sick lion

[squeave]

I have a lion that weve had for 3 years now. Just the other day we noticed that the lion isn't eating. He doesn't move and is sluggish. He breathes hard about 45 breathes a minute with his mouth open (labored breathing). His fins are shriveled at the tips and his eyes look swollen and a little milky. On his back just under his spines seems to be bumps. Not sure if those are suppose to be there, but just looking closely. Also he just looks swollen. We just replaced a fish and are wondering if this might be the problem. None of the other fish look sick. The other fish are a nigger trigger, yellow tang, powder blue tang, hippo tang, tomato clown, sailfin tang, and the newest being the huma trigger. The lion has no spots or skin rot. Help please.

Steve

 

[Terry B]

What do you feed the lion, how much at one time and how often? Lions often get inpacted from overfeeding which can lead to an internal bacterial infection.

Terry B

 

[squeave]

We feed the fish frozen prawns, frozen bine shrimp, frozen squid, algae plus, and formula a for 8 fish in a 75 gallon. The fish are fed once a day. All of the food is 1 cube when we feed. How do i treat a bacterial infection?

 

[squeave]

We noticed today that the lions belly seems to be very swollen, but he hasn't eaten in four days. Still not sure what the problem is.

 

[NaH2O]

squeave - do you have a quarantine tank available?

Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!!

 

[AW2EOD]

Quarentine tank is a good idea...

Also, what are your water levels? Have you tested since he's been sick?

Have any of the other fish in your tank been sick or have any died recently?

 

[Terry B]

Lionfish should not be fed every day, especially in amounts that make the stomach bulge. They can become impacted and the food literally rots inside them before they can digest it. This is a common problem with lionfish. I suggest that you move the fish to quarantine. Use water from the display to fill the Qtank most of the way. I would try Maracyn-Two at the DOUBLE dose each day for 7 - 10 days. The fish probably has an internal bacterial infection. Try not to expose the fish to the air during transfer. If you can catch it in a bucket and then dump it into the Qtank that would work better than a net. If you cannot find Maracyn-Two then you can try Furanase or nitrofurazone (Furacyn). Spectrogram may help if you cannot find the others.

HTH,
Terry B

 

[Terry B]

You may find this article about lionfish that I just added to my library useful.
http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/Lionfish-SplendidStrikingandSpectacular.htm

Cheers,
Terry B