I adopted a sick fish and need help getting him healthy

[swifter]

Hello y'all,

I have adopted 3 fish from an abandoned fish tank (my buddy's old roommates tank) his roommate moved out and left him with the tank and no knowledge of what to do and how to keep things alive. most everything in the tank has died over this time period aside from 2 clown fish and 1 coral beauty. we brought them home yesterday and got them in the Quarantine tank and have been hoping for the best. the 2 clown fish appear to be doing alright now (they both ate today when I fed the other fish and they are swimming around at all levels of the tank).

Now the Coral beauty is the one I'm concerned about. we have not been able to get him to eat and he is more pale in color than he should be. also, he has what looks like, some white markings around the front of his body and his face. any idea what this could be? I can't post a picture of it on here but I can possibly text a picture if that would help diagnose the illness. He did have this same issue when we picked him up. is there some medication I can pick up to dose the water with to help? I am going to try another type of food here a little later and see if he will eat any of that. tried some pellets and will try frozen formula 2 as well as seaweed a little later tonight.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

 

[lsufiregal]

I pmed you. If you text the pic I can post it for you.

 

[pandora32]

Try a lil garlic like garlic extreme. Maybe itll wet the appetite a lil.

 

[lsufiregal]

Trying to upload the pic but it is taking forever. Kind of looks like HLLE to me but I don't know. Picture coming sooooon.

 

[lsufiregal]

 

[pandora32]

Hard to tell from the picture.

 

[swifter]

yea, he wasn't being very helpful with diagnosing his issue. this morning before I came to work he was swimming around in the dark a little bit but still not looking like himself. tonight i'm going to try and feed him some of the garlic extreme / formula 2 frozen food. hopefully he makes it through the day.

as for the two clown fish, they are looking about 85%. much better than they were in the tank we got them from... Fostering fish is a very stressful process. hopefully they get better I hate seeing them sick.

 

[lsufiregal]

I hope it works out. Keep us posted. If you can get another picture tonight that shows the face text it to me and I will post it.

 

[swifter]

I certainly will and Thanks again. any chance this stuff would be contagious to the Clown fish? (my question is if they are doing fine, should I move them out of this tank to avoid them contracting the same illness?)

 

[lsufiregal]

If it is HLLE then good nutrition should be all he needs to recover. I think. It doesn't look like anything that I have seen spread, but I am no expert. I would have a hospital tank ready though in case he does show clear signs and requires treatment. I wouldn't move him yet though, but that us just me.

 

[lsufiregal]

I got some advice that suggests fortifying the food with vitamins not just using garlic. Here is what I was told.

Garlic and vitamins/hffa's are different......i don't want you to miss the point. You may use a little garlic to entice him to eat but the big thing is that he eats the right stuff.....which is the vitamins/hffas. zoe and zoecon are good......selcon is another HFFA. get him good nutrition then worry about his immune system.

 

[pandora32]

You could also try something meaty. Live copepods, some frozen mysis, cyclopeze maybe. The clowns may be a lil to aggressive of eaters for the beauty at the moment if its so sick. Maybe put a piece of eggcrate to divide the tank so the beauty is able to do its thing.

 

[blk822822]

Looks like it's tail has been chewed on a bit. Tail should be larger. Make sure the clowns arn't nipping at it causing more stress.

 

[swifter]

yea, I thought his tail had some bite marks out of it to. I have separated them and I tried to feed him again just now. he ate two or three pellets but that was about it. i'm going to try a few other types of food I have in the house to see if he will eat it.

 

[lsufiregal]

Kinda looks like he could have spent some time in low pH. Maybe all he needs is good food and good water.

 

[swifter]

The PH of the other tank was low and the Salinity was through the roof... the hydrometer was maxed out (they thought it was broken)

 

[lsufiregal]

Tonight's picture.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Make sure you constantly test the water in the QT tank. All the medications and feeding can easily throw it off whack, and that doesn't help sick fish at all.

 

[swifter]

I have been checking it daily. I dosed some of the garlic extreme (i think thats the name) he looked more intently at the flakes I tried this time but only took a nip at one small piece then resumed checking himself out in the glass. I have also discovered that fishing left over food out of a tank is not very easy... I feel like I get more sand than food ;(.

Thanks again for the info everyone and thanks isufiregal for posting these pics for me.

 

[swifter]

Just a quick update. He is still working hard at getting better. Dosed the tank with some anti-bacterial medication and got him to eat 1 pellet and nip at a flame again. Over all be is moving around a little better and interacting with us. I just hoping he starts to eat more