Potentially Blind Australian Harlequin Tusk

[kboogie]

Sorry, it's been a while since my last post here on the board. It's been kind of crazy with clients and things around the house (daughter's graduation, wife's grad school graduation, my son interning with me, etc) as well as getting the new tank going. As many of you know, I lost two fish during my tank replacement. I lost my Semilarvatus butterfly fish, and I lost my Australian Harlequin Tusk, who jumped out of his temporary storage. I recently broke down about two months ago and bought replacements on a little bit of a sale. My Harlequin Tusk, I saw on camera eating like a pig and aggressively attacking the food as it was dropped at the surface of the water before I bought him which made me excited. When he was shipped overnight, there was a significant delay in the shipping. He didn't arrive until nighttime when he should have arrived in the morning. He was obviously suffering from oxygen deprivation in the bag. He was trying to get his head out of the water, breathing heavy, upside down, all the classic symptoms. I got him into my quarantine, got him heavily oxygenated, with good flow from a small Hydros wave maker, where he made a slow recovery over the course of three days. After that recovery, I took him through my normal quarantine process, which is the new official standard, where he was treated with CopperSafe at 2.35 ppm and simultaneously treated with three doses of Prazi at approximately 2.5 megs per liter. During his quarantine, he never ate food out of the water column. He only ate food after it hit the ground, where he had to hunt for it. He would kind of go around and hunt for food in the crevices of my PVC pipes. I thought that was a little odd, but I didn't think much of it. Additionally, he reacted to me when I'd common up next to the quarantine tank by going to hide. Now, I believe he only saw the shadow I cast. Full disclosure, my new large fish quarantine tank don't have lights on them. They're in very well-lit rooms with multiple floor-to-ceiling windows; it is a major pain because of all the heat the eastern exposure generates. The key is the room is extremely bright. Once he made it into the display with the other fish, I noticed that he continued not to eat food out of the water column, and since the other fish are very aggressive eaters, food never made it to the ground, so he never had the opportunity to hunt for food. He went about two weeks without eating, and I eventually got a large acclimation box that is 16 by 6 by 8. I was able to get him in there, drop some food in, and he immediately started hunting for food by pecking at the bottom of the acclimation box. I dropped in a couple clams on the half shell, which he ate up, and now he is he's recovering quite well after one week.

I closely observe his behavior in the acclimation box, and I noticed a couple of things, first he never responds to my presence because the aquarium is very well lit, so standing in front of the aquarium does not cast a shadow in the way I did during the quarantine process. If I wave my hands in front of him, he doesn't react. If I put my hand on the glass where other fish will react, he does not.

The other behavior that I've noticed is when the food is right in front of his face, literally floating by his eyeballs. He doesn't react to the food, at least not in any meaningful way. He waits for the food to hit the ground, and then he'll start sniffing around like a dog hunting. When he finally comes across food, he rarely is able to get it the first try. He frequently misses the food and needs multiple chomps to get it. I believe he is blind. I'm wondering if what I'm describing aligns with the possibility of him being blind? I know that some medications can cause blindness issues with some wrasses, especially Tusks, but I don't think this is a situation.

I'm just curious if anyone has any thoughts on what I might be experiencing.

I am going to have to set up a separate aquarium just for him because there's no way he will survive in the main display at this stage. I'll probably have to find room to place a 30 gallon long or a 55 gallon aquarium in my office for him to live out the rest of his days in private or at least with other fish that won't out-compete him for food.

Please share your thoughts; I welcome the help.

I miss my friends here on the board, and I look forward to reconnecting with everyone.

Thank you.

 

[winxp_man]

Sad to hear this. Sadly he is blind. Hard to say why. Has a chocolate tang that went blind. And not much you can do aside from keep him feed in hopes it will recover. I know there can be temporary blinding, which after some time the fish can recover. But there is also permanent blindness. When you got the fish till you noticed he was possibly blind, any damage to it that you could spot?

 

[KrisReef]

How long has this been an issue? Might recover, but it sounds bleak.

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/low-oxygen-levels-could-temporarily-blind-marine-invertebrates

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sorry, it's been a while since my last post here on the board. It's been kind of crazy with clients and things around the house (daughter's graduation, wife's grad school graduation, my son interning with me, etc) as well as getting the new tank going. As many of you know, I lost two fish during my tank replacement. I lost my Semilarvatus butterfly fish, and I lost my Australian Harlequin Tusk, who jumped out of his temporary storage. I recently broke down about two months ago and bought replacements on a little bit of a sale. My Harlequin Tusk, I saw on camera eating like a pig and aggressively attacking the food as it was dropped at the surface of the water before I bought him which made me excited. When he was shipped overnight, there was a significant delay in the shipping. He didn't arrive until nighttime when he should have arrived in the morning. He was obviously suffering from oxygen deprivation in the bag. He was trying to get his head out of the water, breathing heavy, upside down, all the classic symptoms. I got him into my quarantine, got him heavily oxygenated, with good flow from a small Hydros wave maker, where he made a slow recovery over the course of three days. After that recovery, I took him through my normal quarantine process, which is the new official standard, where he was treated with CopperSafe at 2.35 ppm and simultaneously treated with three doses of Prazi at approximately 2.5 megs per liter. During his quarantine, he never ate food out of the water column. He only ate food after it hit the ground, where he had to hunt for it. He would kind of go around and hunt for food in the crevices of my PVC pipes. I thought that was a little odd, but I didn't think much of it. Additionally, he reacted to me when I'd common up next to the quarantine tank by going to hide. Now, I believe he only saw the shadow I cast. Full disclosure, my new large fish quarantine tank don't have lights on them. They're in very well-lit rooms with multiple floor-to-ceiling windows; it is a major pain because of all the heat the eastern exposure generates. The key is the room is extremely bright. Once he made it into the display with the other fish, I noticed that he continued not to eat food out of the water column, and since the other fish are very aggressive eaters, food never made it to the ground, so he never had the opportunity to hunt for food. He went about two weeks without eating, and I eventually got a large acclimation box that is 16 by 6 by 8. I was able to get him in there, drop some food in, and he immediately started hunting for food by pecking at the bottom of the acclimation box. I dropped in a couple clams on the half shell, which he ate up, and now he is he's recovering quite well after one week.

I closely observe his behavior in the acclimation box, and I noticed a couple of things, first he never responds to my presence because the aquarium is very well lit, so standing in front of the aquarium does not cast a shadow in the way I did during the quarantine process. If I wave my hands in front of him, he doesn't react. If I put my hand on the glass where other fish will react, he does not.

The other behavior that I've noticed is when the food is right in front of his face, literally floating by his eyeballs. He doesn't react to the food, at least not in any meaningful way. He waits for the food to hit the ground, and then he'll start sniffing around like a dog hunting. When he finally comes across food, he rarely is able to get it the first try. He frequently misses the food and needs multiple chomps to get it. I believe he is blind. I'm wondering if what I'm describing aligns with the possibility of him being blind? I know that some medications can cause blindness issues with some wrasses, especially Tusks, but I don't think this is a situation.

I'm just curious if anyone has any thoughts on what I might be experiencing.

I am going to have to set up a separate aquarium just for him because there's no way he will survive in the main display at this stage. I'll probably have to find room to place a 30 gallon long or a 55 gallon aquarium in my office for him to live out the rest of his days in private or at least with other fish that won't out-compete him for food.

Please share your thoughts; I welcome the help.

I miss my friends here on the board, and I look forward to reconnecting with everyone.

Thank you.

Often when this occurs, there is an infection in place from water, high ammonia levels and even damage from netting. I too found out that these fish are notorious jumpers a few years back and have had mine over three years now and a great model citizen in my tank. Blindness can be hard to determine and often not treatable.

Sneak peek of mine:

 

[Australian_Reef]

I had an experience almost identical to yours with a purple tang. The important thing is getting food into him somehow. Mine still won’t take food out of the water column but returns to the same place to search for pellets /nori as it knows they will be there. Although being a grazer it has a natural advantage. Best of luck.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had an experience almost identical to yours with a purple tang. The important thing is getting food into him somehow. Mine still won’t take food out of the water column but returns to the same place to search for pellets /nori as it knows they will be there. Although being a grazer it has a natural advantage. Best of luck.

Mine relishes small chunks of scallop, shrimp and LRS chunky

 

[kboogie]

How long has this been an issue? Might recover, but it sounds bleak.

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/low-oxygen-levels-could-temporarily-blind-marine-invertebrates

About two months.

 

[kboogie]

Mine relishes small chunks of scallop, shrimp and LRS chunky

Yours is so beautiful!!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry, it's been a while since my last post here on the board. It's been kind of crazy with clients and things around the house (daughter's graduation, wife's grad school graduation, my son interning with me, etc) as well as getting the new tank going. As many of you know, I lost two fish during my tank replacement. I lost my Semilarvatus butterfly fish, and I lost my Australian Harlequin Tusk, who jumped out of his temporary storage. I recently broke down about two months ago and bought replacements on a little bit of a sale. My Harlequin Tusk, I saw on camera eating like a pig and aggressively attacking the food as it was dropped at the surface of the water before I bought him which made me excited. When he was shipped overnight, there was a significant delay in the shipping. He didn't arrive until nighttime when he should have arrived in the morning. He was obviously suffering from oxygen deprivation in the bag. He was trying to get his head out of the water, breathing heavy, upside down, all the classic symptoms. I got him into my quarantine, got him heavily oxygenated, with good flow from a small Hydros wave maker, where he made a slow recovery over the course of three days. After that recovery, I took him through my normal quarantine process, which is the new official standard, where he was treated with CopperSafe at 2.35 ppm and simultaneously treated with three doses of Prazi at approximately 2.5 megs per liter. During his quarantine, he never ate food out of the water column. He only ate food after it hit the ground, where he had to hunt for it. He would kind of go around and hunt for food in the crevices of my PVC pipes. I thought that was a little odd, but I didn't think much of it. Additionally, he reacted to me when I'd common up next to the quarantine tank by going to hide. Now, I believe he only saw the shadow I cast. Full disclosure, my new large fish quarantine tank don't have lights on them. They're in very well-lit rooms with multiple floor-to-ceiling windows; it is a major pain because of all the heat the eastern exposure generates. The key is the room is extremely bright. Once he made it into the display with the other fish, I noticed that he continued not to eat food out of the water column, and since the other fish are very aggressive eaters, food never made it to the ground, so he never had the opportunity to hunt for food. He went about two weeks without eating, and I eventually got a large acclimation box that is 16 by 6 by 8. I was able to get him in there, drop some food in, and he immediately started hunting for food by pecking at the bottom of the acclimation box. I dropped in a couple clams on the half shell, which he ate up, and now he is he's recovering quite well after one week.

I closely observe his behavior in the acclimation box, and I noticed a couple of things, first he never responds to my presence because the aquarium is very well lit, so standing in front of the aquarium does not cast a shadow in the way I did during the quarantine process. If I wave my hands in front of him, he doesn't react. If I put my hand on the glass where other fish will react, he does not.

The other behavior that I've noticed is when the food is right in front of his face, literally floating by his eyeballs. He doesn't react to the food, at least not in any meaningful way. He waits for the food to hit the ground, and then he'll start sniffing around like a dog hunting. When he finally comes across food, he rarely is able to get it the first try. He frequently misses the food and needs multiple chomps to get it. I believe he is blind. I'm wondering if what I'm describing aligns with the possibility of him being blind? I know that some medications can cause blindness issues with some wrasses, especially Tusks, but I don't think this is a situation.

I'm just curious if anyone has any thoughts on what I might be experiencing.

I am going to have to set up a separate aquarium just for him because there's no way he will survive in the main display at this stage. I'll probably have to find room to place a 30 gallon long or a 55 gallon aquarium in my office for him to live out the rest of his days in private or at least with other fish that won't out-compete him for food.

Please share your thoughts; I welcome the help.

I miss my friends here on the board, and I look forward to reconnecting with everyone.

Thank you.

Sorry to hear....

True blindness is pretty rare in aquarium fish, but this does sound like it. There isn't any treatment other than time (in some cases). I would just continue to target feed it....

 

[kboogie]

Sorry, it's been a while since my last post here on the board. It's been kind of crazy with clients and things around the house (daughter's graduation, wife's grad school graduation, my son interning with me, etc) as well as getting the new tank going. As many of you know, I lost two fish during my tank replacement. I lost my Semilarvatus butterfly fish, and I lost my Australian Harlequin Tusk, who jumped out of his temporary storage. I recently broke down about two months ago and bought replacements on a little bit of a sale. My Harlequin Tusk, I saw on camera eating like a pig and aggressively attacking the food as it was dropped at the surface of the water before I bought him which made me excited. When he was shipped overnight, there was a significant delay in the shipping. He didn't arrive until nighttime when he should have arrived in the morning. He was obviously suffering from oxygen deprivation in the bag. He was trying to get his head out of the water, breathing heavy, upside down, all the classic symptoms. I got him into my quarantine, got him heavily oxygenated, with good flow from a small Hydros wave maker, where he made a slow recovery over the course of three days. After that recovery, I took him through my normal quarantine process, which is the new official standard, where he was treated with CopperSafe at 2.35 ppm and simultaneously treated with three doses of Prazi at approximately 2.5 megs per liter. During his quarantine, he never ate food out of the water column. He only ate food after it hit the ground, where he had to hunt for it. He would kind of go around and hunt for food in the crevices of my PVC pipes. I thought that was a little odd, but I didn't think much of it. Additionally, he reacted to me when I'd common up next to the quarantine tank by going to hide. Now, I believe he only saw the shadow I cast. Full disclosure, my new large fish quarantine tank don't have lights on them. They're in very well-lit rooms with multiple floor-to-ceiling windows; it is a major pain because of all the heat the eastern exposure generates. The key is the room is extremely bright. Once he made it into the display with the other fish, I noticed that he continued not to eat food out of the water column, and since the other fish are very aggressive eaters, food never made it to the ground, so he never had the opportunity to hunt for food. He went about two weeks without eating, and I eventually got a large acclimation box that is 16 by 6 by 8. I was able to get him in there, drop some food in, and he immediately started hunting for food by pecking at the bottom of the acclimation box. I dropped in a couple clams on the half shell, which he ate up, and now he is he's recovering quite well after one week.

I closely observe his behavior in the acclimation box, and I noticed a couple of things, first he never responds to my presence because the aquarium is very well lit, so standing in front of the aquarium does not cast a shadow in the way I did during the quarantine process. If I wave my hands in front of him, he doesn't react. If I put my hand on the glass where other fish will react, he does not.

The other behavior that I've noticed is when the food is right in front of his face, literally floating by his eyeballs. He doesn't react to the food, at least not in any meaningful way. He waits for the food to hit the ground, and then he'll start sniffing around like a dog hunting. When he finally comes across food, he rarely is able to get it the first try. He frequently misses the food and needs multiple chomps to get it. I believe he is blind. I'm wondering if what I'm describing aligns with the possibility of him being blind? I know that some medications can cause blindness issues with some wrasses, especially Tusks, but I don't think this is a situation.

I'm just curious if anyone has any thoughts on what I might be experiencing.

I am going to have to set up a separate aquarium just for him because there's no way he will survive in the main display at this stage. I'll probably have to find room to place a 30 gallon long or a 55 gallon aquarium in my office for him to live out the rest of his days in private or at least with other fish that won't out-compete him for food.

Please share your thoughts; I welcome the help.

I miss my friends here on the board, and I look forward to reconnecting with everyone.

Thank you.

Sorry to hear....

True blindness is pretty rare in aquarium fish, but this does sound like it. There isn't any treatment other than time (in some cases). I would just continue to target feed it....

Thank you for the diagnosis and recommended actions.

 

[vetteguy53081]

About two months.

This report is for Invertebrates. I dont see this applying to many fish

 

[kboogie]

It's been a while since the last update on my Aussie Tusk. After spending several weeks in an acclimation box where he was able to eat without competition, I reintroduced him to the main DT. He eats small pieces of mysis from the water column, and when I grossly overfeed Hikari large krill to the point that they hit the bottom, he is able to grab a couple of pieces. If you pay attention to the 26 sec mark in the video, you can see how the Tusk bumps into the Squareback Anthias. He has gotten much better at eating food out of the water column, but he still gets scared when another fish is in the area.

I'm going to try to use kabob skewers to hand-feed him krill and scallops a few times a week.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It's been a while since the last update on my Aussie Tusk. After spending several weeks in an acclimation box where he was able to eat without competition, I reintroduced him to the main DT. He eats small pieces of mysis from the water column, and when I grossly overfeed Hikari large krill to the point that they hit the bottom, he is able to grab a couple of pieces. If you pay attention to the 26 sec mark in the video, you can see how the Tusk bumps into the Squareback Anthias. He has gotten much better at eating food out of the water column, but he still gets scared when another fish is in the area.

I'm going to try to use kabob skewers to hand-feed him krill and scallops a few times a week.

Like it has partial sight….

 

[kboogie]

Like it has partial sight….

Exactly!

 

[mcarroll]

I wonder if more rock in the tank would give him more boundaries to use for electro-navigation? (Not what it's really called.)

Maybe the wide open space at the top of the tank isn't so ideal for him?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Exactly!

I can’t recall a partial blindness case like this except with fish that had obvious cataracts…

 

[kboogie]

Here is another longer video (3 minutes) of today's feeding, where you can see how he reacts to food. I know it is three minutes, but I would appreciate it if my friends here could spare the time to watch the feeding and see how the Tusk reacts to the food. My desire is for him to eat one of those krill a day, or two every other day. I also feed chopped-up scallops and large pellets.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Here is another longer video (3 minutes) of today's feeding, where you can see how he reacts to food. I know it is three minutes, but I would appreciate it if my friends here could spare the time to watch the feeding and see how the Tusk reacts to the food. My desire is for him to eat one of those krill a day, or two every other day. I also feed chopped-up scallops and large pellets.

Still looks like partial sight to me.

I can’t remember, have you tried pipette feeding? I bet you can get a lot more food into it once it’s been trained that way. Pet stores used to sell 1/2” clear thin wall tubing that works for that; you load it up with food and water and put your thumb over one end. You then lift that end out of the water to build some “head pressure”. When the tusk noses the end of the tube, or even just near it, release your thumb a bit to let some food out.

 

[kboogie]

Still looks like partial sight to me.

I can’t remember, have you tried pipette feeding? I bet you can get a lot more food into it once it’s been trained that way. Pet stores used to sell 1/2” clear thin wall tubing that works for that; you load it up with food and water and put your thumb over one end. You then lift that end out of the water to build some “head pressure”. When the tusk noses the end of the tube, or even just near it, release your thumb a bit to let some food out.

I haven't tried a pipette yet; I like the process you describe. I'm going to search for a 1/2" pipette.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I haven't tried a pipette yet; I like the process you describe. I'm going to search for a 1/2" pipette.

Avoid glass, it’s too heavy. Penn Plax used to make a retail display of clear rigid tubing, ranging from 1/4 to 1” but that was 50 years ago.