Larvatus off DD - anybody here get it?

[caribfan]

Hey Ed, thanks for checking in. I feel like I'm on high alert with this one just because of how difficult it is. It's hard to tell exactly how much is being ingested, but I'm happy to report more excrement today, so that tells me something is being eaten.

When I first had my rainfordi, it would only eat freshly shucked oyster and then moved on to little necks, eventually transitioning to most free floating foods. I'm hoping that the repetition of just eating things that aren't corals will eventually get me to that same place with this one.

 

[SDguy]

What is your honest opinion of that video? Do you think it's eating that clam aggressively enough?

I think it looks pretty good. Mine never went for the whole clam. I've noticed that when butterflies eat clams, you can't really tell that they are actually biting off and swallowing pieces of it.... but they are.

 

[caribfan]

Happy to report that this guy has scraped clean two little neck clams over the past two days. I did find a large chunk from one of the clams uneaten, but the majority of it is going down the hatch.

I spent some time looking at this guys mouth and it reminds me of a tiny set of nail clippers. Just an observation. Starting to feel like we've turned the corner with the amount if clams it is eating.

 

[SDguy]

Fantastic update!

 

[caribfan]

Pretty excited about it over here....

 

[Dmorty217]

Pretty excited about it over here....

As you should be

 

[Outerbank]

Beautiful fish!

 

[Big E]

Happy to report that this guy has scraped clean two little neck clams over the past two days. I did find a large chunk from one of the clams uneaten, but the majority of it is going down the hatch.

I spent some time looking at this guys mouth and it reminds me of a tiny set of nail clippers. Just an observation. Starting to feel like we've turned the corner with the amount if clams it is eating.

That's great......now you have a staple food you can count on. Once you have them eating something that has some meaty bulk to it, things get much easier.

 

[caribfan]

Beautiful fish!

Thanks, so is your avatar. I miss my idol.

 

[caribfan]

That's great......now you have a staple food you can count on. Once you have them eating something that has some meaty bulk to it, things get much easier.

Completely agree.

I'm just going to work on the repetition of getting this fish to recognize and eat a good source, clams in this instance. I'm hopeful that as it gets used to eating food that isn't coral, other items will become palatable as well.

 

[SteelMastiff]

Great News! A lot of people hopeful you find success...

 

[caribfan]

Thanks me too. I truthfully haven't done much other than feed it often, the fish came to me in good shape.

I wish Kevin would comment as to what he does to get these fish over the initial hump.

 

[caribfan]

Well, sad update coming. :sad1:

This evening I came home from work to find that my Larvatus's swimming pattern has changed drastically. It is swimming with it's nose pointed slightly upward with a short back and forth motion. Anyone who has seen a fish on it's last legs knows what I'm talking about.

I am truthfullly dumbfounded as to how I could go from having a fish that was eating clams on the half shell reasonably well and behaving perfectly normally to what I have now.

I had literally come home from buying a back of 50 clams at the grocery store to find that I may not need them for this fish in the very near future.

I did a WC tonight as a last ditch effort, but I don't think it's an issue of environment as my multifasciatus in the sump is behaving perfectly normally.

I did feed a clam and it did eat, but the fish just doesn't look right. Sadly, I don't expect it to be alive in the morning.

I'll take any suggestions or comments, but at this point, I don't think there is much to be done. Completely at a loss as to how this happened.

 

[tylersarah]

DAMN. Eating is still a good sign, things aren't really bad until they stop. Do you see any redness or bloating, have you seen its feces? It is flaring fins/swimming into powerhead or just bobbing back in forth? Is it stressed from the other fish?

 

[caribfan]

Nothing visually has changed since I received the fish...no bloating or swelling. It is breathing heavier than it was yesterday, another bad sign.

It's the only fish in the tank at the moment, so it's not being harassed. The Feces appears whispy, not sure if that's the right way to describe it, but that's how it appears, very fine.

Not really flaring or bobbing, just swimming around in a concerning fashion.

I will say that I checked the salinity and it was high, 1.030. I addes some FW to adjust it down and did the WC as I mentioned and it's now down to 1.025 or 1.026.

Went from thrilled two days ago to sick to my stomach tonight.

 

[caribfan]

Still around this morning, dosed NFG powder hoping to help with the breathing. Should have done that last night.

Considering a FW dip this morning to rule out flukes.

 

[caribfan]

Did another 10 gallon water change and did a 5 min FW dip. Nothing came off in the dip.

I'm fearful that it is somehow related to diet, which means there isn't much I can do.

Water should be good and I have confirmed there are no parasites via the dip, so I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[SDguy]

Sorry Matt Not really the update we were hoping for.

 

[pktech]

Matt I'm sorry to hear this as well. You know we've all been pulling for you. Got my fingers crossed that this is just an odd behavior.

 

[caribfan]

Matt I'm sorry to hear this as well. You know we've all been pulling for you. Got my fingers crossed that this is just an odd behavior.

Thanks man, pretty sure it's game over at this point though. Fish appears to have lost the ability to control where it swims and is no longer showing interest in the clams. I'm contemplating euthanising so as to not extend it's misery.

Thinking back a couple of days, I kind of remember seeing the beginning stages of the side to side swimming pattern, but didn't think anything of it due to how well it was eating the clams.

I wish I knew what went wrong so that I could learn from my mistakes. I'd be grateful if Kevin would weigh in and share some of his theories on getting these things to eat and exist in captivity long term.