Bangaii Cardinal not eating

[isomorphic85]

Trying to figure out if I have a sick bangaii cardinal or if it's a male that is holding eggs in his mouth.

He hasnt eaten a thing for about 2 weeks now.... doesn't even look at the food as it passes by his face.

I can't see any visible signs of illness on him.

He's been very reclusive hiding inside the rock work most of the time.... occasionally up in the top corners of the tank etc.

I can't see any eggs in his mouth either though.

Any thoughts on how to properly go about this ?

thanks in advance it's appreciated.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Have you tried garlic? Have you tried adding B vitamin to the tank? Have you tried several different types of food? Was he eating fine before the last 2 week? What else is in the tank that could be harassing him?

 

[Deberber]

Yeah just try different things. My pajama used to eat mysis. Now he just looks at it. It went on for about a week and a half. Went and got brine and he eats it like crazy.


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[isomorphic85]

there's only 2 ocellaris clowns and a yellow tang other then the bangaiis in the tank and it's a 150 gallon

 

[isomorphic85]

yes he had been eating consistently prior to two weeks ago, was always out and about in the tank as well

 

[farfromsea]

Have you used to the vent method to sex the fish to determine if you have a male and female? http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/tm.aspx?m=72814

I believe Banggai are nocturnal so maybe trying to feed the fish at night could help... How long have you had him?

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Before I practiced proper QT, I added a Firefish to my tank which only housed a Bangaii at the time. The Firefish died and infected the tank with flukes. After the second dose of PraziPro, the Bangaii was acting really weird. Appeared weak and stopped eating. He went a week without food and I was sure he was going to die. He would sample the frozen food only to spit it back out. I decided to try Seachem's GarlicGuard by soaking the frozen food in the garlic. I dumped all of it in and he kept it down. Tried plain frozen food, nada. Soaked it again and he kept it down again. I fed him garlic soaked mysis twice a day for a week and he finally returned to normal, not needing it to eat anymore.

 

[isomorphic85]

I QT'd the 3 bangaiis for about 10 weeks before introducing into the dt... they've been into the DT now for about 4 months.

I believe I def have a male and female combo.... I did notice them very close together and the one was almost brushing against the other several times before he stopped eating. Which i've read is normal breeding behavior. what concerns me is that I can't actually see him holding any eggs in his mouth as in most other pictures the eggs are clearly visible .... in my case it's not

 

[farfromsea]

Hmm so having them for 6 months it obviously isn't a problem of a wild-caught Banggai refusing to eat prepared foods or something. I read once that some people try to net the male to induce him to release the fry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsamUWGix8s

Perhaps you could try that and see if any will pop out.

If not varying the diet could be a good idea just to see as mentioned above. Live brine maybe would be enticing? I am wary to use garlic-infused foods because of the risk of heart/liver lesions but perhaps only sparing use is not an issue. (post 14: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2213228)

Hope he pulls through either way keep us posted