Strawberry Pseudochromis long term illness

[TimBob]

I've got a Strawberry Pseudoshromis that has been in my tank for about 8 or 9 months and has not looked good for the past 6. He eats frozen mysis, chopped krill, chopped silverside and will occassionally nab a flake or two, and he acts fine, but the appearance is very pale compared to any other fish of the same species.

About 2 months after receiving the fish he stopped eating flake and would only eat frozen foods. His appearance faded when he was refusing flake and he looked near death. By increasing my feedings I was able to get him to look much healthier and fatter, but his color is still pale 6 months later.

Also, his poo seems to cause problems. Almost like they are too compact and compressed to be released easily. The cleaner shrimp often try to help him when he is poo-ing. Could this be a sign of some kind of internal parasite? If so what are my options?

 

[SAT]

Try frozen/chopped Formula 1 & Formula 2. I've had good luck maintaining the color of royal grammas with this... and that always used to be a problem for me. The vegetable matter may also help with the constipation. In the wild most planktivores eat a wild variety of stuff floating in the water, not all of it meaty.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-02/rs/feature/index.php

 

[TimBob]

I do feed Formula 1 & Formula 2 flake and Nori daily. This fish will rarely touch either of the flake foods. I will occassionally add some Formula 2 frozen that I have as well, and again this fish couldn't care less.

The fish has made it this long, and it does eat, so I guess I just have an ugly fish.

 

[TerryB]

SAT is giving you good advice. I prefer frozen foods over the flake version and I believe they are generally more nutritionally complete. You should offer some frozen spirulina, Pacifica plankton (much smaller than krill) and soak the foods in Selcon (for HUFA) at least a couple of times a week. Do you soak the foods in vitamins?

Terry B