Scrawled cowfish starving?

Sosuke

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Hey everybody I've had a scrawled cowfish for a couple of months now and am feeding 3 times a day (Mysis and angel formula in the morning a bit less than half a sheet of nori and brine shrimp in the afternoon) I am trying to get him onto pellets. Anyways I noticed his stomach is inverted, and know that means he might be starving. Going on the internet and looking at photos of them his stomach should not look like this. He eats really well and is always begging for more food but I am not sure why his stomach is like this. Any help appreciated!


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Please excuse the algae
 

eggplantparrot

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Hey everybody I've had a scrawled cowfish for a couple of months now and am feeding 3 times a day (Mysis and angel formula in the morning a bit less than half a sheet of nori and brine shrimp in the afternoon) I am trying to get him onto pellets. Anyways I noticed his stomach is inverted, and know that means he might be starving. Going on the internet and looking at photos of them his stomach should not look like this. He eats really well and is always begging for more food but I am not sure why his stomach is like this. Any help appreciated!

internal parasites comes to mind. have you tried feeding food soaked with Seachem Metro and Focus?
 
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Sosuke

Sosuke

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internal parasites comes to mind. have you tried feeding food soaked with Seachem Metro and Focus?
I have not. I feed food soaked in selcon and was considering general cure. I have focus on hand but no Seachem metro, will it affect my corals and inverts?
 

eggplantparrot

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I have not. I feed food soaked in selcon and was considering general cure. I have focus on hand but no Seachem metro, will it affect my corals and inverts?

i have dosed both Metro and General cure with no noticeable ill effects on corals or inverts (anemone shrimp, trochus snail, fighting conch. soft, lps and sps). General cure may be better as its 2 meds in one i believe.
 

eggplantparrot

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feeding with food + focus binds the meds to the food. dosing directly to water is not very efficient because of how much you will need to use.
 
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Sosuke

Sosuke

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i have dosed both Metro and General cure with no noticeable ill effects on corals or inverts (anemone shrimp, trochus snail, fighting conch. soft, lps and sps). General cure may be better as its 2 meds in one i believe.
Ok I will try general cure in his food and hope for the best. Thank you!
 

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+1 ^^^ to the above advice. Use a turkey baster to suck up any uneaten mix.

Food + General Cure + Focus + a very small pinch of epsom salts (helps expel dead worms/flagellates). Feed daily for 10 days. Some fish are put off by the smell of the meds. Can add a bit of garlic to help mask the scent.
 
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Sosuke

Sosuke

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+1 ^^^ to the above advice. Use a turkey baster to suck up any uneaten mix.

Food + General Cure + Focus + a very small pinch of epsom salts (helps expel dead worms/flagelletes). Feed daily for 10 days. Some fish are put off by the smell of the meds. Can add a bit of garlic to help mask the scent.
Thank you! What if a CUC member or a coral gets the food by accident? Do you think I should just set up a QT?
 

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captain dunsel
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A hospital tank is always nice as it gives you more options if the fish requires more treatment. For example, if the fish is having internal pathogen problems, sometimes the fish will develop a bacterial infection from the damage done by the worms/flagellates. If so you would need to consider dosing antibiotics to help the fish's immune system to fight the infection. Those antibiotics are dosed into the QT water or given in a bath.
 
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Sosuke

Sosuke

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A hospital tank is always nice as it gives you more options if the fish requires more treatment. For example, if the fish is having internal pathogen problems, sometimes the fish will develop a bacterial infection from the damage done by the worms/flagellates. If so you would need to consider dosing antibiotics to help the fish's immune system to fight the infection. Those antibiotics are dosed into the tank water or given in a bath.

Thanks! This fish had Lympho when I got him, he healed up nicely but was recently with a downright monster of a tomato clown that beat him which has obviously been taken out. Which antibiotics do you recommend?
 

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captain dunsel
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Here's @Humblefish 's bacterial infection "antibiotic" treatment advisory.

 

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