New Banggai Cardinal Not Eating

Septipus · 10/19/2018, 04:44 PM

I got two banggai cardinals from the local fish store five days ago. One of them died hours after I got him, so now there is only one left in my 10 gallon tank and he didn't have any sign of active eating. I tried flakes, pellets, freeze dried mysis shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, and the garlic dipped version of all the foods above. Right now he seems to interest in the freeze dried mysis shrimp the most, but will spit it back out. He will also go after the frozen brine shrimp, but will stop in front of the food and won't even try to put them in his mouth. I also have two cleaner shrimp, and one tiny neon goby that were introduce to the tank with him. The cleaner shrimps sometimes will accidentally touch him with their antenna, and the cardinal will swim away, but beside that, there is nothing aggressive in the tank.

I'm really concern that he will eventually starve to death, so my questions are:

1. How long can the banggai cardinal stay alive without eating? Some people said it took them almost a week for their fish to start eating, so I'm not sure is this my case or he is just killing himself by not eating.

2. Is he getting affect by the death of the other fish? They were keep in school back in the store, so maybe he's appetite is getting affect by his mood since he doesn't use to being alone?

3. He is about 2 inch from the head to the tail, so I don't think he is carrying eggs, but I have saw him acting weird by open his mouth really wide in second and doing something like throwing up. He is also slow at detecting food. Unless the food is sinking right in front of him or I use a fork to tape the water to get his attention, he never realized there is food in the water. Also, he never swim really fast when he go after the food like the other fish, so is he injured or sick? I don't really see any obvious things that look wrong.

4. I have a small quarantine tank that is about one gallon, should I separate him out from the 10 gallon tank so its easier for him to detect food? Or I shouldn't change his environment that often in order not to stress him out?

5. Should I keep trying other foods like cyclopeeze or maybe even some boiled egg yolk? I think they feed all of their fish live baby brine shrimp back in the store, but now he seems to have a greater interest in the mysis shrimp. I'm not sure is he spiting them out because they are freeze dried instead of frozen? So is there going to be a different between freeze dried and frozen?

6. One of my cleaner shrimp molted in the tank, and the shell was in a few large piece instead of whole when I found it. Is there a chance that he ate some of the shell, so maybe he is not eating because of he is full from the shell?

I'm sorry that's a lot of questions at once, but I'm really worried that he is going to die. I'd greatly appreciated to any thought, suggestion, and past experience since this is my first time keeping a saltwater tank.

Akram · 10/19/2018, 05:58 PM

Don’t put him in a 1 gallon tank please, it will die

Akram · 10/19/2018, 06:06 PM

Banggai don’t eat when they have fries in their mouths.
2 no hard feelings when 1 of them dies
3 if there are no visible evidence of sickness, then no he’s not sick
4 don’t move him to a 1 gallon please
5 stop feeding them, do a small water change that’s the same temp and salinity.
6 they don’t eat big shrimp shells

Only feed once a day, keep everything as it is, just read more about keeping saltwater aquariums, like filtration, testing for ammonia, cycling a new tank, adding too many fish at the same time in a 10 gallon aquarium...

Just keep everything stable, and if he dies I would not be surprised. Neither should you. Just learn from it, and study more. You should not go to that lfs again.
7

pisanoal · 10/19/2018, 07:13 PM

If he was eating live baby brine at the store, but or hatch some live brine shrimp and feed him that for a while. Then slowly transition to frozen. I just had to go through this with a new trigger.

Last poster is wrong in that just because there is not visible evidence of sickness does not mean its not there. If that were the case, quarantine wouldnt be necessary, only inspection. So that is a possibility. Keep an eye on him and try some live brine. Once he is eating that, start mixing in frozen, then wean him off live,

Uncle99 · 10/20/2018, 12:33 PM

Eat and spit is a process of either softening or making smaller, or both.
What's water quality like, what are your parameters, how long since cycle?
What's ammonia reading.
I am concerned about diease in this case as some death has occurred.

Septipus · 10/21/2018, 04:56 PM

I use a test kit for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia that show the result through colors and so far everything color results in the acceptable zone. The only thing I'm not able to test is the ph because my meter broke, but last time I check is two days after I got the fish which read about 7.1. I cycle the the tank for almost three weeks before I introduce anything to it.

The one that died had a buoyancy problem that he can't position himself while floating. I'm not sure what caused that.

I'm thinking about there maybe a parasite problem going on because now he is going after the food like he's hungry but just keeps spit it out.

Is there any medicine or chemical I should use if is a disease or parasite?

hkgar · 10/22/2018, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Septipus

The one that died had a buoyancy problem that he can't position himself while floating. I'm not sure what caused that.

Did you match the salinity of the DT to the salinity of the LFS? A sudden osmotic shock could have occurred. The damage is done whe the salinity of the DT is more than .002 higher than LFS

10/19/2018, 04:44 PM	#1
Septipus Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2018 Posts: 2	New Banggai Cardinal Not Eating I got two banggai cardinals from the local fish store five days ago. One of them died hours after I got him, so now there is only one left in my 10 gallon tank and he didn't have any sign of active eating. I tried flakes, pellets, freeze dried mysis shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, and the garlic dipped version of all the foods above. Right now he seems to interest in the freeze dried mysis shrimp the most, but will spit it back out. He will also go after the frozen brine shrimp, but will stop in front of the food and won't even try to put them in his mouth. I also have two cleaner shrimp, and one tiny neon goby that were introduce to the tank with him. The cleaner shrimps sometimes will accidentally touch him with their antenna, and the cardinal will swim away, but beside that, there is nothing aggressive in the tank. I'm really concern that he will eventually starve to death, so my questions are: 1. How long can the banggai cardinal stay alive without eating? Some people said it took them almost a week for their fish to start eating, so I'm not sure is this my case or he is just killing himself by not eating. 2. Is he getting affect by the death of the other fish? They were keep in school back in the store, so maybe he's appetite is getting affect by his mood since he doesn't use to being alone? 3. He is about 2 inch from the head to the tail, so I don't think he is carrying eggs, but I have saw him acting weird by open his mouth really wide in second and doing something like throwing up. He is also slow at detecting food. Unless the food is sinking right in front of him or I use a fork to tape the water to get his attention, he never realized there is food in the water. Also, he never swim really fast when he go after the food like the other fish, so is he injured or sick? I don't really see any obvious things that look wrong. 4. I have a small quarantine tank that is about one gallon, should I separate him out from the 10 gallon tank so its easier for him to detect food? Or I shouldn't change his environment that often in order not to stress him out? 5. Should I keep trying other foods like cyclopeeze or maybe even some boiled egg yolk? I think they feed all of their fish live baby brine shrimp back in the store, but now he seems to have a greater interest in the mysis shrimp. I'm not sure is he spiting them out because they are freeze dried instead of frozen? So is there going to be a different between freeze dried and frozen? 6. One of my cleaner shrimp molted in the tank, and the shell was in a few large piece instead of whole when I found it. Is there a chance that he ate some of the shell, so maybe he is not eating because of he is full from the shell? I'm sorry that's a lot of questions at once, but I'm really worried that he is going to die. I'd greatly appreciated to any thought, suggestion, and past experience since this is my first time keeping a saltwater tank.

10/19/2018, 05:58 PM	#2
Akram Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 72	Don’t put him in a 1 gallon tank please, it will die

10/19/2018, 06:06 PM	#3
Akram Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 72	Banggai don’t eat when they have fries in their mouths. 2 no hard feelings when 1 of them dies 3 if there are no visible evidence of sickness, then no he’s not sick 4 don’t move him to a 1 gallon please 5 stop feeding them, do a small water change that’s the same temp and salinity. 6 they don’t eat big shrimp shells Only feed once a day, keep everything as it is, just read more about keeping saltwater aquariums, like filtration, testing for ammonia, cycling a new tank, adding too many fish at the same time in a 10 gallon aquarium... Just keep everything stable, and if he dies I would not be surprised. Neither should you. Just learn from it, and study more. You should not go to that lfs again. 7

10/19/2018, 07:13 PM	#4
pisanoal Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 705	If he was eating live baby brine at the store, but or hatch some live brine shrimp and feed him that for a while. Then slowly transition to frozen. I just had to go through this with a new trigger. Last poster is wrong in that just because there is not visible evidence of sickness does not mean its not there. If that were the case, quarantine wouldnt be necessary, only inspection. So that is a possibility. Keep an eye on him and try some live brine. Once he is eating that, start mixing in frozen, then wean him off live,

10/20/2018, 12:33 PM	#5
Uncle99 Crab Free Zone Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2,906	Eat and spit is a process of either softening or making smaller, or both. What's water quality like, what are your parameters, how long since cycle? What's ammonia reading. I am concerned about diease in this case as some death has occurred.

10/21/2018, 04:56 PM	#6
Septipus Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2018 Posts: 2	I use a test kit for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia that show the result through colors and so far everything color results in the acceptable zone. The only thing I'm not able to test is the ph because my meter broke, but last time I check is two days after I got the fish which read about 7.1. I cycle the the tank for almost three weeks before I introduce anything to it. The one that died had a buoyancy problem that he can't position himself while floating. I'm not sure what caused that. I'm thinking about there maybe a parasite problem going on because now he is going after the food like he's hungry but just keeps spit it out. Is there any medicine or chemical I should use if is a disease or parasite?