Looking for guidance: This story is crazy

[Karen00]

Hello fellow saltines,

Firstly, if this had not happened to me I would not have believed it so here goes... About four months ago I got a second Spotted Coral Croucher (a scorpionfish) hoping it might be the opposite sex to the Croucher I already had in my tank. The new one was a fair bit bigger than my original. So I acclimated him/her and added him to my tank. For the most part they inhabited different parts of the tank although my smaller one did cozy up to the new one for a few days but that's it. Anyway the new one was eating voraciously for 2 months then suddenly stopped. We all know what that usually means. I kept trying to feed him/her for about a week to no avail. Getting concerned he might be on death's door I didn't want him going into hiding and die. My tank is only a 5g so that would be bad for an ammonia spike. I had a bucket setup with an airstone (but no heater) that was already cycled because I was going to try culturing pods in it as well as seed some new dry rock. I decided to net the Croucher and put him in the bucket. I continued to try to feed him for about 5 days but he wouldn't eat. I was reluctant to euthanize him because he still looked good so I thought I would just wait and see. I decided to put a lid on the bucket to darken it (reduce stress) but of course left the lid partly off for gas exchange... Then... I forgot about him (I feel horrible).

Fast forward to today and I wanted to start seeding the dry rock and suddenly I was reminded of the Croucher in the bucket so I braced myself to be removing a decomposing body and I tentatively removed the lid. My first thought looking into the bucket was "how's he in the same spot that I saw him a month ago?", my second thought was "wow, he looks good for a dead fish.". Then... His tail moved. I thought there is no way this guy can still be alive given no feeding for about four or five weeks, plus no heater, plus evapouration so I took a medicine dropper and I gently poked him. Much to my shock and surprise he's still alive!!!!! He doesn't even look emaciated. Now my mind is racing and my next thought was I should see if he'll eat... And much to my delight he did.

So I'm looking for advice.... Do I leave him in the bucket because he seems to be chilling quite happily in there or do I add him back to my tank? If I leave him in the bucket I will have to get the parameters and heat back up. Surprisingly the bucket is just a few degrees cooler and the salinity is only about 1pt off. Having said that a bucket is not an ideal habitat (or is it?).

Any advice? I have attached a pic of him and the bucket. He's in the center of the pic showing the bucket on the piece of clay pot beside the sponge. @lion king I know you're an expert in scorps.

 

[i cant think]

Hello fellow saltines,

Firstly, if this had not happened to me I would not have believed it so here goes... About four months ago I got a second Spotted Coral Croucher (a scorpionfish) hoping it might be the opposite sex to the Croucher I already had in my tank. The new one was a fair bit bigger than my original. So I acclimated him/her and added him to my tank. For the most part they inhabited different parts of the tank although my smaller one did cozy up to the new one for a few days but that's it. Anyway the new one was eating voraciously for 2 months then suddenly stopped. We all know what that usually means. I kept trying to feed him/her for about a week to no avail. Getting concerned he might be on death's door I didn't want him going into hiding and die. My tank is only a 5g so that would be bad for an ammonia spike. I had a bucket setup with an airstone (but no heater) that was already cycled because I was going to try culturing pods in it as well as seed some new dry rock. I decided to net the Croucher and put him in the bucket. I continued to try to feed him for about 5 days but he wouldn't eat. I was reluctant to euthanize him because he still looked good so I thought I would just wait and see. I decided to put a lid on the bucket to darken it (reduce stress) but of course left the lid partly off for gas exchange... Then... I forgot about him (I feel horrible).

Fast forward to today and I wanted to start seeding the dry rock and suddenly I was reminded of the Croucher in the bucket so I braced myself to be removing a decomposing body and I tentatively removed the lid. My first thought looking into the bucket was "how's he in the same spot that I saw him a month ago?", my second thought was "wow, he looks good for a dead fish.". Then... His tail moved. I thought there is no way this guy can still be alive given no feeding for about four or five weeks, plus no heater, plus evapouration so I took a medicine dropper and I gently poked him. Much to my shock and surprise he's still alive!!!!! He doesn't even look emaciated. Now my mind is racing and my next thought was I should see if he'll eat... And much to my delight he did.

So I'm looking for advice.... Do I leave him in the bucket because he seems to be chilling quite happily in there or do I add him back to my tank? If I leave him in the bucket I will have to get the parameters and heat back up. Surprisingly the bucket is just a few degrees cooler and the salinity is only about 1pt off. Having said that a bucket is not an ideal habitat (or is it?).

Any advice? I have attached a pic of him and the bucket. He's in the center of the pic showing the bucket on the piece of clay pot beside the sponge. @lion king I know you're an expert in scorps.

He’s adorable and if he’s doing alright in there I’d leave him in and try get an acclimation box to reintroduce him but make sure there isn’t too much aggression.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Great story. He/she just went zen mode and slowed all metabolic processes. Id add him/her back to main system. Fish deserves it. Good luck.

 

[Karen00]

He’s adorable and if he’s doing alright in there I’d leave him in and try get an acclimation box to reintroduce him but make sure there isn’t too much aggression.

Thankfully there was never any aggression so that won't be an issue (at least it wasn't before). The only reason for putting him in the bucket is because I thought he was on death's door and I wanted him out of the tank before he died. Well five weeks later he hasn't died. LOL

 

[i cant think]

Thankfully there was never any aggression so that won't be an issue (at least it wasn't before). The only reason for putting him in the bucket is because I thought he was on death's door and I wanted him out of the tank before he died. Well five weeks later he hasn't died. LOL

Definitely a good move, I’d set up a bucket just for him haha.
No I’m kidding, definitely move him back into the main display, that fighter needs to be seen!

 

[Karen00]

Great story. He/she just went zen mode and slowed all metabolic processes. Id add him/her back to main system. Fish deserves it. Good luck.

Thanks for this! Honestly it's a miracle. In all of my years keeping fish (mostly freshwater) I have never had a fish that looked like he was on death's door actually survive. I still can't believe it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Reintroduce acclimating it well and observing it

 

[Karen00]

Definitely a good move, I’d set up a bucket just for him haha.
No I’m kidding, definitely move him back into the main display, that fighter needs to be seen!

Seriously... It's crazy. I can maybe see this happening with a freshwater fish because temp/evap doesn't affect the water but a saltwater fish... This is unbelievable.

 

[Karen00]

Reintroduce acclimating it well and observing it

Thanks! I'm going to start to get the water in the bucket up to where my tank is and then add tank water to the bucket before putting him back into my DT. Does that sound like the right approach?

 

[i cant think]

Thanks! I'm going to start to get the water in the bucket up to where my tank is and then add tank water to the bucket before putting him back into my DT. Does that sound like the right approach?

That sounds like a great approach if done slowly to me. Try do it over the course of a day or two and not instantly as that could stress the croucher out again.

 

[Karen00]

That sounds like a great approach if done slowly to me. Try do it over the course of a day or two and not instantly as that could stress the croucher out again.

Thanks for this! Admittedly I'm a bit nervous to move him. Not because he's sick or anything but it's like I would be tempting fate. First he survives the bucket and me totally forgetting about him only for something to go wrong and I actually kill him moving him back to my DT. I know he can't stay in the bucket bit still...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks! I'm going to start to get the water in the bucket up to where my tank is and then add tank water to the bucket before putting him back into my DT. Does that sound like the right approach?

Yes match salinity as you accilmate prior to release

 

[Karen00]

Yes match salinity as you accilmate prior to release

Will do. Thanks!

 

[lion king]

As you have learned, scorps can go quite a while without eating. There is always concern when a fish goes of eating, here's some of the reasons I have found with scorps. The voracious appetite then stopping many times indicate internal parasites, this usually happens before the 2 month mark though, if you are sure of the timeline, it likely wasn't that. What are feeding them, if it's a dead diet, even after eating well on a dead diet, can just refuse one day and may return to eating dead again, or may to offer live again. If you have been feeding too often this can spur a hunger strike, they need a fast time between feedings, digestive issues build up if not given proper times between meals. Scorps do shed and sometimes will go off feeding when shedding, was their color looking a little faded. How's your nitrates, some scorps may go off feeding with high nitrates. Cyanide or copper exposure, but this is definitely terminal. It's very hard to spot other diseases like ick because of their pattern. I'm not saying any of these apply, these are just some of the situations I've observed.

 

[Karen00]

As you have learned, scorps can go quite a while without eating. There is always concern when a fish goes of eating, here's some of the reasons I have found with scorps. The voracious appetite then stopping many times indicate internal parasites, this usually happens before the 2 month mark though, if you are sure of the timeline, it likely wasn't that. What are feeding them, if it's a dead diet, even after eating well on a dead diet, can just refuse one day and may return to eating dead again, or may to offer live again. If you have been feeding too often this can spur a hunger strike, they need a fast time between feedings, digestive issues build up if not given proper times between meals. Scorps do shed and sometimes will go off feeding when shedding, was their color looking a little faded. How's your nitrates, some scorps may go off feeding with high nitrates. Cyanide or copper exposure, but this is definitely terminal. It's very hard to spot other diseases like ick because of their pattern. I'm not saying any of these apply, these are just some of the situations I've observed.

Thank you so much for this!! I have been feeding frozen (bloodworms, mysis, calanus, krill, not all at once but different combos of these) as well as live pods and baby brine shrimp. I feed twice a day including these guys (I have another one in the tank) so maybe that's it... overfeeding. I have read your threads about frogfish needing a break between feeding but didn't think about these guys (Oops... My bad). I also didn't know about shedding (another oops) but I didn't notice a dulling of colour however I will pay closer attention from now on. I just checked the date of when I got him. It was the beginning of March.

Given these guys have tiny mouths is what I'm feeding fine? If not let me know what's appropriate. Also, how often should I feed? Once or twice a week? I feel like I have been killing him with kindness. My other one thankfully is still really good and that's with overfeeding, etc. and I've had him for six months.

 

[lion king]

Thank you so much for this!! I have been feeding frozen (bloodworms, mysis, calanus, krill, not all at once but different combos of these) as well as live pods and baby brine shrimp. I feed twice a day including these guys (I have another one in the tank) so maybe that's it... overfeeding. I have read your threads about frogfish needing a break between feeding but didn't think about these guys (Oops... My bad). I also didn't know about shedding (another oops) but I didn't notice a dulling of colour however I will pay closer attention from now on. I just checked the date of when I got him. It was the beginning of March.

Given these guys have tiny mouths is what I'm feeding fine? If not let me know what's appropriate. Also, how often should I feed? Once or twice a week? I feel like I have been killing him with kindness. My other one thankfully is still really good and that's with overfeeding, etc. and I've had him for six months.

There you go, sounds like a combo of overfeeding and maybe shedding. They may also need to stay stimulated with something live occasionally, doesn't have to be all the time. I would target them every other day and let them scrounge around if they are still hungry. They'll let you know if they are hungry, you might start enjoying their personalities even more, they'll get more active and come up to you to beg. You've seen how long they can go without eating, you're not going to starve them.

 

[rmorris_14]

Has it eaten in the bucket?

 

[Karen00]

There you go, sounds like a combo of overfeeding and maybe shedding. They may also need to stay stimulated with something live occasionally, doesn't have to be all the time. I would target them every other day and let them scrounge around if they are still hungry. They'll let you know if they are hungry, you might start enjoying their personalities even more, they'll get more active and come up to you to beg. You've seen how long they can go without eating, you're not going to starve them.

Thanks so much! This helps so much!! I will cut down how often I feed them and as long as the frozen I'm feeding is good then I feel better prepared to look after them. I certainly don't want any intestinal blockages because I'm feeding them the wrong stuff or too much.