maroon not eating

[bongobrian]

Hey guys, over the past 2 or 3 days I havn't seen my maroon clown touch a single scrap of food! Does anyone have any idea why this might happen? I've been feeding omega one flake lately and yesterday I purchased some frozen mysis shrimp to see if she would eat that.... but no dice This whole thing seemed to start right after an incident that happened last week. My daylight pc bulbs shorted out and the tank was lit by only actinics all day. Do you guys think this might have stressed the fish out and caused her not to eat? Thanks for any help.

[Elmo18]

Bongo, I don't think the PC bulbs would stress the fish out to the point of not eating. I would stop feeding for awhile and leave her be. However, look for signs of ICH or any type of weird behavior. I think adding more food will just deteriorate the water quality and can make things get worst. Keep the board updated, though.

Try some brine shrimp. My gold-band maroon pair can't resist those little guys. They chase them EVERYWHERE!!!

-Elmo

[mrok12]

Hey Brian,

Have not seen much of you on the boards lately. I agree with elmo try the shrimp on this guy and see what he does. How is your tank otherwise? I am converting my 65 to a soft coral tank now. I got the 120 up and am waiting for a new CA reactor from Andy at my reef creations. Mine sprung several leake and when I shipped it back for repair the USPS destroyed it. Andy Made me another one though nearly free of charge. Good CS and it was not a hassle at all. TTYL


MROK12

[bongobrian]

Hey mike! good to hear from ya man. Thanks for the replies and advice you guys. I think I'm going to give the brine a try. I'm really concerned about the clown... She's getting quite old.. I've had her as long as I've been reefing! I think she's about 8 years old now. I would really really REALLY hate to lose her. Anyway, I really hope she'll eat some of the brine. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Mike- my tank (other than the clown) is doing incredible. I couldn't be more happy with it. Everything really started showing improvement after all the changes I made to the tank when I moved. I started a larger refugium, I put in a DSB, and I started dripping kalk. I have seen extremely good results so far with all of this. I've got euphyllia corals branching off and coralline really taking off. Needless to say, I am now a firm believer in the power of the DSB. The next thing I want to do is construct a canopy and get a metal halide and use my pc's for the actinics. Your 65 softie tank sounds interesting... I'd like to check that out sometime. How is the business going? Over and out. ~Brian

[Triggers]

any luck yet? with the exception of my Naso tang on a couple of occassions, i have found that once a fish becomes disinterested in all food offered it can be very difficult to remedy this.

[bongobrian]

Triggers- unfortunately no.... the clown still isn't accepting flake food or the frozen mysis. I'm going to purchase some live brine tonight and try that. The reassuring thing is, the fish seems to come closer to eating each day. She looks interested, goes after the food, even gets some of it in her mouth, and then spits it back out. So hopefully one of the different foods will spark her interest enough to actually SWALLOW hehe. Thanks for the concern man... I'm hoping for the best.

[Triggers]

the live brine is a good idea. you may also want to try throwing in a mussel or clam leave it for an hour or two.
the fish could have some type of bacterial infection causing an internal problem. you may need to intervene within time. the fish could have up to a month of not feeding before passing.

[bongobrian]

Well I tried the live brine today and it didn't work... my clown took some of the brine in her mouth and just spit it back out. I talked to one of the guys at my lfs and he pretty much just said that it's probably just the fish's time to go. He said that after a fish grows to it's full size and stays that way for several years, eventually it just loses the will to live. Anyway, I hope it isn't the case and I want to do everything I can to keep her alive and healthy. Triggers you mentioned a mussel or clam.... what exactly is the purpose of this? for feeding? and what can I do about a bacterial infection? the guy at the lfs also said I could try doing a 25% water change and that could spark a change in attitude in the fish. Thanks again guys.

[Triggers]

my maroon likes to eat clams out of the shell.
once you feel that the fish is not likely to feed you could try treating it with a general antibiotic in a separate tank.

it could very well be that the fish is approaching its captive lifespan.
good luck