Skinny Fish Problem.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hey everyone. I'm in the midst of shifting houses, and I've temporarily relocated my 4 saltwater fish into a smaller QT tank than before. I noticed one of them - a ruby head fairy wrasse, is literally paper-thin even though he has a pretty hefty appetite. His poop is normal, and his behavior is good - so I'm a bit confused. Could this be an internal parasite issue? If yes, how did he get it? Since most of my fish has been with me since last Dec, and are relatively chunky and healthy, I'm not sure why this guy isn't putting on any weight. 

 

I really, really don't want to lose him since I've grown fond of him. He's not being bullied by any of his tank mates - he keeps to himself and mostly weaves in and out of the LR pieces and false ceramic caves I have in the QT. 

 

All of the fish are due to be shifted to a 120G once I move into the new house and set up the new tank/cycle it. It should take a while. 

 

Is there any way I can make him put on weight? I'm currently feeding him Hikari Marine S pellets everyday, but also feed mysis, brine shrimp and crab/fish roe twice/thrice a week. Should I boost the feedings?

[Tamberav]

I would feed him several times a day.

 

Could be parasites, not all fish get skinny. I think cyanide caught fish can also be skinny. How long ya had him?

 

GL with the 120g! Sounds awesome!

[sapling]

I know I had a few harlequin rasbora that would never put on weight for the first three months I had them, and they seemed perfectly fine when I had them albeit the lack of weight.

I used a prophylactic treatment of erythromycin, general cure and aquarium solutions ick-x by hikari and after that they began to really fill out since they are a diamond shaped fish and they were more of a skinny oval.

if you never have given meds to your fish, it would be generally safe to assume internal parasites. some fish stores/suppliers do not treat incoming fish with meds and so they unknowingly pass these possible problems to you.

since they are already in a smaller volume quarantine tank, I would suggest the same treatment of general cure and the saltwater aquarium solutions ick-x by hikari, since this would use far less than dosing a 120g.

You might want to research if you want to do this since afaik I am not sure what it can do for pod populations or corals. but I know personally the freshwater version of ick-x is safe for inverts like shrimp. those medicines will not affect each other can can be used all at once in conjunction.

I hope your fish is okay though and good luck with it,

[Clown79]

Try giving a varied diet of different food sources

[Snow_Phoenix]

4 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I would feed him several times a day.

 

Could be parasites, not all fish get skinny. I think cyanide caught fish can also be skinny. How long ya had him?

 

GL with the 120g! Sounds awesome!

 

Hey Tam. It's nice to see you on here again. I suspected as much, but there are no signs of white spots or velvet on any of the fish so far. Must be something internal then. I've had this particular fish for 1 month. The clownfish since last Dec. Sixline wrasse since Feb (if I'm not mistaken). Grammistes blenny was purchased the same day I bought this Fairy wrasse, along with a blue legged hermit crab. All fish appeared relatively healthy during purchase, and so far are still healthy except this skinny guy (he wasn't as well-rounded as the others when I first bought them, but he has lost some weight in this one month, hence the 'paper-thin' reference). 

 

Thank you - I've sourced out a shop near the new house but the price for a double-decker 120G is expensive. The stand is wrought-iron though, and the glass is thick. I'm planning for it to be a FOWLR, if possible. Easy to maintain until I can cope with corals again. 

 

 

2 hours ago, sapling said:

I know I had a few harlequin rasbora that would never put on weight for the first three months I had them, and they seemed perfectly fine when I had them albeit the lack of weight.

I used a prophylactic treatment of erythromycin, general cure and aquarium solutions ick-x by hikari and after that they began to really fill out since they are a diamond shaped fish and they were more of a skinny oval.

if you never have given meds to your fish, it would be generally safe to assume internal parasites. some fish stores/suppliers do not treat incoming fish with meds and so they unknowingly pass these possible problems to you.

since they are already in a smaller volume quarantine tank, I would suggest the same treatment of general cure and the saltwater aquarium solutions ick-x by hikari, since this would use far less than dosing a 120g.

You might want to research if you want to do this since afaik I am not sure what it can do for pod populations or corals. but I know personally the freshwater version of ick-x is safe for inverts like shrimp. those medicines will not affect each other can can be used all at once in conjunction.

I hope your fish is okay though and good luck with it,

Oh, don't get me started on FW fish lol. I currently run a discus tank - and if those guys ever get skinny, they just up and die on you. So far my fish hasn't showed any signs of white spots or outward infection/lesions/fungus/growth. The parasites appear to be internal, I think. Prazipro is a banned substance in my country though, so I'm having a headache getting proper anti-parasite meds for marine fish. I'll recheck with my suppliers - hopefully one of them offers the Prazipro equivalent on sale somewhere. Is ick-x specifically meant for Ich only?

 

 

22 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Try giving a varied diet of different food sources

 

Hi Clown. I currently feed frozen mysis, frozen brine, frozen roe and pellets. Should I increase the ratio of frozen food in the diet, and maybe include chopped shrimp or squid too? My only concern is my clownfish. Little bugger is only 2.5" but a very aggressive eater. I have to distract her using a pipette so that my other three fish and crab can eat peacefully. I feed them as much as they can consume within two to three minutes, usually.

[Clown79]

No. I think You're good on the food. It's just possible the other fish may not be getting as much because of the clown.

 

My clown is the same way, her mate gets a lot less than she does.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Sorry to bump this up again - but the wrasse has began to display stress bars today. Now I'm really worried. Shall I set up another QT - just for him, and shift him there so that he could recover alone? Or will the shifting stress him out more? I have an unused 10G which I'm willing to use to save him. I don't want to lose him. He's a very active and wonderful fish with a lot of personality - and always, always greets me with his puppy-dog eyes whenever I walk into the room. That fish is special - and I want to do my best to save him. Please help - any advice is appreciated. 

[sapling]

I'm sorry to hear about the update. was there a recent water change? what are your water parameters? I would try to ensure the stress is not caused environmentally, and moving the fish to the 10gal QT might be best. This would insure the fish is not harassed by others, and if it expires, will not be eaten by the others possibly spreading anything it might have. I maintain my suspicion of internal parasites stealing nutrition.

if API general cure is available in your country, it has 75mg of praziquantel along with 250mg of metronidazole per packet. I can't give much equivalents since general cure works for me. I can however link you to a video that is more detailed than me. this is in context of FW, but general cure can be used in saltwater as the company states. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJKzwZfmuNU
 

maybe you can see about using only metronidazole? hikari carries a Metro-only product known as metro+, and so does seachem, metroplex. but I have no experience with these. Maybe you can Contact a vet for a prescription for praziquantel?

The other deworming meds I can think of is possibly Levamisole and Fenbendazole, but these are pretty strong and can be hard on organisms afaik. I have not used them, to be able to recommend, only that I know those are also options.
 

ich x is mostly used for what its named for, ich, but is also effective against other external microbes. Active ingredient is malachite green and formaldehyde.

hopefully someone else can have a non prazi suggestion,

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

On 7/12/2017 at 5:16 AM, sapling said:

I'm sorry to hear about the update. was there a recent water change? what are your water parameters? I would try to ensure the stress is not caused environmentally, and moving the fish to the 10gal QT might be best. This would insure the fish is not harassed by others, and if it expires, will not be eaten by the others possibly spreading anything it might have. I maintain my suspicion of internal parasites stealing nutrition.

if API general cure is available in your country, it has 75mg of praziquantel along with 250mg of metronidazole per packet. I can't give much equivalents since general cure works for me. I can however link you to a video that is more detailed than me. this is in context of FW, but general cure can be used in saltwater as the company states. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJKzwZfmuNU
 

maybe you can see about using only metronidazole? hikari carries a Metro-only product known as metro+, and so does seachem, metroplex. but I have no experience with these. Maybe you can Contact a vet for a prescription for praziquantel?

The other deworming meds I can think of is possibly Levamisole and Fenbendazole, but these are pretty strong and can be hard on organisms afaik. I have not used them, to be able to recommend, only that I know those are also options.
 

ich x is mostly used for what its named for, ich, but is also effective against other external microbes. Active ingredient is malachite green and formaldehyde.

hopefully someone else can have a non prazi suggestion,

 

 

I didn't see the wrasse yesterday evening coming up for feeding. Not sure if he went to bed early, but if he doesn't reappear today, I will slowly move the caves around and try to fish out his body. If he survives, I'll move him. I sourced out API General Cure from a local supplier, but couldn't get the rest, unfortunately.

 

My parameters are okay but nitrates are a bit high at 15ppm. It is time for my weekly WC, so I'm not entirely surprised. The only thing I haven't tested yet is dKH.