooden cuticle stick that women use. Go figure I'm a nail tech, HA!!

 

[hocky98]

I cut back on my lighting and the water has cleared up. I tested my levels, and got Am=0 Ni=0 Na=10 Ph=8.2
Everything looks good to me. I'm know the lion died from the initial goldfish feeded. The current tankmates are doing very well and are very happy! My lfs has a lion on hold for me, so I will pick him up today:cheer:

 

[liontamer]

Sumthing that has helped people in the past with lions are UV Sterilizers, they help to uncloud the water and to destroy possible bacterias that can cause infections (but not ich) JUst a tip for you though: If you do not want to fail again, dont get another fish for about a month. You took things too quicky, and i believe that the tank didnt have a mture enough bacteria count, and that included with the porr feeding habits that you generated for the fish caused its death. The tank just wasnt mature enough for two large fish yet, and the food you fed it didnt help. Let the eel sit in there for a while, and then take it slow. Add yer next fish in a couple of weeks to a month, not in the next few days. That would be a poor decision. People who can add 2 or three fish at a time only do it becuz they have a stable system in their tank, and even that doesnt work sometimes. So please, for the sake of your experinece in the hobby, and for the fish, wait a while for your next fish. Solve the problems that you have right now, maybe get a uv sterilizer if you are inclined to it, and do things right. You wont be sorry.