PERC EATING NOW! TY TY TY!

[satx-94integraLS]

ive had a true perc in my 5 since the tank was going (bout a month now) and suddenly hes stopped eating. hes not breathing hard (at least it doesnt appear that way), but his mouth is open all the time now. ive got some kent garlic stuff that you add to your flake/frozen food, but no go. he just wont eat.

ive tried flake, frozen brine and mysis, live mysis, small live ghost shrimp, nada.

there are no white spots on his body. there is no sign of a parasite. his colouring is normal, not faded at all. he does have a missing piece of fin on his left side, but thats it.

water parameters:

pH - 8.1
ammonia - 0
nitrites/nitrates - 0
alk - normal (on the test kit this is what it says)
phosphates - ended at the color indicated on test strip, normal
salinity - 1.024
temp - 76.6F

it is a 5 gallon nano, approx 10lbs live sand, 15 lbs live rock.

other fish - scooter blenny (1" long)
other inverts - 10 scarlet hermits, 10 astrea snails, 1 mexican turbo snail, 10 nassarius snails

help!

[hobogato]

how long has it been since he's eaten?

[satx-94integraLS]

going on day 3 now...


-edit-

well i havent fed him yet. if he doesnt eat today itll be day 3. yesterday he seemed interested in the flakes, but never ate one.

[hobogato]

have you tried other food besides the flakes? mysis, blood worms, formula 1?

[satx-94integraLS]

aye, frozen and live :(

[hobogato]

hmm..probably snake oil here, but i have heard that those vitamin C drops that you can add to your water can improve appetite, never had to try it myself tho.

[satx-94integraLS]

i dun want the little guy to die!

anyone else chime in with something that might tempt him to eat?

when he sees flakes he shows way more interest in them than anything else...

[Ross]

well the tank hasnt been going a month, its been up not even 2 weeks....

[pilot_bell777]

month old or 2 weeks old?????

Mine tear up some Mysis......they are like puppies begging at the top of the tank when they see me coming with mysis! LOL I alternate mysis and flake so they are getting both, they are Omnivores

[chrismikea]

yeah iam with ross, the tank has only been up for like 2 weeks. maybe the fish was just sick when you got him and it wasnt showing? or maybe you just rushed you tank and now the little guy is suffering

[Ross]

Yeah, bob i hate to say it but i told you to wait on getting fish for that tank.

[satx-94integraLS]

whatcha talkin bout willis, the tank had its 1mo ani. a few days ago. your sense of time is off homie.

[satx-94integraLS]

maybe you just rushed you tank and now the little guy is suffering


uhm no. he was eating fine up until 3 days ago. none of my corals (few zoos) have died, nor have any of my inverts.

my blenny is also fine.

i did not rush anything sir. both of you know this was established rock, water, sand and macro algae. chris knows i used bio-spira.

i may have rushed it on the coral, but certainly not one clownfish, and hes the one thats acting funny, not my corals.

[Ross]

I dont care if you used bio spira and water, IMO that doesnt make a difference. And no, im positive that tank isnt 1 month old yet, because it was the week before last that you took all the stuff home to set it up, remember saturday night when you and chris got back? And you took an empty tank home? lol patience is a virtue...

[pilot_bell777]

raise the temp a little......

[satx-94integraLS]

I dont care if you used bio spira and water, IMO that doesnt make a difference.

then you might want to have a talk with the folks to made and market bio-spira, cycle and like products. im willing to believe their research vs your opinion ^_^

[/quote] And no, im positive that tank isnt 1 month old yet, because it was the week before last that you took all the stuff home to set it up, remember saturday night when you and chris got back? And you took an empty tank home? lol patience is a virtue...[/quote]

doesnt your boss have this thing against people being petty? unless you have something useful to contribute, please dont comment.

FWIW, there are other variables you do not know about (like me using established media and filtration from a tank thats been going for well over a year) that contradict what youre posting.

[Ross]

lol the difference is my boss likes me.

[satx-94integraLS]

ty to all who gave suggestions. i got the little booger eating today :)

ross - i have a backbone, a shame you dont ;). ty so much for inputting nothing of value here, your help was appreciated!

itll be funny when you become the next troy :lol

[Reef69]

LMAO..How did i miss this?..

Here goes..

BIO-SPIRA is **** on a bag, but ok, you read the instructions and liked what you saw..and bought a fish..a fish that needs more room than the tank you have, but still..ok.. Clownfish, by nature, take a long time to eat.. and you try to give him flakes when in reality , he's never seen flakes in his life before..Poor fish.

[satx-94integraLS]

reef69,

ive had 5 clowns total, including this one. all ate immediatly when i fed them. this most recent one stopped eating for some unknown reason (im guessing the weather. seems that when the weather changes a fish gets sick. when i did cichlids, this was especially true with my lake malawai tanks. all my elec blues would get ich, and it would go away when the weather returned to normal.)

anywho, ive always fed my saltwater fish frozen or live food, usually a spirula/mysis/brine mix. i only attempted flake because this guy stopped eating!

my nassarius snails love the flake though, and so does my scooter blenny.

anywho, hes eating now, and its all gravy :X

ps - hes about 3/4ths of an inch big and moving into a 10 gallon next week. i thnk the 5 is adequate for right now.

pps - the scooter is about an inch long and doesnt swim in the area the perc does.

[chito]

I agree with Ross there. The most common and fatal mistake by a newbie is rushing the tank. I would defianately give a tank atleast a good month and a half to two months before even thinking about adding a clown, and much less any kind of coral.

[Ross]

Have a great day Bob!

[SBreef]

Lets quit jumping down peoples throats!!!

[Reef69]

..Its usually a matter of time. If it was wild caught, it takes them FOREVER to eat..But tank raised eat anything you throw in, some take a few days but surely eat..Wild caught maybe?

[Instar]

The unfortunate thing in this post is that everyone is right here, except perhaps for the assessment of bio-spira. This is due to variables not considered.
FWIW, all my clowns curtailed eating quite a bit a few days ago and they were little hogs today. We even delayed a spawn for a few days. Attibuting cycles and feeding patterns to the weather changes has lots of merit on this one. With the temperature and humidity swings, that makes a difference inside the tank too. On top of that, a tank at 76 degress will be more affected than one thats heated a little more above room temp.

Fish feeding response is influenced to a great deal by the deep ocean rotary currents. Since there is no such chart for San Antonio, who can say what the influence of that was combined with our highly variable weather pattern the past few days? The fish's feeding triggers (or lack of in this case) tell the story on that one.

[satx-94integraLS]

instar,

so the assesment that bio-spira is a waste of time is incorrect, is that what youre saying?

also, like i stated earlier, my cichlids went through something similar, that being one tank would get ich when the weather shifted in any way (like from hot to cold, cold to hot, ect ect), but it had to be somewhat mild to extreem (say, 10-20degree flux in temperature?).

anywho, my little booger is eating like usual now, and my scooter is doing great :)

ps - anyone got any suggestions as to what type of soap i should use, since im working at parts store where i frequently get oil n other automotive fluids on me?

i use Gojo right now, and my tank hasnt suffered one bit. id like to get something that i know is safe for tanks + gets out oil n whatnot..

[CD]

ps - anyone got any suggestions as to what type of soap i should use, since im working at parts store where i frequently get oil n other automotive fluids on me?

i use Gojo right now, and my tank hasnt suffered one bit. id like to get something that i know is safe for tanks + gets out oil n whatnot..


Since I'm working at an automotive repair shop now, I'll try to offer some suggestions here:
Gojo is great for getting the grease off, but is a fairly "strong" type of cleaner (not what I would consider a "mild" soap). What I do is use the shop soap (much akin to Gojo) to scrub my fingernails up to aprox. 4" North of the elbows before I leave work...when I get home, I use Dawn liquid dishwashing soap and repeat the above process - I figure a soap that doesn't leave a residue on a shiny dish or plate will do the same for my hands and arms. Be sure to spend as much time as needed to make sure all the soap is rinsed off though! Regular body soaps (such as deodorant soaps) would probably be a no-no...think of the residue that will build up in a shower stall - well, they leave residue on your hands and arms too - all of which will come off in your tank(s). A nice non-scented glycerine soap would probably work well also. HTHs ;)

W.

[satx-94integraLS]

that helps a bunch. thanks!~