New Longnose Hawkfish not eating in QT

[lolmatt]

I got a longnose hawkfish from the LFS just over a week ago (Sunday 10/7), put him in the QT system (10 gallon w/ some pvc and filter media seeded in my DT sump), and he doesn't seem to be eating at all. I have tried pellet, frozen mysis and LRS reef frenzy, and live blackworms, brine, and (iso?)pods from my sump. Whenever I put food in the QT, he gets excited (swims around, hops around, watches the food swim past him, etc.), but does not go after it at all. Unless he is eating while I'm not looking, I can't tell if he's eaten anything since I put him in there.

I did a 100% water change in the tank on Saturday primarily to lower ammonia, but it shouldn't have been high enough to harm him. I suspected water quality causing him not to eat, but no change since the water change.

He does have a couple odd behaviors - he occasionally opens his mouth at nothing. I've also seen him bump into the glass of the aquarium a couple times. I did try to make sure he wasn't blind or something by slowly moving a clear acrylic tube near him from both sides, and he reacted before it got too close.

Overall, I'm simply confused. I have a handful of meds on hand in case anyone thinks I should treat with anything...metro, furan2, prazipro, cupramine, however I've not seen any signs of disease other than not eating. He's swimming fine, colored up nicely, fins are all in-tact, no spots like from parasites. Ultimately, this is my mistake - I had been waiting to find a smaller one of these guys locally and I did not have the LFS feed him before I bought him. Attached two photos as well.

 

[lolmatt]

I'm also going to pickup some live ghost shrimp from the LFS this afternoon...maybe the food that's in there is smaller than he wants? /shrug

 

[JustSomeGuy]

My longnose will not eat any dry foods. And will not go for the frozen cubes. I have to thaw it out first then dump in the tank for it to eat.

 

[lolmatt]

Not eating the brine nor blackworms nor pods is what has me most concerned. I suspect some sort of internal issue at this point, but I have not been able to see any poop to confirm...any harm to be done by treating the tank with metro? Perhaps @Humblefish has some input there?

 

[lion king]

It may just be coincidence as I would usually try to get fish to eat 1st before treating but after losing an angel and a lion that are commonly known to come in with parasites. I now immediately treat with prazipro as soon as they go into qt. Since I started doing that even difficult species like a flagfin angel, leopard wrasse, and black ribbon eel; I got to eat in just a few days. Ghost shrimp is a good idea and I would dose the prazipro.

 

[lolmatt]

Thanks for the advice, I just treated with 1/2tsp of prazipro (10g QT). Will still pickup the ghost shrimp and hope for the best. Like I said, to the best of my knowledge he's not eaten for over a week so it's a little surprising to me that he's still looking healthy.

 

[FunWithFishes]

I actually had a similar problem with my longnose hawkfish. He had been in my main tank for about a month when he finally stopped eating. I moved him to QT and tried to treat with metroplex, but jist couldn't get him interested. I did a FW dip but didn't notice anything come off of him. However, I recently treated another fish with flukes and noticed the symptoms were very similar (barely moving, though that is common for a hawkfish, but mine started laying on the bottom which is unusual as most of the time they perch higher. Stopped eating, quick breaths) So I wonder if it was flukes in my hawkfish and I just didn't notice any that came off.

So good move using prazipro, I hope it helps yours. I think they're awesome fish and plan on getting another in the future.

 

[Humblefish]

He could just be really uncomfortable with his QT surroundings. I would put a little sand and one small rock in there for him to perch on. After QT, ditch the sand and sterilize the rock.

 

[lolmatt]

Mine is perching on the bottom as well...I've seen him perch on the heater and some on the PVC elbows in there but it's relatively rare. Breathing has been normal...but potentially quicker than it should be, hard for me to say.

I'll followup with another prazipro dose this weekend and hopefully he will be eating by then. I had considered a FW dip as well...if he's still not eating by Friday I'll give that a shot too.

 

[lolmatt]

I grabbed a scoop of sand out of the DT, piece of rubble out of the sump too, we'll see if that helps.

 

[lolmatt]

Here he is sitting next to a live ghost shrimp not caring at all...I put three in there of varying sizes and they're swimming around and I think mocking him.

 

[FunWithFishes]

Have you tried adding garlic (like Garlic Guard) to his food. It helps stimulate his appetite, and I believe it's good for the immune system too. I'm not sure how it mixes with live food, but if you have other food like mysis shrimp it may be worth a shot

 

[lolmatt]

I haven't tried garlic...he seems to get excited about most of the food I'm putting in there, just is not going after it, so that may not be a bad idea. I ordered some on amazon sameday...it's something I should have on hand anyways for picky fish like this.

Still not eating this morning...I can't find one of the ghost shrimp I put in there yesterday, but the fish does not look like he ate at all (still has a bit of a concave stomach as in the photos). If the prazipro helps him, I suspect it would do so within the first 48-hours or so. Any suggestions if he's still not eating by today or tomorrow afternoon?

 

[FunWithFishes]

Sadly, without knowing exactly what's wrong, it's hard to diagnose what to do. Prazipro is useful for flukes, but won't do a lick of good if it's intestinal parasites. For that you need something like Metroplex, but that only works if you mix it with his food (which means he has to eat). My suggestion is to do a quick FW dip asap to verify if it is flukes.

 

[lolmatt]

Thanks for all the advice so far @FunWithFishes and @Humblefish.

FW dip done...no sign of flukes unfortunately. Left him in there for 5 minutes in a shallow black container, nothing in there that I can see except a few uneaten brine shrimp that I apparently netted . He's back in the QT, breathing and swimming fine.

I do have metroplex and furan2, garlic will be here sometime tonight. I'll try mixing up a little cocktail of mysis, metro w/ focus, and garlic...maybe I will put him in an acclimation box and try feeding in there so the food doesn't float around as much (thoughts?).

At this point, I think I have to assume internal, do you all agree? It's a big conundrum for me...how can you cure an internal parasite in a fish that won't touch any food? Assuming he's still not eating the food w/ garlic, is there any benefit to treating the water with a trio of metro/furan/prazi, or will that purely stress him with little benefit? Or perhaps daily metro/prazi baths? This poor guy is looking thinner day by day now, and although he's still somewhat active I'm afraid he doesn't have much time left (a week tops?) if he won't eat at all.

 

[lolmatt]

I have kanaplex too...but I don't have any reason to think this is bacterial so perhaps I'll just treat the QT with metroplex in addition to the prazipro that's already in there and forego the furan and kanaplex?

 

[Humblefish]

Is his stomach actually pinched looking? Seen any white stringy poop come out of him?

 

[lolmatt]

I wouldn't say pinched, but it's definitely concave. He has certainly lost weight since I got him, IMO. He hasn't eaten a morsel, I haven't seen any poop at all, and I've been keeping a pretty close eye on him.

Edit - rather have a sick fish in QT than in the DT though!

 

[Humblefish]

I wouldn't say pinched, but it's definitely concave. He has certainly lost weight since I got him, IMO. He hasn't eaten a morsel, I haven't seen any poop at all, and I've been keeping a pretty close eye on him.

Edit - rather have a sick fish in QT than in the DT though!

It sounds like it could be an intestinal worm of some sort, but there's just no way to be sure without evidence (white stringy poop).

The other quagmire is medication (metro) must be food laced in order to be effective for treating internal parasites.

This probably wouldn't work too well on a LNH: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-tube-feed-a-fish.250694/

 

[lolmatt]

I did move him to an acclimation box, and went ahead and put some food soaked in metro in there with him. He MAY have eaten a very small piece. I, too, doubt that he would respond to tube feeding. Time will tell at this point...not getting my hopes up. LFS that I bought him from was not very helpful unfortunately...the owner will be there on Saturday, if the fish is gone by then I'll probably complain about it at least briefly.