Clownfish that won't eat.

[Pitcom]

I've been waiting for about 8 months for my LFS to get in some wild caught true percs that actually had nice coloring. Finally they got a shipment in from a place they decided to use for the first time. Well i got the fish home and they acclimated great. The trouble began that night when i noticed they were pooping a single long white string. From everything i know this indicates some type of internal parasite. I took them out of my main tank and put them in my nano tank since they would be easier to work with there. After 5 days the fish were still pooping white and hadn't eaten a single piece of food. They ignored every thing i fed the tank. I began to do 7 minute fresh water dips on the pair of clowns. I only did a total of 2 dips. My goal was to try and get them swallow a little of the fresh water in hopes it would kill the parasites. On day 8 i began drastic measures because the fish still hadnt eaten and were looking sullen. I crushed up some new life spectrum pellets with golden pearl and filled a salifert syringe with food and freshwater with a touch of garlic gaurd. I had to physically stick the syringe in the mouth of the fish and inject food.
I held the fish in the tank water and made sure they swallowed, they did.
I really hated stressing the fish like this but they weren't even interested in eating live brine shrimp. This was my last resort before they had kidney damage from malnutrition.

Im happy to report that the smaller of the two( and much nicer )has finally begun to eat on his own after 15 days. 2 days ago he ate a bunch of cycolpeeze. he refused to eat anything again yesterday, but just this morning i was able to entice him to eat a couple pieces and some spiru enriched brine shrimp. he has also stopped pooping white strings.

The larger clown still wont even look at a piece of food. She hasn't even tried to bite a piece. I had to inject her with food again last night. I really hate doing this to the poor fish. Luckily they show no signs of ick from the stress, but im sure this procedure is taking its toll on her. Does anyone have any other ideas? I've accepted the fact that she will probably die in a few days if she doesnt decide to eat. Im not sure the smaller one will make it either, but him eating is a sure positive.

Foods i have tried;
Live brine shrimp
Live copepods
Blood worms
Mysid shrimp
Cyclopeeze
Kelp flakes soaked in garlic

 

[rackyrane]

Have you tried any selcon? I have read about this triggering eating. Interestingly, I also read about someone trying live bloodworms on SWF and it made them eat like crazy. I am not sure about this and have not tried it, but have been tempted to on my big tank. You can also try live mysids. There are websites that sell them and we have tried them on our tanks. The fish go NUTS over these. Hope this helps.

 

[Pitcom]

Well, after all this time. The female finally ate food today. Her sides looked pinched but she ate like a pig. I had to take her out of the tank again since the first post and force feed her as it was obvious she used up her fat reserves. I hope i dont have to nurse any fish like this in the future. For anyone who read this thread maybe you learned something. If you have some fish who wont eat and you want to try and keep alive, a salifert syringe works great with some golden pearl or powderized new life spectrum pellets. I'll post picutres in a bit.

 

[edwing206]

Great to hear they are eating! Looking forward to the pic.

 

[143gadgets]