Damselfish Eating Habits

[AydenLincoln]

I put my damselfish back in the main tank over a week ago and he’s very actively swimming and behaving normally. But he’s not eating regardless of whether it’s pellets or mysis shrimp a problem I didn’t have before he got sick. Do they eat other things like the numerous pods in my tank and/or algae when I’m not looking or is he slowly starving? I noticed my tank has lots of pods and other little critters.

 

[Tired]

They definitely eat pods and things, but they'll usually take at least some other food, even if they aren't really hungry.

How's his belly look? If he really hasn't eaten in a week, he'll look like he hasn't eaten in awhile. If he's still fat, he's eating pods.

What did he get sick with?

 

[AydenLincoln]

They definitely eat pods and things, but they'll usually take at least some other food, even if they aren't really hungry.

How's his belly look? If he really hasn't eaten in a week, he'll look like he hasn't eaten in awhile. If he's still fat, he's eating pods.

What did he get sick with?

Either velvet or ick because another fish had it and died. I believe velvet and he was just breathing very fast and lethargic/hiding so I quarantined and treated with copper. It’s hard to tell but I want to say he doesn’t look any different compared to when I got him.

 

[Tired]

Did you treat long enough to be sure he's no longer infected at all, and did you leave the tank fallow long enough to kill the pathogen off? Being sick can affect the appetite.

If his belly area isn't visibly sunken, he's probably just filling up on pods.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Both foods possibly too large. Try frozen brine. If no interest, may be gill flukes

 

[AydenLincoln]

Did you treat long enough to be sure he's no longer infected at all, and did you leave the tank fallow long enough to kill the pathogen off? Being sick can affect the appetite.

If his belly area isn't visibly sunken, he's probably just filling up on pods.

No I didn’t. And I treated until he wasn’t symptomatic almost a week. He probably is honestly because he’s perfectly healthy looking.

 

[damsels are not mean]

They definitely eat pods. My springeri is almost like a wrasse with how he cruises through all the crevices hunting. You would know they're eating pods if they peck at the glass or rocks. You can also try live foods.

 

[Tired]

A week of copper isn't long enough to kill off ich or velvet, at all. You have to treat long enough to actually kill it all off, not just remove visible symptoms. You also need to remove all fish from the tank and let it go fallow for 2 months, if you want to actually get rid of the disease. Particularly if it's velvet- that stuff is nasty.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Both foods possibly too large. Try frozen brine. If no interest, may be gill flukes

But no symptoms and actively swimming and full of color I do think he may be eating pods.

 

[AydenLincoln]

A week of copper isn't long enough to kill off ich or velvet, at all. You have to treat long enough to actually kill it all off, not just remove visible symptoms. You also need to remove all fish from the tank and let it go fallow for 2 months, if you want to actually get rid of the disease. Particularly if it's velvet- that stuff is nasty.

So I don’t know if it was that I’m just making assumptions based on accidentally introducing a sick fish that did have velvet I believe but removing the guy rather than quickly and because they’ve all been in there now for a few weeks and my other fish are happy/eating and because he’s full of color and swimming around so I’m going to assume he’s probably eating pods or something else in tank he has to. But if it was truly velvet/ick wouldn’t it have killed all my fish rather quickly? So I’ve been adding vitamins too I didn’t want to stress the rest out unnecessary so that’s why I didn’t quarantine them all/go fallow unless they started showing symptoms. And he went from breathing heavily and lethargic to breathing normally and swimming around in a few days after copper treatment so I felt comfortable putting him back. See photos attached not the best because it’s hard to get photos of a moving subject even in white lighting lol. I can’t post videos but he’s behaving normally as stated.

 

[Tired]

Ich can be present in a tank without being visible on the fish, but will flare up if anything happens to stress them. Once a fish with ich or velvet (or even water from that fish's bag) is in your tank, the ich or velvet is also in your tank. It's really not ideal to have your fish infected, even if they aren't showing any symptoms currently. Less or no symptoms doesn't mean no infection.

He's definitely not plump. Keep an eye on his stomach area; you want him chubby.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Ich can be present in a tank without being visible on the fish, but will flare up if anything happens to stress them. Once a fish with ich or velvet (or even water from that fish's bag) is in your tank, the ich or velvet is also in your tank. It's really not ideal to have your fish infected, even if they aren't showing any symptoms currently. Less or no symptoms doesn't mean no infection.

He's definitely not plump. Keep an eye on his stomach area; you want him chubby.

But aren’t some immune to it I guess some have slime coats? And others have said it’s present in a majority of tanks even in small quantities. As mentioned previously he’s very similar in size compared to when I got him looking back at videos/photos.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

But aren’t some immune to it I guess some have slime coats? And others have said it’s present in a majority of tanks even in small quantities. As mentioned previously he’s very similar in size compared to when I got him looking back at videos/photos.

Their immune system is weakened anytime they get stressed which gives the parasite or disease a chance to come back...if you don't want to eradicate it by going fallow you have to be sure to keep stress to a minimum

 

[AydenLincoln]

Their immune system is weakened anytime they get stressed which gives the parasite or disease a chance to come back...if you don't want to eradicate it by going fallow you have to be sure to keep stress to a minimum

It’s worth noting that I will be running a UV sterilizer and have been giving them vitamins which I know isn’t 100% but better than nothing.

 

[blaxsun]

I have three just like yours. They're all absolute pigs. My wife is trying to convince me that one even has a double chin, lol.

 

[fishmonkey]

The only bigger pieces of food my springer damsel eats are white worms. Other than that the only food that fits in his mouth are rather small pieces of LRS or mysis particles.

 

[Tired]

UV sterilizer and vitamins can help keep the ich at lower levels, but don't eliminate the ich or the chances of a fish getting seriously sick with it. You still have ich in your tank, which, among other things, means you probably shouldn't trade corals or rock with anyone. Ich can travel that way.

 

[fishmonkey]

So how is the fish doing?

 

[AydenLincoln]

So how is the fish doing?

Good. He started eating some mysis shrimp.