Old PJ Cardinal

[michfish5]

I have had my Pajama Cardinal for 5 years now. Always out and about, active all day, good eater. Only other fish are pair of clowns, royal gramma, and a chromis. A couple of months ago it disappeared into the rockwork for several days. Thought it was a goner for sure. When it reappeared, it seemed off. It did not seem to SEE food during feeding time, even when it was raining down on him. Yet it continued to live. Never saw it eat anything. Then a few weeks later, it started swimming a little erratically, in circles in a specific part of the tank, but only when the lights were on. When the lights are off, it seemed to swim normally around in the rear of tank like it always did. So I let him stay in the display tank. The circles have now become spirals, in that same spot, still only when the lights are on. But now it is occasionally bumping into the corals and other fish, probably being blown around by the pumps. My clowns were not thrilled with this and it looks like they took it out on him. The PJ now has a good chunk of tail fin missing and it's dorsal fin also looks a bit frayed.

I moved it into QT today to spare it further abuse. So sad because he was my first fish for my reef tank. I did see it eat a mysis or two when I fed it today but only because it bumped into them on the bottom of the tank. I am wondering if I should just let it live out it's life in the QT or if that is inhumane. None of the other fish have any indications of disease. I am assuming this could be old age for the PJ from what I have read. It was pretty big when I got it 5 years ago. What should I do? Would appreciate any thoughts.
65 gallon reef, 1.024 spg, pH 8.3, temp 78.8, NO3 0, PO4 0.01, Alk 9.8 dKH

 

[pfan151]

More than likely just at the end of its lifespan. They are not super long lived fish like some other marine species.