Fish not eating.

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TheCrazyFishLady

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
1,942
Location
Atlanta, Georgia
I have had my flowerhorn for a few months now. Within the last two weeks, he has been having issues eating. He will get excited (as usual) and grab the pellet, then spit it out. After that, he looses interest and swims off.

I have him on the same NLS pellets as I have had for the last few months, He has always eaten them no problem. I also will switch between Omega 1 brand and I use some Tetra brand cichlid crisps, since he loves chasing those around. I do frozen bloodworms maybe once a week or once every two weeks, but he has never been too interested in those.

I tried putting garlic powder and soaking some pellets in garlic. Didn't work. I tried skipping a few days (as I was at my parents' house). He just ate one pellet and the second was the new routine.

He hasn't really eaten in the past two weeks. Maybe five pellets since he started this.

He doesn't look any different. There hasn't been any changes to his tank. I do 30% water changes every week, maybe a 10% at some other point in the week. The parameters are all normal, no ammonia and no nitrites. I haven't fed him anything live and he hasn't been exposed to any other fish. Not sure what else to include here.

If anyone can help, it would be gladly appreciated! I know fish can go awhile without eating, but I'm getting pretty worried. I think it goes without saying that this guy is my baby,

Thanks.

(Also posted this in FlowerhornCraze.com, in case anyone is on that site too)
 
That is really odd....
Try feeding him some peas??? My betta goes nuts for peas. Lol.
Maybe your flower will too!...?
 
Have you tried feeding him anything thats not fish food? Try some some minced cooked shrimp (or tuna/salmon) or maybe an earthworm? Perhaps something wiggling in front of him will give him an incentive to eat?
 
Alright, I will try the shrimp. I'm scared to death of earthworms, so I'll pass...

He acts normal. He swims around like crazy and plays in the plants. It's just so weird. I feel like he is just being a brat.
 
I haven't yet. I was kind of hoping he would pick up food by now. He won't go after the bloodworms on a normal day, usually.

He hasn't eaten again this morning or all yesterday when I was at the apartment.

So, he has some parasite most likely? I will look into this. Thanks.
 
Are you certain he's not eating at all? Have you tried placing food and then leaving the room for a while? Sounds bad. My EBJD is still like that sometimes, he refuses to eat when I'm around, but will eat when I'm gone. But even he would go after frozen thawed bloodworms, but he ignores the freeze dried ones.
 
Well, there is food at the bottom, so if he is eating, then it is there.

He has never had an issue eating when I'm around. I trained him to come to the top with a little splash and I basically had him hand fed. He has completely gotten used to me over the last few months and never hides. It' so unlike him.

Parasites are very unlikely. He hasn't been in contact with anything else in months and is fed only pellets. I haven't bought any new fish in awhile, and I use a specific syphon with him, so no cross contamination.

I was thinking maybe he got a pebble lodged in his throat? He would get excited and jump for the food at first but then spit it out. Now, he won't even bother. Should I check to see if there is gravel in his throat?
 
That does happen to goldfish so its def possible for it to happen to other fish as well. Make sure you have a bright flashlight when you check!
 
It has been suggested that I need to "deworm" him on another forum. Wouldn't this only pertain to fish shipped from out of country or from somewhere that is not the cleanest? I have never heard of someone deworming a fish in the first place.

By the way, still not eating...
 
I don't know for sure, but it seems like some species are more prone to internal parasites than others. With EBJD's it's recommended by most to treat them with metro as soon as you get them, symptoms or not.

The same with wild caught fish, they almost always have something going on so they get pretreated when they are brought in.

Not that this is definitely the issue going on here, but it's a possibility, I treat for parasites any time I see stringy poo or a fish spitting food constantly.
 
Well, obviously this isn't a wild caught fish. haha. He is from a local breeder.

I know that flowerhorns are rather common to have parasites, but shouldn't it have shown up a lot sooner? I've had this guy for a few months now with no issue whatsoever. He change doesn't coincide with any change on my part.

I was thinking maybe it's the water? But, my other fish are just doing fine and I have much more sensitive fish than him. Could maybe that be it? Some additive in the water?

I don't want to treat unless I have a clear show of a particular ailment. If it's parasites, then he should be acting funny and have weird poo.
 
What about temperature? Is it the same as always?
And maybe bumping it up a few degrees would increase metabolism and trigger eating? Just a theory
 
Well, I did start using the heat in the apartment since it has finally gotten cold-ish in Georgia. But, that would trigger this I would imagine.

I might try this. I just don't want to stress him out... Do you think it would cause more stress?
 
Should I try like ghost shrimp or feeders? They aren't very nutritious, but something on his stomach should help, right? That might introduce more issues though...
 
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