Cow fish help

[austen]

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Hi everyone. I woke up this morning and my cow fish was stuck to one of my power heads I have had him in my tank for almost a year and this has never happened. I don’t have crazy flow due to only having lps and soft corals. He has been swimming on his side and acting very lethargic and will not eat. I moved him to a small bowl with an air stone hoping he could relax and gain some energy back but is not doing well. Salinity 1.025, phosphate.02, nitrate 8, ammonia 0 any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[mrpontiac80]

I had a cow fish for a few years. I highly doubt it is flow related unless it is causing it to catch less food.. Is it getting enough food? Mine ate like a pig. It would devour a full sheet of nori every day in a few minutes and eat frozen like crazy.

I eventually had to move him to my bigger 180 gallon tank due to size and I think competition from tangs and higher flow is probably what caused mine to die. It’s all speculation on my end though. But since you can not tell if a box fish is skinny or not, I’d personally start by offering more food with flow turned off or way down for a few minutes if feeding something other than nori.

 

[austen]

Mine also eats like crazy I give him nori everyday and also broadcast feed mysis was acting fine and eating until he got stuck to the power head

 

[mrpontiac80]

How big is it? I just saw the video. Looks pretty small and I guess it could have gotten sucked to the power head if so. Mine got to 8”.
Good luck with it… hopefully it will recover from whatever is going on.

 

[austen]

How big is it? I just saw the video. Looks pretty small and I guess it could have gotten sucked to the power head if so. Mine got to 8”.
Good luck with it… hopefully it will recover from whatever is going on.

Thank you he’s about 3-4 inches he was stuck to the side of one of my mp40s this morning

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone. I woke up this morning and my cow fish was stuck to one of my power heads I have had him in my tank for almost a year and this has never happened. I don’t have crazy flow due to only having lps and soft corals. He has been swimming on his side and acting very lethargic and will not eat. I moved him to a small bowl with an air stone hoping he could relax and gain some energy back but is not doing well. Salinity 1.025, phosphate.02, nitrate 8, ammonia 0 any help or advice would be appreciated.

To start, these fish are hot and Miss and should not be sold in the hobby as often they will be energetic and slowly decline and then stop eating and one day found stiff on the tank bottom and sorry for the negative news. If eating aggressively, it offers best chance.
Are eyes sunken in slightly or hazy? (hard to tell from video)
With corals and i assume inverts doing well, likely not water quality but rather history of cowfish and even boxfish and also method of capture/origin)

 

[austen]

Hi everyone. I woke up this morning and my cow fish was stuck to one of my power heads I have had him in my tank for almost a year and this has never happened. I don’t have crazy flow due to only having lps and soft corals. He has been swimming on his side and acting very lethargic and will not eat. I moved him to a small bowl with an air stone hoping he could relax and gain some energy back but is not doing well. Salinity 1.025, phosphate.02, nitrate 8, ammonia 0 any help or advice would be appreciated.

To start, these fish are hot and Miss and should not be sold in the hobby as often they will be energetic and slowly decline and then stop eating and one day found stiff on the tank bottom and sorry for the negative news. If eating aggressively, it offers best chance.
Are eyes sunken in slightly or hazy? (hard to tell from video)
With corals and i assume inverts doing well, likely not water quality but rather history of cowfish and even boxfish and also method of capture/origin)

He’s been eating good up until today eyes are not sunken in and he’s always been a great eater, he was stuck to the side of a mp40 this morning and hasn’t been acting right since and is swimming lopsided or not swimming at all I don’t know if this could have stressed it out or caused some sort of swim bladder issue

 

[vetteguy53081]

He’s been eating good up until today eyes are not sunken in and he’s always been a great eater, he was stuck to the side of a mp40 this morning and hasn’t been acting right since and is swimming lopsided or not swimming at all I don’t know if this could have stressed it out or caused some sort of swim bladder issue

Normally a weak fish will end up in a powerhead. I dont believe a water issue not disease

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi everyone. I woke up this morning and my cow fish was stuck to one of my power heads I have had him in my tank for almost a year and this has never happened. I don’t have crazy flow due to only having lps and soft corals. He has been swimming on his side and acting very lethargic and will not eat. I moved him to a small bowl with an air stone hoping he could relax and gain some energy back but is not doing well. Salinity 1.025, phosphate.02, nitrate 8, ammonia 0 any help or advice would be appreciated.

Cowfish are one of those "odd" fish - they seem hardy at first, but to find one that has lived in aquariums longer than a year or two is very, very rare.

All I can see in the video is that the fish is lethargic, but has cloudy fins and eyes. That isn't a symptom of anything specific, but can be a sign of protozoan or bacterial infections.

Are all of the other fish in the tank symptom-free?

 

[austen]

Hi everyone. I woke up this morning and my cow fish was stuck to one of my power heads I have had him in my tank for almost a year and this has never happened. I don’t have crazy flow due to only having lps and soft corals. He has been swimming on his side and acting very lethargic and will not eat. I moved him to a small bowl with an air stone hoping he could relax and gain some energy back but is not doing well. Salinity 1.025, phosphate.02, nitrate 8, ammonia 0 any help or advice would be appreciated.

Cowfish are one of those "odd" fish - they seem hardy at first, but to find one that has lived in aquariums longer than a year or two is very, very rare.

All I can see in the video is that the fish is lethargic, but has cloudy fins and eyes. That isn't a symptom of anything specific, but can be a sign of protozoan or bacterial infections.

Are all of the other fish in the tank symptom-free?

Yes all other fish are doing good his eyes are definitely cloudy

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes all other fish are doing good his eyes are definitely cloudy

Keep an eye on it but as mentioned earlier, this is one of the signs I see when Problems/decline begins. I dont see Protozoans in video and flukes not ruled out but fish looks awfully clean to have either

 

[austen]

Yes all other fish are doing good his eyes are definitely cloudy

Keep an eye on it but as mentioned earlier, this is one of the signs I see when Problems/decline begins. I dont see Protozoans in video and flukes not ruled out but fish looks awfully clean to have either

I appreciate the advice he did not end up making it thank you

 

[vetteguy53081]

I appreciate the advice he did not end up making it thank you

As suspected from beginning, this happens often with cows and a fish to avoid.
This was written by Jay and is useful with stocking:

MARINE FISH AND INVERTEBRATES TO AVOID

Knowing which species have extra challenges helps home aquarists avoid heartbreak down the road. The following are some species that may pose problems for you, despite the level of care that you offer them.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[austen]

I appreciate the advice he did not end up making it thank you

As suspected from beginning, this happens often with cows and a fish to avoid.
This was written by Jay and is useful with stocking:

MARINE FISH AND INVERTEBRATES TO AVOID

Knowing which species have extra challenges helps home aquarists avoid heartbreak down the road. The following are some species that may pose problems for you, despite the level of care that you offer them.

www.reef2reef.com

Yeah I was unaware of there short life span in captivity one of those fish better left in the ocean