lion fish not eating

[paeSona]

ive had my lionfish (volitan) for over 6 months in a small 36 gallon bow tank. he was rougly about 4 inches now hes an enormous 7in.. he has grown huge his fins are tremendouss. recently my heater became unpluged and the water got cold but i turned it back on nd the tempeture is correct the water parameters are all correct but he has just stopped eating and its been about a week now since he has eaten.
ive noticed that he was noticing the fish and then all of a sudden he just doesnt notice them anymroe not even the live ones. sometimes hell swim over to them and thats about it he just doesnt eat...!!
any suggestions please and thankk youuu

 

[Itz Irish]

a 36 for a 7 inch volitan? sounds a little small. im not sure if that has anything to do with it, he could just be feeling cooped up, i am by no means a lion fish expert, i just figured i would throw my 2 cents in. maybe try some different foods, like i said im no lion expert but i think a varied diet might help

 

[paeSona]

i havee and i moved to live food alsoo but thankss for the helppp i appreciate it
i just dont want to see it die because its grown tremendouslyy lolll its like a memeber of the family lol jk

 

[bboilek]

What did/have you fed him?

 

[welsher7]

what are your water params? and what else is in the tank?

 

[paeSona]

the water is fine i checked everythin
ph 8.3
amm 0ppm
nitrate 0 ppm
nitrite 0ppm
hardiness is perfect etc.
my salinity is at 1.020

and ive fed him the gold fish nd rosy reds
shrimp
squid
pieces of flounder
frozen krill
silver sides and thts about it

 

[JBrown]

Not to hijack your thread but my lion has done the same thing. I have an 8" lion in my 120 fo that has not ate in probally one month and I don't know what to do. All my water paramaters are fine and the other fish are healthly and eating. I have fed my lion pretty much the same things you have minus the fw fish.

 

[Ranzan]

i do not know what the symtoms are but i know goldfish can cause kidney disease in predatory fish when fed to them thought i do not know what it would do to feeding habits.JB do you soak food in garlic ? if not try it, it usualy will entice picky eaters to eat

 

[justinl]

Dont feed the lion FW fish more than twice a month. ranzan already covered why.

keep trying different foods, but dont worry too much. lions often go on hunger strikes that can last for a month or even a bit more. Dont do anything drastic, just let the lion run its course for a while. It seems you're feeding a pretty wide variety of food, so that shouldnt be the problem.

edit: oh and that tank is too small. start thinking hard about an upgrade. By the time the lion hits its max size of over a foot long, it will need to be in a tank of at least 100gal.

 

[paeSona]

i am gunna upgrade its just im renavating my house so in like 4 weeks when the floors done i was gunna get a 75 gal fish only i thought that was good enough bc they dunt like swiming alot..
i dunt feed fw fish alot though mostly the frozen stuff until it dunt eat.
but just to mention is it posible that hes blind bc those 2 things tht grow above his eyes... there gone u can tell tht they like have fallen off idnk if it means anything but he barely notices my hand in the tank though sometimes he does.. it might not mean anything butt im just nervous due to the fact thats its grown so much and its almosst a shame to see it suffer you kno wat im sayingg

 

[Ranzan]

its not fw fish in general its goldfish that cause kidney disease and you will need much more than 75 gal

 

[Puffer Queen]

Goldfish can lead to fatty liver disease.

 

[welsher7]

you never told us what else is in the tank with the lionfish

 

[justinl]

just to clear up a bit here, FW fish IS the cause of fatty liver disease. Goldfish are just worse because they have lots of fin which causes a mess.

If you're going to feed FW fish stick to less fin-y fish like mollies.

The occular protrusions (above the eye thingies) have nothing to do with sight. they're just ornamental as far as i know (could be wrong). If the eyes are cloudy (go check) then that is indicative of a problem (bacterial i believe) that must be dealt with properly.

oh and welsher brings up a good question. in such a small tank, aggressive tankmates can have a much more profound effect.