I have a warmouth sunfish, a longear sunfish, and five spotted sunfish in a 65g. I've had the warmouth for probably 8 months, and he's been eating fine the whole time aside from a week where I scared the entire tank by removing five other longear sunnies. He normally begs for food as long as it's been at least 8 hours since his last meal, and he's not the most active fish in the world (basically an oscar/leaffish cross), but he does move around a bit.
Around the first of the month, I treated the tank for ich with a medication that I now know had what was just re-named malachite green in it. That was not my first choice, but it was 5:58 pm and that was all the LFS had in stock. I treated with half the recommended dose because I had catfish, but apparently it was still too much. The fish looked incredibly unhappy upon the first treatment and got even more upset at the second, so I did an emergency water change right away and then a couple more water changes over the course of a few days to get rid of it. Both my catfish died, but the dollars and sunnies, though unhappy for a day or two, seemed okay.
Unfortunately, the warmouth started showing signs of discomfort- flashing and scratching, mostly. A week after the treatment with the malachite green, I started treating with Kordon Herbal Ich Attack, which is very mild.
At about that same time, the warmouth sunfish started to show discolored patches all over, and his fins got frayed and red around the edges. Looked like a bacterial infection. That cleared up after a few days of large water changes, and I stopped the Ich Attack treatment on the 19th, as he was still looking unhappy and I thought it might be upsetting him.
He hasn't eaten since before the treatment with the malachite green. I accepted that as a consequence of the medication, but when he hadn't eaten in a week, I started to get a bit concerned. He wasn't showing any interest in food, so I thought there might be something wrong with his throat. I caught him in a soft net, held him in the water, and carefully opened his mouth to check. I didn't hurt him or cause any damage, and he was back in the tank within about 30 seconds. I touched the base of his tongue to check, and his swallowing muscles are very strong and working just fine. I haven't checked again, but he doesn't appear to have anything wrong with his throat or mouth.
He no longer shows any interest in food, and he's getting less and less active. His colors aren't great, and his stomach is starting to get a bit concave. He normally eats about once every three days, and he's gone a week without eating a couple of times (once because I terrified the tank by removing five longears, once because I wasn't around to take care of the tank {long story} and didn't want to dirty the tank up with the kind of big meal they normally get), but this has to be a serious problem.
He's about 4" long and reasonably chunky, but he's seeming smaller lately. I think he's starting to eat into his fat reserves. All he's eaten since November is one bloodworm that he accidentally inhaled today when I pretty much just poured food on his head.
I've tried soaking his food in garlic. The other fish go nutso, but he doesn't touch it. Glances, but no tastes or interested looks.
I tried live maggots today. He glanced at them, but didn't care.
The longear is not intentionally intimidating him. In fact, he's chased it out of his spot a couple of times, and it scoots when he glances in its direction. It knows he's boss.
The dollars are small and timid and not great at stealing food yet, so they aren't the problem.
I'm keeping the water clean, but I can't do huge water changes because our faucet only allows me to get hot water or cold water, I can't precisely adjust the temperature. I have to do smallish (30% or less) water changes or there are huge temp swings.
It's going to be tricky, but I think I can catch him without ripping the entire tank up. Since he's slowing down and visibly losing mass, I'm fairly sure this is getting at least close to the "emergency" zone. Should I catch him and put some catfish in his mouth? Not entire catfish, of course, just chunks of soft meat with no bones or fins or other non-soft bits. His mouth is easily nickel-sized and I could fit my thumb down his throat (don't plan to, of course), so I'm pretty sure I can get some food down him. Am I at the force-feeding stage? Because I can do it, and I can keep him in the water while doing it, but he is not going to enjoy that and he'll hide from me for two days if I do.
Right now, all I can think of doing is:
Feeding earthworms that flail like crazy and might be more tempting
Continuing to pour garlic-soaked food on top of his head (difficult to aim without poking things into the tank and probably spooking him)
Putting food into his mouth no matter what he thinks of it
Orrr... are there other options?
Is this an emergency point, and if not, when is it an emergency? I really need to get him eating again before the longear grows any more or realizes that it can probably beat him up and become boss, because I do not need that feisty handful of spite trying to become alpha fish, and I won't be able to catch it without ripping the tank up and terrifying the warmouth again. I am absolutely not going to catch the warmouth and move him, he doesn't like change. If I catch and handle him a bit, he'll probably be upset for a couple of days, but he'll get over it somewhat quickly. And if he has a week's worth of food in him, that'll help, I assume.
Timeline:
Malachite green treatment at start of month
Herbal Ich Attack a week after that (maybe not stressor, unknown)
Mild bacterial infection (possibly) at same time
Throat checked at this point- no visible issues, muscles fine
Infection gone three days later
Ich treatment stopped on the 19th
Furniture was moved around quite a bit at this point- possible stressor
Storm started showing up yesterday and might be alarming them
Has been offered garlic-soaked food twice in the past week and regular food multiple times before
Was offered garlic-tinged live maggots today- no interest
No interest in food the entire time
Stomach concave today
Notable mass loss during past few days
Has eaten one bloodworm today, probably accidentally
Colors bad
Becoming lethargic
Aaand owner's anxiety level steadily increasing.
Help? I really like this guy, and I don't want him to starve to death.
Around the first of the month, I treated the tank for ich with a medication that I now know had what was just re-named malachite green in it. That was not my first choice, but it was 5:58 pm and that was all the LFS had in stock. I treated with half the recommended dose because I had catfish, but apparently it was still too much. The fish looked incredibly unhappy upon the first treatment and got even more upset at the second, so I did an emergency water change right away and then a couple more water changes over the course of a few days to get rid of it. Both my catfish died, but the dollars and sunnies, though unhappy for a day or two, seemed okay.
Unfortunately, the warmouth started showing signs of discomfort- flashing and scratching, mostly. A week after the treatment with the malachite green, I started treating with Kordon Herbal Ich Attack, which is very mild.
At about that same time, the warmouth sunfish started to show discolored patches all over, and his fins got frayed and red around the edges. Looked like a bacterial infection. That cleared up after a few days of large water changes, and I stopped the Ich Attack treatment on the 19th, as he was still looking unhappy and I thought it might be upsetting him.
He hasn't eaten since before the treatment with the malachite green. I accepted that as a consequence of the medication, but when he hadn't eaten in a week, I started to get a bit concerned. He wasn't showing any interest in food, so I thought there might be something wrong with his throat. I caught him in a soft net, held him in the water, and carefully opened his mouth to check. I didn't hurt him or cause any damage, and he was back in the tank within about 30 seconds. I touched the base of his tongue to check, and his swallowing muscles are very strong and working just fine. I haven't checked again, but he doesn't appear to have anything wrong with his throat or mouth.
He no longer shows any interest in food, and he's getting less and less active. His colors aren't great, and his stomach is starting to get a bit concave. He normally eats about once every three days, and he's gone a week without eating a couple of times (once because I terrified the tank by removing five longears, once because I wasn't around to take care of the tank {long story} and didn't want to dirty the tank up with the kind of big meal they normally get), but this has to be a serious problem.
He's about 4" long and reasonably chunky, but he's seeming smaller lately. I think he's starting to eat into his fat reserves. All he's eaten since November is one bloodworm that he accidentally inhaled today when I pretty much just poured food on his head.
I've tried soaking his food in garlic. The other fish go nutso, but he doesn't touch it. Glances, but no tastes or interested looks.
I tried live maggots today. He glanced at them, but didn't care.
The longear is not intentionally intimidating him. In fact, he's chased it out of his spot a couple of times, and it scoots when he glances in its direction. It knows he's boss.
The dollars are small and timid and not great at stealing food yet, so they aren't the problem.
I'm keeping the water clean, but I can't do huge water changes because our faucet only allows me to get hot water or cold water, I can't precisely adjust the temperature. I have to do smallish (30% or less) water changes or there are huge temp swings.
It's going to be tricky, but I think I can catch him without ripping the entire tank up. Since he's slowing down and visibly losing mass, I'm fairly sure this is getting at least close to the "emergency" zone. Should I catch him and put some catfish in his mouth? Not entire catfish, of course, just chunks of soft meat with no bones or fins or other non-soft bits. His mouth is easily nickel-sized and I could fit my thumb down his throat (don't plan to, of course), so I'm pretty sure I can get some food down him. Am I at the force-feeding stage? Because I can do it, and I can keep him in the water while doing it, but he is not going to enjoy that and he'll hide from me for two days if I do.
Right now, all I can think of doing is:
Feeding earthworms that flail like crazy and might be more tempting
Continuing to pour garlic-soaked food on top of his head (difficult to aim without poking things into the tank and probably spooking him)
Putting food into his mouth no matter what he thinks of it
Orrr... are there other options?
Is this an emergency point, and if not, when is it an emergency? I really need to get him eating again before the longear grows any more or realizes that it can probably beat him up and become boss, because I do not need that feisty handful of spite trying to become alpha fish, and I won't be able to catch it without ripping the tank up and terrifying the warmouth again. I am absolutely not going to catch the warmouth and move him, he doesn't like change. If I catch and handle him a bit, he'll probably be upset for a couple of days, but he'll get over it somewhat quickly. And if he has a week's worth of food in him, that'll help, I assume.
Timeline:
Malachite green treatment at start of month
Herbal Ich Attack a week after that (maybe not stressor, unknown)
Mild bacterial infection (possibly) at same time
Throat checked at this point- no visible issues, muscles fine
Infection gone three days later
Ich treatment stopped on the 19th
Furniture was moved around quite a bit at this point- possible stressor
Storm started showing up yesterday and might be alarming them
Has been offered garlic-soaked food twice in the past week and regular food multiple times before
Was offered garlic-tinged live maggots today- no interest
No interest in food the entire time
Stomach concave today
Notable mass loss during past few days
Has eaten one bloodworm today, probably accidentally
Colors bad
Becoming lethargic
Aaand owner's anxiety level steadily increasing.
Help? I really like this guy, and I don't want him to starve to death.
