#fishmedic Blenny Impacted & Not Eating 11 Days!

ReefPsych · Jul 30, 2024

Issue: My Midas Blenny is not eating. This started after three power outages in two days. Each outage was 2-4 hrs. I used airstones. One airstone came loose and ended up right where the Blenny sleeps, but he didn't move. I thought the cause was stress to start with. He sat in weird places, looked frightened, and occasionally turned into his camouflage colors out of nowhere. After a few days, he started swimming around like normal but still wouldn't eat, and I then noticed a lump in his stomach. Does he look impacted to you? I've tried several types of food right near his face, and he's not interested. It has now been 11 days! Someone at my LFS recommended a 2-minute freshwater dip (to get him to poop) with Kanaplex in it (just in case it's bacterial??? Before I do that, I wanted to ask you all. They also recommended a peeled green pea, but I read somewhere else here that peas are old school. Plus he's not interested in food. What should I do? Thank you so much for your help.
Tank Details:
- 180-gallon reef tank
- Temp = 77
- Only six other fish in the tank, several hermit crabs, and one Turbo snail
- Two inches of sand and a lot of live rock, filter socks, and phosguard
- LED lights. My EcoSmart hub is not working, so I don’t have the ability to switch to white light only – sorry about that
- This tank is six years old, but most of the inhabitants lived in my previous tank, including my PBT, and that tank had been established for 15 years
- All water quality parameters within normal limits. Did a water change this morning to see if that would help.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 30, 2024

ReefPsych said:
Issue: My Midas Blenny is not eating. This started after three power outages in two days. Each outage was 2-4 hrs. I used airstones. One airstone came loose and ended up right where the Blenny sleeps, but he didn't move. I thought the cause was stress to start with. He sat in weird places, looked frightened, and occasionally turned into his camouflage colors out of nowhere. After a few days, he started swimming around like normal but still wouldn't eat, and I then noticed a lump in his stomach. Does he look impacted to you? I've tried several types of food right near his face, and he's not interested. It has now been 11 days! Someone at my LFS recommended a 2-minute freshwater dip (to get him to poop) with Kanaplex in it (just in case it's bacterial??? Before I do that, I wanted to ask you all. They also recommended a peeled green pea, but I read somewhere else here that peas are old school. Plus he's not interested in food. What should I do? Thank you so much for your help.
Tank Details:
- 180-gallon reef tank
- Temp = 77
- Only six other fish in the tank, several hermit crabs, and one Turbo snail
- Two inches of sand and a lot of live rock, filter socks, and phosguard
- LED lights. My EcoSmart hub is not working, so I don’t have the ability to switch to white light only – sorry about that
- This tank is six years old, but most of the inhabitants lived in my previous tank, including my PBT, and that tank had been established for 15 years
- All water quality parameters within normal limits. Did a water change this morning to see if that would help.

Peas are a freshwater remedy for goldfish. Fish looks a tad thin and has a dark spot at rectum. My concern is, is it lack of food causing this or edema which they often get in which fish shuts down and feeds off its liver until becommimg too weak. Enticing foods are live brine shrimp or blackworms

ReefPsych · Jul 30, 2024

What does the black spot on rectum indicate? Any other recommendations other than enticing foods? Thank you!

vetteguy53081 said:
Peas are a freshwater remedy for goldfish. Fish looks a tad thin and has a dark spot at rectum. My concern is, is it lack of food causing this or edema which they often get in which fish shuts down and feeds off its liver until becommimg too weak. Enticing foods are live brine shrimp or black