Snowflake Ocellaris Stopped Eating -- Any Ideas?

[SkullV]

I haven't seen my female eat in a week or so. I thought it may be an issue with IP because of some white stringy poop, so I treated the DT with Prazi. Today will be day 5 of the first treatment, and in my experience one treatment is ALWAYS enough for IP. There is no pinched stomach, and haven't seen any stringy poop since starting the Prazi.

I have tried Rods soaked in garlic, PE Mysis soaked in garlic, Spirulina Brine soaked in garlic, NLS Ther-A+. All foods she used to eat with vigor.

Anyone have any other ideas of what is going on or what I might be able to do to get her eating?

 

[deangelr]

Try to feed small food.. Like cyclopeeze... brine shrimp is also a clownfish favorite (although not nutritious at all).. I have had a clown lose her appetite for 10 days or so until she was finally stimulated to eat with some live brine shrimp.. After that she began to eat normmally in a few days.

 

[MarinaP]

Could she have injured mouth or jaw? Look closely for an abscess inside the mouth. How is her breathing?

 

[SkullV]

Could she have injured mouth or jaw? Look closely for an abscess inside the mouth. How is her breathing?

Breathing normal, no visible damage at all. Won't take Spirulina Brine, but I can try some live brine and see what that does.

 

[SkullV]

Still not eating. Jaw looks good. Breathing was a little labored. I gave her a FW dip tonight as a last resort. Prazi didn't help at all.

I already have 2 fish in copper in the QT tank and if she isn't eating by tomorrow I think I'll put her in there. It's only at .3ppm so she should be able to acclimate over to that alright.

Things aren't looking good though. She spends most of her time bobbing at the top of the water line.

 

[deangelr]

Were you able to get live brine?

I wouldn't be moving the fish around trying shotgun remedies, this can stress the fish further and keep it from eating.. Stress is high on the list of fish killers... IMO fresh water dips aren't really good for much except for some temporary stress relief from some parasites.

The best thing to do is get a solid diagnosis first. Copper may or may not help the ailment, so finding out what is wrong is important.. Any recognizable abrasions, discolorations, or scales out of pattern?

Generally an eating fish has a much better chance to survive.. I also concentrate on keeping water quality as superb as possible until I have a clear idea of a treatment path.

 

[SkullV]

Were you able to get live brine?

I wouldn't be moving the fish around trying shotgun remedies, this can stress the fish further and keep it from eating.. Stress is high on the list of fish killers... IMO fresh water dips aren't really good for much except for some temporary stress relief from some parasites.

The best thing to do is get a solid diagnosis first. Copper may or may not help the ailment, so finding out what is wrong is important.. Any recognizable abrasions, discolorations, or scales out of pattern?

Generally an eating fish has a much better chance to survive.. I also concentrate on keeping water quality as superb as possible until I have a clear idea of a treatment path.

Perfect water quality, live brine didn't help. Nothing noticeable on the fish. EVERY fish that goes into the tank gets a QT with Prazi/Copper beforehand, and coral gets dipped in Lugols, CoralRx, and Interceptor. No other fish are showing any signs of anything.

It almost looks like the fish is having trouble controlling it's swimming. Every once in a while it will dart to the bottom but pretty quickly end up back at the top bobbing and breathing hard. Everything that has been fed to the tank has gotten a soak in garlic and selcon, so hopefully if it DOES eat it will get max nutrients.

 

[deangelr]

hmmm not sure what you've got going on.. You might want to try the disease forum... Pics always help..

 

[SkullV]

hmmm not sure what you've got going on.. You might want to try the disease forum... Pics always help..

Nothing to look at in a pic unfortunately. Just looks like a great looking ORA Snowflake, swimming upright, bobbing at the top! No pinched stomach, no blemishes, no parasites. Just not eating.

 

[MarinaP]

I would treat with antibiotics instead of copper. Furan2 is both gram- and gram+. Also, crush flakes into dust, take a pinch and make a cloud next to her. Sometimes they will "drink" food. How many days has it been without eating?

 

[SkullV]

2 weeks now.

 

[spieszak]

Might give frozen squid a try... The only squid I can get comes in large pieces so I have to cut it up a bit first. ALL my fish go nuts for it...
Do you know what the fish was eating before you got it? I would think if it got "used" to a specific food from the breeder or the store, that it may have liked the "variety" you've been giving it... but now just wants it "x" back... (if you've had it for quite a while, that might make no sense at all)

 

[spieszak]

Oh, and I've had really good luck with Formula Two flake. I know, I know, flake.. but it has gotten some picky eaters eating for me, and then I was able to move them onto "good" food.

 

[SkullV]

Might give frozen squid a try... The only squid I can get comes in large pieces so I have to cut it up a bit first. ALL my fish go nuts for it...
Do you know what the fish was eating before you got it? I would think if it got "used" to a specific food from the breeder or the store, that it may have liked the "variety" you've been giving it... but now just wants it "x" back... (if you've had it for quite a while, that might make no sense at all)

The fish has been with me and eating for around 6 months now. This just started a couple weeks ago. It came from Divers Den so Hikari Mysis and Pellets.

 

[SkullV]

I would treat with antibiotics instead of copper. Furan2 is both gram- and gram+. Also, crush flakes into dust, take a pinch and make a cloud next to her. Sometimes they will "drink" food. How many days has it been without eating?

Hopefully she lasts another 2 weeks so I can get her in the hospital tank and treat with Furan. I may actually just set up a 5g bucket with an air hose and a piece of PVC and try the treatment in there. I'll see if I can't get her eating with one more try today.

 

[SkullV]

She was laying on the bottom of the tank today, still breathing, and actually upright, like she was laying on her stomach, not her side. Her tail fin looked kind of tattered like the nassarius snails knew what was coming so I got her into the hospital tank with the Copperband and firefish that are being treated with copper/prazi right now. I hope she makes it, her mate is frantically searching for her.

 

[SkullV]

She passed away Now I have to go back through the pairing game with a new juvie male and my current male.

 

[helitaiwan963]

damn, sorry for your loss! I was just about to post that i have an extra tank if you needed to setup a temp QT instead of using a bucket

 

[SkullV]

Thanks, I'm actually getting her replacement today from a local breeder. It's a tiny juvie so it shouldn't be too awful to pair it up.

 

[helitaiwan963]

ahh ok, if you still need a QT for that one and yours is still occupied. You can come by and grab a spare 10gal i have. has a small hob filter an a regular incandesent light and a air pump.