Move fish that’s not eating or leave it in the DT?

[Eclyps19]

I purchased a bluethroat triggerfish a while back. Went through a lengthy QT like a champ, ate General Cure + Focus-soaked food for a couple weeks, and all seemed well. I put him in the DT last Monday and as expected he spent the first couple days in hiding. Since then he’s been out and about exploring much more, but he still has not eaten a thing since he’s been placed in the DT. He does come out and *seems* a little interested when I feed, he just doesn’t even try to take a bite. He is definitely not being bullied by any other fish. I’ve been over feeding the tank to make sure that there’s enough floating around for him, and I’ve been rotating through a mix of 8 different types of food to see if anything strikes him as irresistible, but no luck so far.

He’s only about 3” long, so still pretty small. I can’t see his ribs, but he’s clearly getting thin.

I do have the option of trying to catch him and putting him in my frag tank for a while which currently has no fish. My concern is that if this is stress-related (which I believe it must be), moving him will just stress him out more and prolong the issue. But if I leave him, I’m also concerned that he’ll just never eat and will starve himself.

What option makes the most sense here?

 

[andrewkw]

I had a female blue throat a couple of years ago. She almost always hid and eventually seemed to wedge herself into the rocks and get stuck less than a year later. That being said she would always come out and eat, just spend the rest of her time hiding almost always.

What are you feeding?

 

[Silent]

I would not stress him more and leave him be. Hopefully if he gets hungry he will eat again.

 

[Eclyps19]

I had a female blue throat a couple of years ago. She almost always hid and eventually seemed to wedge herself into the rocks and get stuck less than a year later. That being said she would always come out and eat, just spend the rest of her time hiding almost always.

What are you feeding?

rotating between mysis, brine, clams on half shell, LRS herbivore frenzy, LRS reef frenzy, squid chunks, blood worms and nori sheets.

 

[andrewkw]

Lots of good smelly food options. I would agree with the idea of leaving him be and hoping for the best. Since he was treated and eating prior it's most likely fear stopping him from eating vs illness.

 

[Eclyps19]

Quick update here. I did end up moving him out to my frag tank after a few more days of no eating in the DT.

Today, after 2 weeks and 5 days of no eating, he FINALLY started going to town on the Reef Frenzy that I dropped in today.

Nothing else has changed. I just fed the tank like I normally would every day and would watch for about 10 minutes to see if he had any interest. Every day until now that interest had been non-existent. Today he must have just realized that he was all scales and bones or something.

Fish, man... who understands them?

For anyone else in a similar situation, don’t give up, there’s always hope until the final moment.