Force feeding a Volitan

[Snidgetless]

Ok, so I know this is gong to stir up a lot of controversy... I have been struggling recently with a battle against high Nitrates. Unfortunately it is a losing battle and just this weekend I have lost a beautiful Blue Angel. The rest of the tank has been doing sort of good (dogface, zebra moray, wrasse) as far as eating goes... but the Lionfish has been slowly deteriorating. Currently he is about 10"... little smaller then a football. Absolutley gorgeous show piece, but he is taking the poor water conditions the hardest. He used to eat 5 silversides a day, but recently it has been one every 5-6 days. He has turned sluggish and lethergic so I have turned to desperate measures. For whatever reason when something is pressed hard against his mouth he opens up wide, almost as if to let a cleaner wrasse in to pick his teeth. I have found if I stuff a silverside in, he has a hard time spitting it out and just swollows instead. I have been doing this for the past few days and he seems to be doing MUCH better. I read up on this and it seems to be a solution to force feed puffers that do not eat (WWM) but I have never heard of anyone doing this with any other fish. Any comments on this practise? I do not feed in excess at all, and I understand the risks.. but what's worse force feeding 2-3 silversides or a slow starving death?

 

[penguinsix]

Any info on the tank so we can give you ideas for taking care of the high nitrates?

 

[Base]

I have similar bioload. Nitrate 10-15 and can't seem to get it down. 25% water change every 2 weeks. Lionfish eats more than all other fish combined. I think for me he might have to go.

 

[new2saltyfish]

10-15ppm of nitrate isn't too high.

 

[Base]

I thought nitrate at any level is not good- not horrible. It seems that most people strive for 0 ppm. I wont be happy till its 5 or less. 50 gallon water changes every month is a pita. I believe over feeding causes 90% of our nitrate problems.

 

[B.rian]

overfeeding will definitely lead to this sort of problem, but i think that weekly water changes should help alleviate some of the problem. try doing a large water change once a week for the next couple of weeks, feed less, and see what happens.

 

[marco67]

I've always found that they seem to get "board" with dead food and every few months go into a sort of shut down.
For me feeding live every so often seems to help rekindle their hunting and eating interest.

 

[Snidgetless]

PetCo in Woburn sells damsels the cheapest, $4 a pop, so i grab 5 and toss them in. The smart ones last a couple days, the lesser intelligent ones go right away. 10-15 ppm for a Nitrate level is not high... its just a pain. My Nitrates are over 100. I know its due to my poor choice in using CC as a substrate, but at this point to change it all out would require finding someone to babysit my fish for a week or so. My guys are big, and it would need a tank at least 100 gallons or more. I don't know what to do. The high Nitrates already caused a big ich breakout. I have almost gotten past that now, and i am consistently siphoning the bottom to remoe any crap in there. I think i am slowly gaining on the issue and the Nitrate level is down to about 120. I know, its pretty bad. And it all happened in about the course of two weeks it just all crashed. I feel a bit better now knowing that the Lionfish is eating, that was my biggest concern with this whole thing. But force feeding is obviously always a last resort.

 

[stevenp]

Can you siphon the CC out a little bit at a time? Then replace it a little at a time with sand?

 

[JayM]

PetCo in Woburn sells damsels the cheapest, $4 a pop, so i grab 5 and toss them in. The smart ones last a couple days, the lesser intelligent ones go right away. 10-15 ppm for a Nitrate level is not high... its just a pain. My Nitrates are over 100. I know its due to my poor choice in using CC as a substrate, but at this point to change it all out would require finding someone to babysit my fish for a week or so. My guys are big, and it would need a tank at least 100 gallons or more. I don't know what to do. The high Nitrates already caused a big ich breakout. I have almost gotten past that now, and i am consistently siphoning the bottom to remoe any crap in there. I think i am slowly gaining on the issue and the Nitrate level is down to about 120. I know, its pretty bad. And it all happened in about the course of two weeks it just all crashed. I feel a bit better now knowing that the Lionfish is eating, that was my biggest concern with this whole thing. But force feeding is obviously always a last resort.

I don't mean to flame here, but using petco as a food source is probably a major reason why there is ich in your tank. You don't mention if you skim, but nutrient export through either water changes or skimming are the only viable way to lower your level of pollution.....

If you do a 50% water change, you should have a pretty close to 50% reduction in your nitrates, and that should mitigate the tank stress.

 

[Snidgetless]

I know what you are saying about the less popular pet stores and all as far as water quality is concerned but i won't buy any fish that don't look healthy. I suppose anything is possible and that may be where the ich initially came from, but i am really careful when it comes to that kind of stuff... although certainly something to keep in mind. Regardless, the water changes at this point do not seem to be helping much, and i am not going to be in the position where i am changing out a bit of the substrate at a time. With the tank setup, and how large it is etc... it is just not practical. The only way would be to remove everything and everyone and change it all out in one day.

 

[Snidgetless]

You don't mention if you skim, but nutrient export through either water changes or skimming are the only viable way to lower your level of pollution.....

Yes i do skim, and have a UV Sterilizer on the return line.

 

[FinzAquatics]

Using damsels as food is 10x a better food source than goldfish. At least he picked a source of food that is healthy... even though they are from petco... I doubt that is how his tank is getting ich.

 

[Snidgetless]

No i really think the ich was caused by a high amount of stress due to the high Nitrate level in the tank. The damsels are surprisingly healthy and this is something i have been doing for a long time now. The ich only came once the Nitrates shot over 100.

 

[FinzAquatics]

Which makes complete sense IMO

 

[Base]

FYI I have 5 damsels. Bought 8 six months ago. So unless you dont mind having damsels in your tank for awhile possibly forever. Dont get em. Two days ago my buddy bought me a firefish even though I told him the risk. Needless to say mufassa(lion) got a 10 dollar snack. Fish lasted maybe 10 seconds- it was tragic. Lion looks better than ever today!

 

[Snidgetless]

What in the world does that have to do with what we are talking about???

 

[Base]

all im saying is your lion might not eat the damsels

 

[Base]

Im sorry was i wrong about something else. just trying to help! In my experience damsels are territorial monsters

 

[Snidgetless]

Let the damsels be as territorial as the want. My Volitan is the size of a football... i'm not terribly concerned. But regardless, the thread is about force feeding this fish as he is refusing to eat due to high Nitrates....