Established female stopped eating

[DanDashO]

I need your help Reef Central. My female Ocellaris that I have had for almost four years has decided she no longer wants to eat. She used to readily eat a varied diet of NLS, selcon mysis, and a number of other things, and spawned regularly.

She lives in a 20 gallon mixed reef with her mate and a pair of chrysiptera damsels, and is hosted by a large BTA. Temp 80, SG 1.024, all params are near perfect.

It's been almost four weeks since she's eaten anything. She still has an acceptable amount of weight, but she doesn't seem as vigorous as usual. I've tried to offer her about everything I can think of: NLS Thera A, omega one marine pellets, Hikary seaweed extreme, Hikary discus bio gold, frozen mysis, brine, squid, cyclopeeze, SF bay emerald entrée, carnivore cuisine - tried all plain, with selcon, with spirulina, with both.

All other tank mates inhale their food like normal, and all corals and invertebrates are doing fantastic. I started running fresh carbon a month or so ago, and I have done several 25 percent water changes; all to no avail. I'm not sure how much more of this she (or myself!) can take.

[Tango451]

Have you tried a garlic additive (that might help with a fast feeding response)? And maybe there is something she is eating (amphipods etc?) or scraps that you aren't noticing?

I am presuming everyone else is eating normally?

[Rudimenta]

Did she just lay a nest, females tend to eat badly in the days after? Just a thought


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[Treasure Coast]

Maybe try some live Brine shrimp, if you haven't yet.

[DanDashO]

Omega One has garlic in it, I haven't tried using an additive; I was under the impression that garlic didn't really work?

Rudimenta, she stopped eating about the same time her last nest hatched. I noticed that she and her mate fought for a couple of days around that same time, but they quickly worked everything out.


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[Jamie1210]

If she suddenly stopped eating, chances are she's not going to want to eat the other foods ppl suggested. I'm thinking she's very sick. Even though she might not have any external marks of a sick fish (ie. Ich, lesions, etc) something may still be wrong internally. Not sure what to suggest but keep trying to get her to eat...sorry to hear :(

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[CoralsAddiction]

I had the same issue with a clown last year. She was healthy but then refused to eat. I suspected internal parasites. The clown was treated with prazipro and started eating 3 days into treatment. Yours could be the same case. I'd give prazipro a try.

[deangelr]

Maybe try some live Brine shrimp, if you haven't yet.

I agree..

[DanDashO]

I had the same issue with a clown last year... suspected internal parasites.


Do you think a series of formalin dips would help if internal parasites / bacteria are the case? I could quarantine her and do prazi, but it would be a few days before I could go pick some up. I have formalin on hand already.

[CoralsAddiction]

Do you think a series of formalin dips would help if internal parasites / bacteria are the case? I could quarantine her and do prazi, but it would be a few days before I could go pick some up. I have formalin on hand already.

praziquantel was the reason my clown survived. I don't know if formalin would help. Since you are in Minneapolis good chance you will receive your order in one day if you place it through bulk reef supply. On a related note, I doubt that your clown forgot how to eat prepared foods. If there's a parasite inside her suppressing appetite then no matter what you put in there the disease has to be dealt with. You can dose prazipro in your display if you are behind schedule in setting up QT. best of luck.

[Dkuhlmann]

I had the same issue with a clown last year. She was healthy but then refused to eat. I suspected internal parasites. The clown was treated with prazipro and started eating 3 days into treatment. Yours could be the same case. I'd give prazipro a try.

I also agree with Prazipro. Do 2 rounds of it with 4 days in between. Make sure you follow the directions and I usually start my Prazi treatments right after a water change. They suggest doing a rather large WC then begin the treatment. I have always just done a 20% WC then start the treatment.

You will want to use Prazi on your DT so all fish get wormed at the same time. No need to QT a fish to treat with Prazi, it's 100% Reef safe. It will not harm corals, inverts, anemones or beneficial bacteria or even bristle worms. I treated my DT for some bad flukes and triple dosed the Prazi to get rid of the ones that I had and still had no issues in my reef tank.

[DanDashO]

Well, both my lfs and BRS are out of stock on prazi.. Found some on Amazon, but it won't be here till Thursday. She's made it four weeks, hopefully she can make it one more.

[DanDashO]

Alright, thread resurrection..
It's been 8 days: I did a wc and dosed prazi 4/28, dosed 5/1, wc and dosed 5/4, all to no avail. She's had no change in temperament or appetite, and she seems significantly thinner. The rest of the tank looks great.
I'm leaving Monday and I will be gone for 10 days, so I really can't quarantine her right now.. what the h*ll am I supposed to do now? I'm not sure she'll be alive when I get back if she continues her present coarse.


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