Lionfish Lost Colour, Cloudy Eyes, Not Eating

[Hugh Mann]

Title says it all. My Dwarf Fuzzy has been in my tank just over two months. Just this last week she (pretty sure it's female after seeing another dwarf fuzzy today), has lost a lot of colour, the eyes have clouded a bit and hasn't eaten in about a week. It was eating frozen mysis and brine, refused anything else.

According to my reading it's likely due to shedding cuticle, which can happen for a variety of reasons, including parasites, bacterial infections and it just plain happens time to time. I haven't noticed this happening before.

So, how long, if at all should I give it for everything to return to normal, or should I source some medicine or freshwater dip?

I live in Canada, so many medications like general cure, prazi pro, or pretty much any medication common in the States are unavailable to me.

Photos are 8 days apart.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Bump. @Big G, @HotRocks.

 

[Miller535]

I am no expert at all, but cloudy eyes I always thought was a bacterial infection

 

[Miller535]

Does she look to be breathing normally? Swimming normally? Sensitive to light?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Focus on water quality.
What is tank temp and salinity?
Age of tank?
Type of filtration?
What is ammonia and nitrate level?
What are you Feeding the tank?

 

[Big G]

Agreed with above, bacterial infection. Antibiotics are the best treatment, but I know you folks in Canada are very limited access to them. Here's a link with "Alternative Organic Treatments" that may be available in your area.

Aquarium Medications Part 4 | Organic Aquarium Treatments

This article deals with organic (herbal) treaments such as Pimenta extract (Pimafix), Melaluca Tea (AKA TTO used in Melafix), Naphthoquinones, and Usnea. Organic treatment information from fish disease guru Carl Strohmeyer

www.americanaquariumproducts.com

 

[Cstar_BC]

hey ! i am in canada as well and i bought a stockpile of antibiotics before they banned them. If you know which one specifically would work for you id be happy to check and see if i have it to mail you some

 

[lion king]

Shedding cuticle happens from time to time and those are all the signs, and yes even the cloudy eyes. This shouldn't last more than a week to 10 days most and you should see a very vibrant lion after the shed. But also this is a sign of internal parasites, and they can live with parasites for a couple of months, then this happens and they never eat again.. What you have been feeding is not going to keep her alive very long, a lion needs chunky foods like appropriate sized pieces of shrimp, silversides, tuna, salmon, squid, etc. Because of what you have been feeding she is already malnourished, in this condition I would immediately treat with general cure. Not having general cure I'm not sure what to, lions don't seem to do well long term after treatment with antibiotics. Make sure water quality is optimal and try and feed live ghost shrimp or live guppies. If water quality is optimal and the lion is otherwise healthy, most but the very severe bacterial infections are best left to resolve themselves. If it is internal parsites it needs to be immediately treated by whatever you use for such.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Shedding cuticle happens from time to time and those are all the signs, and yes even the cloudy eyes. This shouldn't last more than a week to 10 days most and you should see a very vibrant lion after the shed. But also this is a sign of internal parasites, and they can live with parasites for a couple of months, then this happens and they never eat again.. What you have been feeding is not going to keep her alive very long, a lion needs chunky foods like appropriate sized pieces of shrimp, silversides, tuna, salmon, squid, etc. Because of what you have been feeding she is already malnourished, in this condition I would immediately treat with general cure. Not having general cure I'm not sure what to, lions don't seem to do well long term after treatment with antibiotics. Make sure water quality is optimal and try and feed live ghost shrimp or live guppies. If water quality is optimal and the lion is otherwise healthy, most but the very severe bacterial infections are best left to resolve themselves. If it is internal parsites it needs to be immediately treated by whatever you use for such.

I've tried to get this lion to eat meatier foods, but it's refused everything. Shrimp, krill, squid, scallop, everything but silversides. Won't touch it, no matter the presentation. I picked up some live mollies today, I know it eats those. Any tips for getting it to eat better foods in the future?

 

[Hugh Mann]

hey ! i am in canada as well and i bought a stockpile of antibiotics before they banned them. If you know which one specifically would work for you id be happy to check and see if i have it to mail you some

Thank you so much, that is very kind of you to share! According to Lion King, antibiotics aren't great for lions, but if a better diet doesn't solve this, I will be sure to contact you, if I can figure out which to use. Thanks again!

 

[Hugh Mann]

Does she look to be breathing normally? Swimming normally? Sensitive to light?

Breathing normally, swimming normally and hangs out right at the top by the filter, so I don't think there's a sensitivity to light.

 

[Cstar_BC]

Breathing normally, swimming normally and hangs out right at the top by the filter, so I don't think there's a sensitivity to light.

I am currently following this to train my fuzzy dwarf to eat frozen silversides .

I place the guppy in a specific mini blue net , fuzzy now knows that net = food , and will practically swim into the net to eat the guppy. Mine is now at this point - the stick wiggle thing did not work he is petrified of the stick

He was really thin when I got him so I’m waiting for him to bulk up a bit.

But the next step is to place the guppies in the freezer for a few minutes so they’re stunned and partially frozen place in blue net get lion fish to eat

And then frozen guppies thawed

And then silversides

 

[lion king]

At this point if it is internal parasites and not just shedding cuticle, you'll have to treat immediately or he will not make it. He will not eat again if it is internal parasites until they are cleared. Have you seen any stringy poo, check around the tank you may not always see it from his butt.

If you are able to get him to eat something live that would be good, the mollies just need to be size approptiate, not too large. Make sure water quality is good.

Getting them to eat various dead foods is sometimes tricky, this is the reason so many of them are short lived. You'll find many of my post in the predator forum of the importance of feeding live food for long term success. You can use rigid airline as a feeding stick and even put a fishing line into it to attach chunks of shrimp, silversides, etc., and move it through the water. The first trick is sometimes freezing live ghosties or mollies or guppies; then thawing them out and feeding it to him dead. Then switch it out for krill and silversides.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Alright. Any thoughts on how to treat any internal parasites, with the restrictions on medication I have? @Cstar_BC offered to send some antibiotics, but I don't think those would treat parasites. I know a guy locally that has some copper based medication he somehow got his hands on, not sure what it is exactly. He used it on a velvet outbreak is all I know.

I have not seen any stringy poop hanging out or drifting around the tank.

The mollies I got are about the same size its eaten before. Unfortunately due to where I live, and now covid-19, I have very limited access to live feeders. I had to drive 350 kilometers just to get the mollies.

I'll try the trick with the airline, and hopefully that works. This lion is one of my favorite fish in the tank.

 

[lion king]

Copper is not used for parasites, and is basically a death sentence for lions. What do you guys use for internal parasites up there. In my experience lions, espectially dwarf lions do not handle meds well, even if surviving treatment, likely succumb to organ failure somerime after. I would only use antibiotics if a definite severe bacterial infection is for sure. Otherwise it is best to make sure water quality is good and hope it is shedding. He will be more apt to take a live fish rather than dead on a stick.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Copper is not used for parasites, and is basically a death sentence for lions. What do you guys use for internal parasites up there. In my experience lions, espectially dwarf lions do not handle meds well, even if surviving treatment, likely succumb to organ failure somerime after. I would only use antibiotics if a definite severe bacterial infection is for sure. Otherwise it is best to make sure water quality is good and hope it is shedding. He will be more apt to take a live fish rather than dead on a stick.

Noted on the meds. Honestly, I have no idea what people use up here. I can't even find much on Google, especially lionfish safe products. I'm still pretty new to the hobby, and I know only one other person who has a Marine tank and he's got no idea either.

My water quality is the best it's been since I started my tank, only issue is high nitrates. ~80ppm.

 

[lion king]

Even bringing down those nitrates would be a good idea. It seemed alot of little lions would come in with cloudy eyes, minor abrasions, frayes fins and spikes; the classic order would be to treat for bacterial. Through the years I would use all the classic antibiotics, somertimes they worked, somrtimes they didn't, and over time everything cleared. The one thing that always happened, they always died none not more than a year later. I learned to keep the water pristine, fatten them up, I use live foods, and let it ride. I keep lions now for a decade or more.

 

[NatD]

I’m no expert on fish disease, but this does lead me to wonder/suspect this is somehow related to the other fish deaths you shared a few days ago.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/mysterious-yet-oddly-selective-fish-death.705702/

I sure hope you’re able to figure it out. Definitely recommend not adding any other fish until you do. Good luck.

 

[lion king]

I’m no expert on fish disease, but this does lead me to wonder/suspect this is somehow related to the other fish deaths you shared a few days ago.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/mysterious-yet-oddly-selective-fish-death.705702/

I sure hope you’re able to figure it out. Definitely recommend not adding any other fish until you do. Good luck.

This I was not aware of this, while lions are susceptible to protozoan type diseases like ick and velvet, a healthy lion will usually fight it off. That's the beauty of their shedding ability. But a lion in a state of malnourishment would likely succumb. If any of this is the case then copper would be the treatment for the other fish, if they are species that could handle copper, lions are not.

 

[Hugh Mann]

There was no sign of ick or velvet on those two, or any of my other fish, pretty sure it's not something like that.

So if I am understanding everything, pretty much every sort of meds will kill the lion eventually, so my absolute best bet is to get it eating and it should fight this off, whatever it may be?