Flame Hawk not eating for 2 wks - Prazi overdose? Medication mix OD? Something else?

[hokiereef]

Looks more and more like you are right, his eyesight is impaired or he is blind.
He never leaves the heater b/c he can follow it up to his perch. He does not react to me being there, and he would always look at me and move if i got too close. if I tap on the glass, he reacts to that.

The one change in recent days is that i realized he was not moving his eyes at all, and now he is moving them around.
He has bug eyes, so they move around all over the place typically. That movement has returned. He also is - maybe based on smell only? - reacting to food.

I would say his eyes look similar to what they were before - they were always chameleon like - but it is certainly possible that they are larger.

If that's all the case, any idea on prognosis? Any treatments that are low impact (like possibility of popeye so add some epsom salts?)

Thanks again for all of your input, it is extremely helpful.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

For larger fish, impaling a bit of food on a broom straw can get them to eat. If you had any heavy duty fishing leader, you could try that as a feeding stick. Just move really slowly and try not to actually touch the food to roughly against the fish's mouth....

Jay

 

[hokiereef]

Jay,
You were 100% correct.
I impaled some frozen food and held in front of him. He ate 3 large chunks voraciously.
First time I've seen him eat in 3 weeks!
Thank you again!!

I'll keep feeding him this way.
I suppose at the 3 week mark the prognosis isn't good for his eyesight to return.

 

[Juniorh2r]

Awesome I'm glad that worked! Thanks to jay fist bump jay!

 

[Juniorh2r]

Any new updates??

 

[hokiereef]

Thanks for asking!
After I got him to eat for a few days with long skewers and food in his face, I decided to move all of the fish - which showed no other symptoms to my DT.

That was about a week ago.

I fed the tank and let him adjust to the water. Then tried to feed with tongs - which scared him away. What great news!

So, I'm feeding the tank - overfeeding - so that he can eat. He is definitely seeing and swimming around, although he still isn't quite himself.
The good news is that he is eating - it takes him multiple tries to get food - and has good color and seems to be improving almost every day.

Thank you to everyone who helped me through this and brought insights to help me make decisions. I'm so glad I didn't lose him.

Here he is hiding in the rocks of the DT (that spot is on the glass )

 

[Juniorh2r]

That's awesome glad it worked out!