OSFF (orange spot filefish) stopped eating -- after a year and is fat

[CTaylor]

Hi,
My male Stopped eating. He used to eat like a pig anytime I fed him. The femaie still eats and is fine. I've had the male for a year almost exactly. The female almost two years.. So I dont think it's the diet, esp since the female has been in tank 2 years. The male is unusual full looking. Though I dont see him pick at rocks much. Nether have much before anyhow. The female is plump also but not as much.

They are friendly to each other. There was some minor bickering at food time, but not much. Lately it's been almost zero ever. Is it possible the male is not sick (if so what can it be?). He looks and acts healthy, just doesnt want to eat. Maybe he is feeding off someting in tank that I'm not seeing as well, though my tank is only 37 gallons of water max. Can it be they are getting ready to spawn?? and this is how males act? Odd ?

Attached are pics to show him and his fullness as best I can get on a pic.

Any help esp from OSSFF keepers over long term?

TIA

 

[Timfish]

Sounds like some kind of metabolic problem where it's retaining water giving the apperance of a healthy body weight. If it hasn't eaten in 2-3 weeks odds of recovery are very slim and I would consider euthanizing it with clove oil (works very similar to the MS222 anasthetic vets use).

 

[MondoBongo]

how long has it been since you observed him eating?

my male quit eating and eventually died. not sure on the reason. my female still lives on. i had the male for several years. this is a common story i've heard for the males. they tend to die before the females after refusing to eat for a time.

have you tried any different foods? live worms? anything out of the ordinary to entice him? he looks good as he is. any chance he's eating something in the tank? i've seen mine pick at acros and hair algae before.

 

[MondoBongo]

also, mine never refused to eat around spawning time. they usually spawned quickly in the middle of the day, and then went about their business.

their spawn is quick and easy to miss. mine were chasing each other, not unlike they normally did, then above an open patch of sand they came together at the cloaca (i don't know what else i would call it) went directly down the the sand bed still joined at the hip. a quick bump in to the sand bed, and they came back up and parted.

 

[CTaylor]

Sounds like some kind of metabolic problem where it's retaining water giving the apperance of a healthy body weight. If it hasn't eaten in 2-3 weeks odds of recovery are very slim and I would consider euthanizing it with clove oil (works very similar to the MS222 anasthetic vets use).

Hi TIm
TY for that, that makes sense. He is SLIGHTLY wobbly also. He just is not quite as active as the female right now. If he were in tank by himself I may not even notice this.

 

[CTaylor]

how long has it been since you observed him eating?

my male quit eating and eventually died. not sure on the reason. my female still lives on. i had the male for several years. this is a common story i've heard for the males. they tend to die before the females after refusing to eat for a time.

have you tried any different foods? live worms? anything out of the ordinary to entice him? he looks good as he is. any chance he's eating something in the tank? i've seen mine pick at acros and hair algae before.

My male is not full grown yet, so it's sad he seems will likely die. I havent seen him pick at anything. I wonder if it's like this in the wild also. Fromn what you said I doubt mine are spawning. I tried live worms before he stopped eating. I wonder if that was it, since it was literally a few days prior and I have never tried black worms before. I didn't see him or her have a any interest, it was just a 'treat' to try. Maybe he did eat one and it infected him (??). It's been since friday night no eating. Female also always looks plump but not as much as him. I hope it's just coincidence on males dying so fast though.

I realy dont see him goign after any other food bc they were both so voracious at the food I been feeding, even almost jumping out of the water when I approached with it. All of a sudden from that to no interest in food at all with him.
**He is breathing about 50% faster thatn the female and lighter 'breaths'. They dont seem as deep as the female

 

[MondoBongo]

i doubt anything from the live food infected him. if that were the case i would expect them both to be suffering symptoms.

aside from trying some different food options, there isn't a whole lot i've figured out for triaging these kinds of issues. sorry

the one thing i will say is that after a week of eating nothing, i would expect him to be emaciated. strange that he still looks full.

 

[Timfish]

I know from first hand experience working with a lionfish and a vet liver problems can cause endema or fluid retention which can make it appear to have a good body wieght. After 5-6 weeks of not eating and a round of antibiotics the lionfish still looked like it had a healthy body weight. The decision was made to euthanize and necropsy it. Instead of being a dark red it's liver was green and yellow.

 

[CTaylor]

Tim
I think you are right. But also Mondo (and tim) my female has out lived two males. The first male also died almost exaclty same time of year last year. Just under a year of having him. Though I think he was killed by a hermit crab. That osff was eating had no signs of anything just died and I saw it's carcass already eaten up. Differnt situation, but coincidence after a year they both die (my current one is about to die, not looking good at all, just perched between a power head and the side of tank all day, quick shallow breathing). Female going strong 2 years. She really shows no signs, just looks well fed, not bloated.
If anyone else can chime in that has males and females in same tank, so we can get a concensus on maybe males do die quicker esp with a female present. :-/