boxfish with ich

[Jay Hemdal]

He is an Ostracion solorensis, scribbled or reticulate boxfish. They are more delicate than the horned nose boxfish. The two were together in the tank at the LFS. They are in separate QT tanks. Both have ich but no other signs. The scribbled boxfish had an odd swimming pattern (rocking back and forth) and was attracted to the bubbler. I presume it was the ich bothering him. He now swims normally. He is much shier; the horned nose is gregarious by comparison. The two were at the LFS for about 2-3 weeks and both eating they said. We picked them up last Thursday afternoon. He has not eaten since we have had him so that is now 3 days. I did think he picked at some algae we put in, but i've not seen any evidence of that since, but there is a clip with algae in the tank.

I uploaded a video of him this morning to youtube: video

Thank you. I do hope we can save him.

Yes - solarensis can be pretty delicate, I typically avoid acquiring them.

I think the best you can do is keep treating for ich, and offering a variety of foods. Avoid uneaten food building up in the tank, and avoid "observer bias" - where the concerned aquarist tries to observe the non-eating food so closely that the fish is kept scared and continues to not eat.

 

[laughing tang]

Yes - solarensis can be pretty delicate, I typically avoid acquiring them.

I think the best you can do is keep treating for ich, and offering a variety of foods. Avoid uneaten food building up in the tank, and avoid "observer bias" - where the concerned aquarist tries to observe the non-eating food so closely that the fish is kept scared and continues to not eat.

Thank you. I've put a couple of smaller live rocks in the tank to instill plucking instinct, and that definitely peeked its interest. He has been plucking at it. We strapped several kinds of algae to it and I placed a half clam and bloodworms at the bottom hoping he'll associate the two. I stuck one of the stickon foods to the rock. We do leave him alone after we put the food in.

We are siphoning out the uneaten food after an hour and keeping an eye on ammonia. We are almost down to hyposalinity. All we can do I guess is keep trying to offer foods; are there any foods we are missing?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you. I've put a couple of smaller live rocks in the tank to instill plucking instinct, and that definitely peeked its interest. He has been plucking at it. We strapped several kinds of algae to it and I placed a half clam and bloodworms at the bottom hoping he'll associate the two. I stuck one of the stickon foods to the rock. We do leave him alone after we put the food in.

We are siphoning out the uneaten food after an hour and keeping an eye on ammonia. We are almost down to hyposalinity. All we can do I guess is keep trying to offer foods; are there any foods we are missing?

I’d try live brine shrimp also if you can get it. I’d try both adult and newly hatched.

 

[laughing tang]

I’d try live brine shrimp also if you can get it. I’d try both adult and newly hatched.

Thanks, yes we tried live adult brine shrimp, no dice. Trying to hatch but the eggs might be too old....

 

[laughing tang]

An update, the scribbled boxfish produced a poop today, which was largely white and stringy. Attaching a pic, a bit hard to see. Good thing is that I think that means he may have eaten some? Does it mean parasites and would that alter our treatment course? He is at 1.009 SG now, day 1. Thanks!

 

[Jekyl]

What is being fed? This can just be a result of fatty food.

 

[laughing tang]

What is being fed? This can just be a result of fatty food.

Right but given his reluctance to eat, I thought it might point to parasites. We've offered brine, mysis, bloodworms, rods, clams, crab, tdo. Did not see him eat any of it. Inclined to wait it out since we don't see him eating.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Right but given his reluctance to eat, I thought it might point to parasites. We've offered brine, mysis, bloodworms, rods, clams, crab, tdo. Did not see him eat any of it. Inclined to wait it out since we don't see him eating.

White mucus feces can be a sign of starvation. In fish that are eating, it can be a sign of protozoan infections. Internal worms don’t really cause white feces.

 

[laughing tang]

White mucus feces can be a sign of starvation. In fish that are eating, it can be a sign of protozoan infections. Internal worms don’t really cause white feces.

Thanks Jay. The piece that was closest to his body was colored, so I'm hoping it means he started eating. Ugh. Keep you posted, thanks.

 

[laughing tang]

Update, I still haven't observed any eating for the scribbled boxfish. I believe most food just falls to the bottom, it's hard to tell given that I feed and then leave; I leave the food for several hours and stop the flow for about 15 min on feed mode. He is swimming freely and not stressed, no more visible ich spots or weird swimming behavior. I've tried a buffet of different foods, but there's no interest that I can tell. It's truly heartbreaking. The horned nose boxfish eats like a champ but I noticed his poops looks a bit odd, some brown with some white.

Any ideas appreciated, it's been since Thursday since we picked both of them up at the LFS. Day 3 hyposalinity, they are in separate tanks.

 

[Jekyl]

Live brine or Rods frozen fish eggs have always been my go to's

 

[laughing tang]

Live brine or Rods frozen fish eggs have always been my go to's

Thanks Jekyl, I've tried live brine. I do not see rods fish eggs on their site, has that been discontinued?

 

[Jekyl]

Thanks Jekyl, I've tried live brine. I do not see rods fish eggs on their site, has that been discontinued?

It's a local brand for me. Comparable to LRS

 

[laughing tang]

It's a local brand for me. Comparable to LRS

Yes I know rods. I have original. I don't see any rods fish eggs.

 

[Jekyl]

Yes I know rods. I have original. I don't see any rods fish eggs.

Called tentacle teasers and polyp poppers.

 

[laughing tang]

Called tentacle teasers and polyp poppers.

Thanks, I did see that rods teasers, sadly liveaquaria is out of stock.

I see the scribbled doing a lot of pacing behavior (we set up a camera). I fed several times today but do not see him eating.

 

[laughing tang]

I'll ask this separately, after doing some research. the scribbled boxfish is not eating, he's in a 27 gallon QT and now that we've set up a camera I see a lot of pacing along the front glass behavior. We got him last Thursday and he's not eating that I can tell. He's been in hyposalinity day 3 for ich. No other symptoms.

Might moving him to a 65 gallon be helpful or just stressing him out more? We can set this up pretty quickly.

 

[laughing tang]

Sadly we found the solorensis dead this morning.

 

[Ziggy17]

Sadly we found the solorensis dead this morning.

Sorry to hear man. Was following and hoping for the best. Did you end up going the copper route or just hypo salinity on his QT/treatment?

 

[laughing tang]

Thanks. Yes, hyposalinity as I stated above. He did not eat anything for 10 days despite us offering everything available including live brine shrimp and bloodworms. The other box fish is also in HS and doing fine.