Sick Longnose Hawkfish... what to do?

[MrX]

As I posted in my build thread my longnose hasn't been eating for about the past week. Looks like it might have had a run in with a wall/rock/urchin/tang and it isn't opening it's mouth very much. For the first couple days it would come at feeding time, looking hungry, but wasn't taking anything.

Last night at 2:30am I checked before going to bed and it was perched on the bottom of the tank in a corner. This morning, no longnose. I looked in every cave, crevice, etc. I could see without pulling rock. It didn't come out at feeding time either (never missed a feeding appearance before!). I thought it was dead and the clean-up crew got it.

Spoke too soon... ninja fish lives!

Fed the tank tonight and happened to look over to the side. What do I see but the longnose poking up over a rock. Not sure where it was hiding... I looked everywhere (obviously not). Just transferred it back to the QT tank for observation and maybe some meds.

It is very pale looking, not the usual 'vibrant' red/white if that makes sense. Guess not eating for 4-5 days will do that to ya. It doesn't look like ich, no white spots, no mucusy stuff coming off it. The only thing I see is one little white thing hanging from it's lower mouth/jaw (almost like a scrap of skin from banging into something), and a line, almost like a crack on the top part of it's mouth. Nothing big enough that I could get a picture.

Any suggestions on what to do? I put a dose of Herbtana (all-natural parasite killer) in the QT and have the filter off for a bit (got a maxi-jet 600 providing flow/airation).

Would love to help the little dude if I can.

ETA: Parameters are spot on, temp has been level at 78.0F (+/- .2), no new introductions or changes when it first stopped eating.

 

[kingfish62]

Have you tried soaking some food in garlic Xtreme (or something like it)? Sometimes that will help entice a sick fish. How about something small like cyclopeze. How is your pH ?

 

[MrX]

Have you tried soaking some food in garlic Xtreme (or something like it)? Sometimes that will help entice a sick fish. How about something small like cyclopeze. How is your pH ?

Yup. I make up a batch of food once or twice a week and add 2-3 drops of garlic extreme. The food consists of: brine, mysis, forumla-1, cyclopeeze, bloodworms, flake, pellets, nori, and a chunk of fish-goo from the meeting. This all goes into RODI water and is mixed well.

pH using the API test has been consistently 8.0-8.2. With the Apex probe it reports 8.02; fluctuates a bit depending on the time of day.

Now that it's in QT I'll try just some cyclopeeze and see if it eats any.

 

[kingfish62]

I have never had a longnose but I have had a few other hawks over the years. Great fish , I have always enjoyed them. Good luck!

 

[kingfish62]

I was just thinking. Do you have a LFS that might have live brine shrimp? Might be worth a try!

 

[MrX]

The local LFS suggested Ghost Shrimp. I bought some at Petco and put three in the DT. Other two are living in DaughterX's 10g freshwater tank. The hawkfish looked at two of them as they floated past and otherwise ignored them.

I'll check tomorrow on the brine shrimp. Going to pick up some Melafix and Selcon, or equivalents, tomorrow. Hopefully it's not too late.

 

[MrX]

RIP Mr. Hawkman. After a week or so of not eating he finally succumbed to whatever was ailing him. QT, Melafix, and vitamins seemed to help a little (brought some color back) but he still wouldn't eat.

I thought it was dead 2-3 days ago, found him wedged under rocks in the QT. Surprised me when he starting swimming all around when I moved the rocks.

Wish I knew what got him...