Volitan Lion not eating

[stradt03]

My lion isn't eating for some reason, he used to eat whole pieces of krill with no problem now he just kind of pushes them around with his "nose" till they fall to the bottom. I've tried krill, silversides, mysis shrimp and brine shrimp and i've tried soaked in garlic and not soaked in garlic.

all the other fish eat furiously excet this guy. He's roughly 3 inches long and I've had him in the tank for about 2 months. He has beautiful color no spots no nothing....WHAT GIVES!?!?!?!?!?



thanls,

Jason

 

[dskidmore]

Have you tried live foods? I'd guess there is something wrong, but live foods may stimulate his feeding while the stress factor is discovered and eliminated.

Could you provide the following:
Your water parameters
Your maintenance & feeding schedule
Any recent changes to the tank.
What tank mates does he have?
Any other behavioral changes?
If you have a nice digital camera, a picture can sometimes be useful.

 

[Hara]

I do not recommend trying live foods. How long has it been since it has eaten? It is not uncommon for them to go "off feed" for awhile.

 

[stradt03]

i'll check the parameters a little later toda, he still eats but only if i give him very small pieces, and even at that he only eats 1-2 pieces. It has been about 2 weeks since he started doing this. His behavior isn't out of the ordinary either.

150 gallon

pork puffer
yellow tang
2 perc clowns
banner fish
blue damsel
V lion
flame angel

 

[Hara]

if he is eating one-two peices whenever you feed, I certainly would not be concerned. I thought it had gone a week or two without eating.

 

[Terry B]

Is freeze dried krill the only thing that you feed it? Lionfish can develop goiter inside the mouth that can block them from eating, especially large pieces of food. If you have only had the lion for two months then I doubt it has had time to develop a goiter. Another common problem with lionfish stems from overfeeding and feeding too often. This can cause intestinal blockage. It can also lead to an internal bacterial infection when they have so much food in their stomach that it rots before they can digest it all. Lionfish should only be fed two or three times a week and not in amounts that make their stomachs bulge badly. I would include some uncooked tiger prawn in the diet.

Terry B

 

[stradt03]

so what do I do if he has developed a goiter?

thanks

Jason