Bandit Angel on sudden hunger strike...what gives?

[jnc914]

I have had the pleasure of owning several Bandit Angels since 2008, and have not ever run into this current issue. In the past I have only ever received Bandits, usually 2.5-3.75", direct from Hawaiian divers and cut out the wholesale "middlemen". I feel that doing it this way better ensures a healthy specimen that has not been exposed to parasites and pathogens in wholesale facilities. I have usually never run into issues with a Bandit eating once settled in, and definitely have never experienced an extended hunger strike from any of the specimens I have kept.

That being said, I purchased a 4.25" Bandit from LA DD back in the end of August. The fish spent 2.5 months in Kevin Kohen's office tank where it ate mysis and brine with no issues. When i received it, it went through a standard 8 week QT that included metro, prazi and hypo. I added it to the display and it has become the dominant fish.

Fast forward to roughly 3 weeks ago. The fish was eating everything thrown in the tank. Then it suddenly began to ignore the frozen foods (mysis/PE/Larry's). I found it odd, but not overly concerning as it continued to chow down on NLS. Now, over the past week, it ignores even the NLS. I am starting to get concerned as it went from a plump fish to thinning by the day. I treated the tank with Prazi as a preventative (I run a FOWLR). I have no idea what could be causing this issue. The only thing I have noticed water parmeter wise was a slight elevation of PO4. All of my other fish look and act extrememly healthy.

Any input or experiences would be helpful.

 

[newaquarist]

I wish I could as I am having my own problems with my bandit (my thread directly below yours), but as I am a newbie all I can do is wish you guys the best!! Have you tried the trick of trying to get them eat peeled peas, which if they are constipated can clean them out? Probably makes no sense but something I read once...

 

[Allmost]

is the temp stable ?

what newaquarist sais has happened to my achilles before, it didnt eat for over a week, then took a huge dump and went back to normal. so its possible !

 

[ccampbell57]

Jason - the exact same thing happened with my Conspic. after owning her for over 2 years she just slowly became lethargic and not wanting to eat. I pulled her into QT for 2 weeks to get her alone, but it was all for not. She just was too skinny and weak.

My only thought is that she has something on the inside of her mouth that is causing discomfort when eating and therefore has rejected it.

I would pull her and get her by herself in some pristine water ASAP

 

[jnc914]

is the temp stable ?

what newaquarist sais has happened to my achilles before, it didnt eat for over a week, then took a huge dump and went back to normal. so its possible !

Temp has been kept at a balmy 76 degrees. My other Bandits were kept in 73-74 temps. I thought maybe temp was also playing a role in the issue. I tried to feed it metro but it won't touch it.

Jason - the exact same thing happened with my Conspic. after owning her for over 2 years she just slowly became lethargic and not wanting to eat. I pulled her into QT for 2 weeks to get her alone, but it was all for not. She just was too skinny and weak.

My only thought is that she has something on the inside of her mouth that is causing discomfort when eating and therefore has rejected it.

I would pull her and get her by herself in some pristine water ASAP

Thanks for the feed back Chris. Hope all is well you your system. You are overdue for a photo update

I may pull the Bandit tonight and start a round of Erythromycin. The fish still appears very healthy and active, but just stares and swims through the food dumped in the tank.

Do you feel that an uptick in the PO4 may also be causing the Bandit to not want to eat?

 

[Fishfirst]

Temp has been kept at a balmy 76 degrees. My other Bandits were kept in 73-74 temps. I thought maybe temp was also playing a role in the issue. I tried to feed it metro but it won't touch it.




Thanks for the feed back Chris. Hope all is well you your system. You are overdue for a photo update

I may pull the Bandit tonight and start a round of Erythromycin. The fish still appears very healthy and active, but just stares and swims through the food dumped in the tank.

Do you feel that an uptick in the PO4 may also be causing the Bandit to not want to eat?

Easy way to find out would be to reduce PO4 and see if the behavior stops. Interested to see the results, good luck!

 

[Fish Bowl]

My Emperor Angelfish of 5 years went through a similar dilemma actually.
Ate virtually everything and wasn't the least bit shy, then suddenly started hiding and acting semi lethargic which was odd since nothing new was introduced for years.
Eventually I decided to do a freshwater dip (pH matched and temp slightly higher than display) with epsom salt to see if it was flukes or possibly an intestinal blockage which epsom salt is supposed to help with.
30 minutes in and he took probably the biggest dump I've ever seen from him ever.
Fast forward to now and he's back to being thick, robust and eating/grunting at whatever he feels like.
Worth a shot if you can easily catch it out of the tank if you ask me.

 

[jnc914]

Just wanted to update the thread. Seems like constipation was a factor in the fish not eating. I chose not to remove the Bandit from the display despite it's continued hunger strike. I felt that it would have only added more stress for the fish. I still offered it a variety of frozen food and pellet soaked in metro. It started to eat brine and NLS pellets again about 3 days ago, but not aggressively. Then last night, without going into too much detail, the fish defecated like I have never seen before. This went on for at least a straight 3-4 minutes, and it was somewhat alarming

I am hoping that this was the main issue and the fish's appetite returns to normal. I also added GFO and did a massive water change to address PO4 issues.

 

[dnsfpl]

thanks for sharing your experience

you might want to consider adding seaweed to their regular diet to prevent this from happening again

cheers

 

[jnc914]

I offer all fish in the FOWLR red and purple seaweed. In addition I also cycle in small pieces of live rock with sponge growth for the angels to pick at. I have plenty of experience keeping these fish; unfortunately this was the one time I got one from an online vendor and it wound up having constipation issues.

 

[stunreefer]

Glad to hear the fish turned the corner for you, Jason. I know how stressful that can be.