Not Eating

[White Tiger]

My lion fish has had a goiter (a lump on the bottom of the jaw caused by a lack of iodine in the water and diet) and has not eaten for one and 3 quarters of a month.
Recently I held a silverside outside of the tank next to my lion fish. He opened his mouth and followed the food. At last, the goiter was gone.
However, the lion fish would not eat any of the food I put in the tank. For instance, I put two feeder gold fish in with the lion fish. Nevertheless, he never ate the gold fish, and the gold fish was small compared to my lion fish. Even when the gold fish swam slowly right next to the lion, he did not bother to eat.
I am starting to get worried since he has dropsy and open wounds. Without the nutrition from the foods, he will soon die due to a weakened ammunity system.
WHAT SHOULD I DO?

 

[TerryB]

I hope it is not too late, but after 7 or 8 weeks without eating it may be too late. I assume that you must have added iodine to the water to resolve the goiter? Uncooked prawns is a good food for lionfish and they do contain some iodine. Iodine is not stable in the water, especially if you use a strong protein skimmer, but you have to be careful with iodine. If you have too much iodine in the water it will stress the fish and cause it not to eat. I would start with a LARGE water change using well aged and aerated saltwater. It might be a god idea to keep the fish in quarantine where you can add vitamins and frutose to the water for a while. This may help stimulate a feeding response. I would also offer some live ghost shrimp. In the future it would be wise to make a large portion of the diet crustation such as uncooked prawns.

Terry B

 

[White Tiger]

I have already quarintined my lionfish by putting a tank divider to isolate him from my triggers.