One of 2 schooling fish won’t eat in quarantine

JayFish4004

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I’ve had an eventful last few days to say the least. Ordered 2 longspine cardinalfish from LiveAquaria and on arrival noticed a bit of fin rot and white poop:

FB947C9F-CDF6-4F59-B1D4-FE40F5093000.jpeg


So I went out and bought my first quarantine tank and treated a few days of Paraguard and a few days after with PraziPro.

9 days later - I don’t see any more white poop, however, one of the 2 fish will not eat. Here is a video of his behavior - I hid the phone and went out of the room in case he was shy:



So now Im stuck wondering - is the fish that won’t eat still dealing with parasites? Do I add the healthy fish to my DT and continue to monitor the one that won’t eat in QT?

What should I do here? So lost
 
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Jay Hemdal

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I’ve had an eventful last few days to say the least. Ordered 2 longspine cardinalfish from LiveAquaria and on arrival noticed a bit of fin rot and white poop:

FB947C9F-CDF6-4F59-B1D4-FE40F5093000.jpeg


So I went out and bought my first quarantine tank and treated a few days of Paraguard and a few days after with PraziPro.

9 days later - I don’t see any more white poop, however, one of the 2 fish will not eat. Here is a video of his behavior - I hid the phone and went out of the room in case he was shy:



So now Im stuck wondering - is the fish that won’t eat still dealing with parasites? Do I add the healthy fish to my DT and continue to monitor the one that won’t eat in QT?

What should I do here? So lost

That is always so frustrating! You can't force a fish to eat. We get issues here where ALL fish stop eating (really bad disease or water quality issues) but here is a case where two fish, of the same species, bought at the same time and one is eating great and the other isn't. Personally, I wouldn't release either of them from quarantine yet, you don't know if they are carrying some other issue.

I know it's a lot of work, but I would try hatching out some live baby brine shrimp and try that.....

Jay
 
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JayFish4004

JayFish4004

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That is always so frustrating! You can't force a fish to eat. We get issues here where ALL fish stop eating (really bad disease or water quality issues) but here is a case where two fish, of the same species, bought at the same time and one is eating great and the other isn't. Personally, I wouldn't release either of them from quarantine yet, you don't know if they are carrying some other issue.

I know it's a lot of work, but I would try hatching out some live baby brine shrimp and try that.....

Jay
It is very frustrating - I feel bad for the fish that seems healthy but yeah I have 3 gobies and a barnacle blenny in my display and I would die if something happened to them, they’ve been with me too long now.

So at this point just keep monitoring? It’s hard to believe the one that isn’t eating can live 8 days, so you would think he’s maybe getting something?
 

Jay Hemdal

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It is very frustrating - I feel bad for the fish that seems healthy but yeah I have 3 gobies and a barnacle blenny in my display and I would die if something happened to them, they’ve been with me too long now.

So at this point just keep monitoring? It’s hard to believe the one that isn’t eating can live 8 days, so you would think he’s maybe getting something?


Fish can live weeks to months with no food. I think live baby brine is a good enticement to get cardinalfish to start feeding....

Jay
 
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JayFish4004

JayFish4004

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Fish can live weeks to months with no food. I think live baby brine is a good enticement to get cardinalfish to start feeding....

Jay

Based on the initial picture with the white poop and the fact its not eating - is it just impossible to tell if its parasites or not? I hate the unknowns of all of this - don’t know if he’s sick, don’t know if both are sick, don’t know when the end of this will be..

I’d feel better if I had a cycled tank, Im changing half the water daily and dosing Amquel but I would hate to go through all this turmoil only to lose em to ammonia toxicity, especially if there were no parasites to begin with and I was just being overly cautious.

It was all going so smooth until this happened lol
 

DrZoidburg

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Some times even tube feeding with meds doesn't work. I have experienced this with cardinals unfortunate as it is. Its really up to the fish. Sometimes it just needs time to eat live foods, sometimes it just wont. It is good to at least try that first. Even doing things radical as using broad spectrum meds doesn't fix. It does look like it has interest. Was in first picture right or left same as the one not eating? Is it noticeably skinny?
 
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JayFish4004

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Some times even tube feeding with meds doesn't work. I have experienced this with cardinals unfortunate as it is. Its really up to the fish. Sometimes it just needs time to eat live foods, sometimes it just wont. It is good to at least try that first. Even doing things radical as using broad spectrum meds doesn't fix. It does look like it has interest. Was in first picture right or left same as the one not eating? Is it noticeably skinny?

When you say you’ve experience do you mean not eating or internal parasites?

I’m not positive the fish with white poop in first picture is the same fish not eating - they look identical so its really tough. I’m assuming it is - but the fin rot cleared up which was the one difference between the two. Neither seems too different in size or color.

Right now they’re in a 2 gallon tank - now knowing it may be quite a bit longer - should I upgrade their conditions to 5 gallons? My main concern with that is if Im doing daily water changes Im going to be going through a lot more water. They’ve seemed fine so far after 9 days - would you upgrade or leave ‘em be?
 

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Similar not eating with unidentified problem. With and without tube feedng, and tube feeding with meds. Same has happened where they eat fine for over a year then just stop. Across many types like pajamas, ochers, bengi. Just mainly saying sometimes can't be fixed.
 

DrZoidburg

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It is positive that the one showed interest in food though hopefully it will try to eat. Also note sometimes if their holding eggs they wont eat and just perish.
 
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JayFish4004

JayFish4004

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It is positive that the one showed interest in food though hopefully it will try to eat. Also note sometimes if their holding eggs they wont eat and just perish.
When you say holding eggs do you mean like parasitic or reproductive?
 

vetteguy53081

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This is so inexcuseable to even consider selling a fish in this condition what says bagging it, and then shipping it
The poop I believe could be a result of what many wholesalers feed due to low cost - brine shrimp and mysis shrimp which will mimic internal issues however based on overall condition of fish- Now comes possibilities. Jay will cover well.
Ruby rally would be my treatment choice.
 
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JayFish4004

JayFish4004

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This is so inexcuseable to even consider selling a fish in this condition what says bagging it, and then shipping it
The poop I believe could be a result of what many wholesalers feed due to low cost - brine shrimp and mysis shrimp which will mimic internal issues however based on overall condition of fish- Now comes possibilities. Jay will cover well.
Ruby rally would be my treatment choice.
Yes Im a bit disappointed in LiveAquaria - with a 20 gallon nano I have to be extremely selective with the fish I add for temperament, size, etc so often times my LFS won’t have the right selection for me.

I have a citron goby, pinkbar goby with pistol partner, neon blue goby and a barnacle blenny which I’ve also gotten from LA and fortunately they’ve been super healthy and thriving, and I intend to keep it that way :)
 
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JayFish4004

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For 80 bucks you can buy a microscope so you can check their feces for what's going on (or not).
Also handy for id'ing dino's.
If this goes on much longer I may end up having to do that - there’s no white poop anymore tho - would inspecting normal looking feces work or would the poop need to be white? Im always up for a little science experiment haha
 
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JayFish4004

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No like mouth brooders. They hold their fry in mouth and get sickly sometimes.
Is there any way to tell that by looking? I inspected and the two fish are completely identical - no noticeable difference in size.

it does seem like a good possibility as to why its still showing interest but still doesnt eat.

Is death after mouth brooding a certainty?
 
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JayFish4004

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Fish can live weeks to months with no food. I think live baby brine is a good enticement to get cardinalfish to start feeding....

Jay
What are the odds these are two males and this one is submitting to the alpha and maybe getting scraps later? He does seem very submissive to the active one even when they’re not eating.
 

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I doubt this just saying it could lead to bad health condition. Even sometime after spitting out fry they can have this. How big are they? It would be obvious if they had eggs in their mouth.
 
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JayFish4004

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I doubt this just saying it could lead to bad health condition. Even sometime after spitting out fry they can have this. How big are they? It would be obvious if they had eggs in their mouth.
I took a closer look and it doesn’t appear that way. They’re maybe close to an inch and a half, probably not quite full grown but getting there.

I’m thinking Im going to get a 5 gallon quarantine tank that stays somewhat cycled and unmedicated, and keep the 2 gallon tank for medicating.

These 2 cardinalfish have now in total cost me around $300, although this is teaching me a very hard and good lesson on the need for QT’s.
 

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