starving to death, first clown now blue tang

[leevh]

So I quarantined and introduced recently a snowflake clown to my tank. He ate in quarantine and for two weeks in the display but then started spitting out everything and getting thinner. I dosed Prazi in the display, worried the clown might have intestinal worms. He continued this way for about a month with me getting him to eat here and there with different types of food, but not enough. Sadly he passed a few days ago. What scares me more is my blue tang of 5 years who was a huge eater (fat) suddenly started doing the same thing about 10 days after the clown stopped eating. She has no spots or other symptoms other than no appetite and getting skinnier from not eating anything. She hides when people are around and ignores the food she's eaten for years. I've seen her peck the nori, but not like she used to. She's so skinny now I'm afraid she doesn't have much time left.

Other bits of information:
- I've just finished my third prazi dose (because I started in a panic so might as well be sure)
- all other fish are fine, including yellow tang, wrasse, goby, clown, cardinal and coral beauty. Same with inverts, urchins, snails and coral.
- tank is mature, 10 years
- I've kept up with regular water changes, including between prazi doses
- only recent change was quarantined and added the clown (died) and a coral beauty (fat and healthy)
- didn't see signs of bullying


tldr - any likely cause of two fish in my tank slowly (month +) starving themselves to death?

thanks for any thoughts

 

[Timfish]

Sorry to hear about your loss! Once "possibility" is internal parasites (not intestinal). But with other fish doing fine, no external indicators and without any kind of labwork it's really anybody's guess why fish dies.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I quarantined and introduced recently a snowflake clown to my tank. He ate in quarantine and for two weeks in the display but then started spitting out everything and getting thinner. I dosed Prazi in the display, worried the clown might have intestinal worms. He continued this way for about a month with me getting him to eat here and there with different types of food, but not enough. Sadly he passed a few days ago. What scares me more is my blue tang of 5 years who was a huge eater (fat) suddenly started doing the same thing about 10 days after the clown stopped eating. She has no spots or other symptoms other than no appetite and getting skinnier from not eating anything. She hides when people are around and ignores the food she's eaten for years. I've seen her peck the nori, but not like she used to. She's so skinny now I'm afraid she doesn't have much time left.

Other bits of information:
- I've just finished my third prazi dose (because I started in a panic so might as well be sure)
- all other fish are fine, including yellow tang, wrasse, goby, clown, cardinal and coral beauty. Same with inverts, urchins, snails and coral.
- tank is mature, 10 years
- I've kept up with regular water changes, including between prazi doses
- only recent change was quarantined and added the clown (died) and a coral beauty (fat and healthy)
- didn't see signs of bullying


tldr - any likely cause of two fish in my tank slowly (month +) starving themselves to death?

thanks for any thoughts

The two issues might or might not be related.

Taking in food but spitting it out is a confusing symptom - the fish has the will to feed, but cannot swallow. In some cases, the food is too large or too dry/hard. In other cases, there is a mechanical blockage. I've never heard of worms causing this.

Here is an article I wrote on anorexia. It won't have a specific answer for you, but perhaps some of the information will give you background information?

Chronic Anorexia in Aquarium Fishes

Don't fall into the trap of assuming the fish will begin feeding when it gets hungry enough, or conclude it must be eating something, just not when you are watching.

reefs.com

Jay