Friend's lionfish is sick - please help!

Hi folks, one of my friends asked me for help with her sick lionfish so
I'm posting her questions/concerns here. I also posted earlier to
r.a.m.misc and it was suggested that I cross-post here. Thank you very
much for your help!

"She hasn`t eaten in like probably more then 2 weeks refuses any food
even live food which I don`t feed her normally but I was trying to
intice her. She has been of late swimming in small circles and now is
doing that upside down. If I sit with her she`ll sit next to me though.
She`s a Momma`s girl. Tonight it looked as though a sore has started on
her lip it wasn`t there this morning."

"all ammonia nitate and nitrite is 0. Ph is 8.2 Hardness and alkenlity
are fine. I`m starting to think it`s my neighbors and their damn band
practice!"

Additional info: she says it is a Volitan lionfish. She also recently
lost a 3 yr old fuzzy dwarf.

If you have any idea what's wrong and/or can suggest a course of action,
please e-mail me or respond here. Thanks again everybody!

-Matt

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/liondisfaqs.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/liondisfaq2.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/liondisfaq3.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/liondisfaq4.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/liondisfaq5.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia/com


You may you answer here...the swimming upside down part doesn't sound so
good.


http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...cfm?pCatId=279




"Matthew Tulini" wrote in message
news:5UULf.179$3W5.124@trnddc02...
Hi folks, one of my friends asked me for help with her sick lionfish so
I'm posting her questions/concerns here. I also posted earlier to
r.a.m.misc and it was suggested that I cross-post here. Thank you very
much for your help!

"She hasn`t eaten in like probably more then 2 weeks refuses any food even
live food which I don`t feed her normally but I was trying to intice her.
She has been of late swimming in small circles and now is doing that
upside down. If I sit with her she`ll sit next to me though. She`s a
Momma`s girl. Tonight it looked as though a sore has started on her lip it
wasn`t there this morning."

"all ammonia nitate and nitrite is 0. Ph is 8.2 Hardness and alkenlity are
fine. I`m starting to think it`s my neighbors and their damn band
practice!"

Additional info: she says it is a Volitan lionfish. She also recently
lost a 3 yr old fuzzy dwarf.

If you have any idea what's wrong and/or can suggest a course of action,
please e-mail me or respond here. Thanks again everybody!

-Matt

Have you tested for nitrate?

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Matthew Tulini wrote on 2/25/2006 3:51 AM:
Hi folks, one of my friends asked me for help with her sick lionfish so
I'm posting her questions/concerns here. I also posted earlier to
r.a.m.misc and it was suggested that I cross-post here. Thank you very
much for your help!

"She hasn`t eaten in like probably more then 2 weeks refuses any food
even live food which I don`t feed her normally but I was trying to
intice her. She has been of late swimming in small circles and now is
doing that upside down. If I sit with her she`ll sit next to me though.
She`s a Momma`s girl. Tonight it looked as though a sore has started on
her lip it wasn`t there this morning."

"all ammonia nitate and nitrite is 0. Ph is 8.2 Hardness and alkenlity
are fine. I`m starting to think it`s my neighbors and their damn band
practice!"

Additional info: she says it is a Volitan lionfish. She also recently
lost a 3 yr old fuzzy dwarf.

If you have any idea what's wrong and/or can suggest a course of action,
please e-mail me or respond here. Thanks again everybody!

-Matt

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Have you tested for nitrate?

She claims nitrate is zero. She has done several water changes. She
suspects that the fish has internal parasites.

-Matt

We need much more info. What has it been feeding on? How large is the
fish and tank? It sounds to me like she may have
been feeding live despite claiming not to normally feed that. Feeding
live FW fish to a SW fish is going to kill it after
several weeks to a few months. It can be hard to wean off live but that
is no excuse...take a toothpick and poke a feeder
and also poke a piece of shrimp, cod, scallop...and wiggle at the
surface. After doing this for a few days try just with the
dead food...fresh or thawed...never feed frozen to a fish. Its hard for
them to swallow and just cruel. Live feeders
will cause the fish to deplete its liver for energy which assists in
swimming by providing bounancy. That may explain the
upside down swimming. Lions and other large predatory fish can't be kept
in hyposalinity because it makes their
kidneys very inefficent. The fish will have a toxic buildup of waste
products in its bloodstream therefore killing the fish
or causing kidney failure/death (sort of the same thing).

JK

i had a lion, i used to feed it fresh-feeders, it finally had a buoancy
problem i believe, how right you are.


"K." wrote in message
news:yZEOf.673$zp2.278@trndny01...
We need much more info. What has it been feeding on? How large is the fish
and tank? It sounds to me like she may have
been feeding live despite claiming not to normally feed that. Feeding live
FW fish to a SW fish is going to kill it after
several weeks to a few months. It can be hard to wean off live but that is
no excuse...take a toothpick and poke a feeder
and also poke a piece of shrimp, cod, scallop...and wiggle at the surface.
After doing this for a few days try just with the
dead food...fresh or thawed...never feed frozen to a fish. Its hard for
them to swallow and just cruel. Live feeders
will cause the fish to deplete its liver for energy which assists in
swimming by providing bounancy. That may explain the
upside down swimming. Lions and other large predatory fish can't be kept
in hyposalinity because it makes their
kidneys very inefficent. The fish will have a toxic buildup of waste
products in its bloodstream therefore killing the fish
or causing kidney failure/death (sort of the same thing).

JK

K. wrote:
Feeding
live FW fish to a SW fish is going to kill it after
several weeks to a few months.

Bull****.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.