Fish unable to catch food...

[Ricimer]

Hi!
I have a school of 7 Chromis viridis in my 90gal tank. I have isolated one of them in my refuge because he was too stressed in the display. He was introduced at the same time as two other Chromis about three months ago. They were all small at that time (1.5"). He was doing very fine until last week.
After isolating him I noticed he could not feed anymore. He tries to catch food, but it's always hit and miss and that seems to stress and confuse him. He seems otherwise healthy: active and bright colors. I dont know if he's getting partly blind or uncoordinated. I think I remember reading about a disease that would cause the loss of perspective/3D vision. Can't find anything about it anymore.
I could treat it in a separate tank if I can diagnose and pick a medication...
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Ricimer

 

[Chibils]

Does he swim okay? That's usually the cause of demise in fish (ime, don't know others' experiences) with swim bladder issues--they have trouble righting themselves and can't get their food. It's really sad to watch. :<

Have you tried the Fish Disease & Treatment forum?

 

[Ricimer]

He seems to swimm ok so far and is quite active.
I tried the Fish disease forum and there's no reply after a few days so I decided to post here...
Thanks!

 

[snorvich]

Check his eyes. Sounds like he is losing his eye sight.

 

[natan]

probably blind due to the external parasites. common in chromis. FW dip it.

 

[Ricimer]

For how long? 3 minutes?

 

[Ricimer]

And are those parasites supposed to be visible? I dont see anything special in his eyes... Maybe with a magnifying glass?

 

[otrlynn]

Tagging along here hoping for answers on fish with apparent vision problems. I have had a long-nosed hawkfish for about three months. I had him in quarantine for four weeks before I put him in the display. Approximately two weeks through the quarantine he seemed to stop chasing after food I put in the quarantine tank. Eyes looked fine, nothing on body. During the next two weeks he did not appear to eat much, though I wondered if he scavenged food off the bottom when I wasn't looking. I put him in the display at the end of the 4 week QT period, where he has been for the last two months. He swims wildly around when he senses (or smells) food in the water, but doesn't generally connect with it. I have been hand feeding him small pieces of thawed frozen clam and he seems to be thriving. He can see my hand in the tank, but I need to put the food right at his mouth. There is still nothing that I can see wrong with his eyes. I am wondering whether a fresh water dip or other medication would help at this point...

 

[Ricimer]

I swear I read once about fish presenting this problem and it was due to loss of perspective/perception of distances, not blindness. I wish I could find the link again. Altought it could be something different and really be blindness in this case. I think it was a text specifically about discus fish...
If I try feed the fish with a seringe, he smells it and gets exited but then he seems shocked/surprised when he comes in contact with the seringe...
How long would you dip in FW for this?

 

[Ricimer]

Ok, I did a 4.5 minutes FW dip with a lot of methyl blue. Ouch, I can tell you the fish didn't like it... I'll write to report what happens.

 

[otrlynn]

Great...at least I hope it was great for the fish...looking forward to hearing the results. Thanks. Lynn

 

[Ricimer]

After 8 hours, nothing has changed. The fish is in the same shape as before the dip now, but he wont feed and seems completely blind. Maybe after another day. I'll write again tomorrow. I wish somebody who knows that disease and how to treat it would write in this thread...
What would be the best book to buy that would possibly cover this and is not mostly a fish catalogue? I have plenty of books on inverts and corals, but not much about fish I realise...

 

[Ricimer]

24 hours after the 5 min FW + methyl blue dip, there is no sign of improvement. I dont expect anything good coming from that FW dip. Have to find specific treatment if there is one.

 

[otrlynn]

Thanks for posting. I'm sorry the dip did not turn out to be helpful. I too had hoped there might be some additional suggestions from other people with knowledge or experience.

 

[Macimage]

You may want to post this in the reef disease forum for more help:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=87

Good luck!
Joyce