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Lionfish... lockjaw; using WWM 10/13/15Hello i was told you guys where good my lionfish mouth is stuck open i was wondering how to take care of him <....? http://wetwebmedia.com/lions&rels.htm and the linked files above> all the other fish in the tank are doing good he was trying to eat some frozen shrimp and the that that happened please help <... see WWM re frozen shrimp, Lionfish feeding... a poor diet is a simple cause of this issue; though trauma, long-term avitaminoses are implicated at times. Bob Fenner> Volitans Lionfish lockjaw, deficiency...
10/6/12 Lion fish cannot swim...
Fdg. -- 03/23/10
Lionfish gone berserk! 8/1/08 Hi
Crew, I suspect its too late to save my poor fish, but I'd like
your advice. Tonight I noticed my Volitans Lionfish swimming violently
in circles, flying out of the water (there's a top on the tank so
he didn't get far) until he finally ran out of steam, jammed
himself in the rocks and lay upside down. <Yeeikes!> At first I
thought he'd declared war on the coral beauty, but he lay there for
a while, righted himself and then a few minutes later, started the
process all over again, and again, and again. There is some surface
abrasions on his left side (from scraping across the rocks I think) but
they are very shallow-- no meat is showing. There's no sign of ick
or other diseases, no discoloration. His fins are full and normal, eyes
clear. Other than breathing a bit fast and his berserk behavior,
nothing at all appears wrong except that he's obviously getting
weaker and has started to struggle near the surface. He did refuse food
two days ago when I went to feed him, which I thought odd because
he's normally a veracious eater. All other fish in the tank are
understandably hiding (I would too if something with venomous fins was
careening around my home like a cat with it's tail on fire), but
otherwise they appear healthy and normal. Tank specs: FOWLR ph: 7.8,
<A bit low> Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates: 0 Salt 1.023. Temp:
80-82 90 gallon overflow with a 40 gallon sump. Turboflotor skimmer,
and powerheads to facilitate vigorous water circulation. About 150 #
life rock and another 150 of coral sand. Co-inhabitants include: 1 Blue
Tang 1 coral beauty 1 snowflake moray 1 ocellaris clown (in the sump,
so the lionfish won't eat him!) 1 green brittle star (yes, the
dreaded "green death", but I give him a chunk of food weekly
and he minds his manners) <A 'chunk' of what?> 2
chocolate chip stars 2 pencil urchins assorted crabs and snails. The
tank has been running for almost a year as is (upgraded from an
established 55 gallon tank that was about 4 years old). Other than a
troublesome maroon clown I isolated briefly in the sump about three
months ago, I've made no additions to the tank. The listed fish and
critters, including the Lionfish, have been together for at least 3
years. The last water change was about two weeks ago. I haven't
changed any of the set up except for regular maintenance (water
changes, cleaning the glass, etc) in many months. His diet consists of:
Formula 1, Formula 2, shrimp, squid, mussels, scallops and seaweed he
steals from the tang. All are commercial preparations for fish or raw
seafood intended for human consumption. He and the tang occasionally
face off for dictatorship of the tank but its never progressed to
violence and the surface abrasions on his side do not appear deep
enough for the tang to have inflicted them (she got me once with her
switch-blade, so I know. Ouch.). <Yes... very!> Is it possible
that he swallowed a hermit crab shell or the pea-size gravel and it has
become impacted? <Yes> He's never been overly finicky about
what he scarfs down, although his stomach appears normal, not bloated
or concave. Also, the temperature in the tank fluctuates from 80 at
night to 82 during the day when the lights are on and has been doing so
all summer. Might this cause problems? <Mmm, no, not likely... and
the rest of your livestock you report as fine...> I know it can/does
with corals, but I always figured the chocolate chip stars would curl
up their toes long before any of the fish were effected. I hate loosing
a fish to disease, misfortune or my own stupidity, but worse I find are
the mysterious deaths. Any suggests on how I might save this fish, or
at least avoid a repeat. Thanks so much for your help. I consult your
website all the time and would be entirely lost without it. Thanks, BC.
<There is indeed something mysterious at play here... like you say,
perhaps something lodged in this fish's GI tract... Perhaps a form
of "madness"... the tank is perhaps too crowded psycho- and
physio-logically... I would try increasing aeration, and try to be
patient... If you had another system that's empty, I might move
this Lion there... for a few reasons... including reducing it damaging
itself, and avoiding pollution should it die suddenly. Bob
Fenner> Lionfish... hlth., nutr. 9/4/07 Hi guys! It has been a while since I last talked with you, but you have always given me good advice, and I haven't been able to find exactly the same problem on the Web site. I have a Volitans lion (Venus) that we have had for 2 years; she is about 8 inches long. She took well to hand feeding, and will eat almost anything we give her. We give her silver sides about one time per week, and the rest of the time we feed her either frozen or freeze dried shrimp. <Too much fat in these foods... and nutrient deficient...> A couple of times she has taken an entire cube of frozen blood worms while we were trying to feed the other fish, but this has not happened in over 6 months. She shares a 220 gallon tank with a Rectangulatus trigger, a saddle puffer, a lemon peel angel, a scopas tang, and a flame hawk. About a week ago the lion stopped eating with no warning, and she has been listing to her right side. Her coloring is normal, and her size has not changed, nor does her breathing seem rapid. She seems to float to the top of the tank, and floats there either on her back or on her side. She has no interest in food, and she seems that she can only swim with her head pointed down; she doesn't seem able to swim towards the top of the tank facing upward, she just sort of floats there. We did a 1/4 water change, and tested the water, and all levels are normal. All of the other fish have been behaving normally. I am wondering if this is possibly a problem with her swim bladder? <Caused by?> She has never shown behavior like this before, and there have been no additions at all to the tank (fish or rock) in about a year. She does occasionally try to swim down and sit there, but she ends up floating back up to the top, and is usually on her side, and if I open the lid part of her pectoral fin is actually out of the water between the water level and the lid. She floats with her right side down. I am not sure how old she was when we purchased her, but she was only about 3 or 4 inches long at the time. Please help!!! (if you can). I don't want to lose her, but I really have no idea what to do for her, and it really seems like it is a struggle for her to even try to swim downwards. We have not seen her really open her mouth at all in the last week...at first I thought possibly lockjaw, but I don't think that explains the strange floating behavior. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time in advance, and thanks to all of you who counsel our fellow aquarists. Your site is truly wonderful, and it's so great to have a place to go for advice and information. Sincerely, Jennifer and Steve <I do hope your Lion spontaneously gets better... with just time going by. It might have swallowed something that is decomposing, producing an air pocket inside of it... If it does resume normal orientation and feeding, I would take to broadening the food menu... and soaking some of these foods in a vitamin, HUFA mix (like Selcon). Otherwise, there is not much that can be "done" here other than wait. Bob Fenner> Sick Lionfish... Can you help?? Hi.<Hi! Mike D here> you were the only link I could find on your website to get help with my fish. My lionfish hasn't eaten in over 6 weeks. before that he ate freeze dried shrimp everyday.<This looks like the probable first trouble spot to me. A varied diet is always recommended and a single food diet is often a precursor to a deficiency of one sort or another.> For a while he had this red bump type thing on his head. now it turned to white spot.<this is obviously not good, but may or may not have any bearing to anything.> he's the only fish I have in a 55 gal. tank.<I'm assuming that you're talking about a P. volitans lionfish, usually THE one referred to, so it's size and age may have some bearing on it as well.> I've tried feeding him all kinds of stuff but he just won't eat it. he just sits at the bottom. when I try to but it right in front of him, he swims away. what should I do??<My suggestion is to try introducing some live mollies to the tank and NEVER feed goldfish under any conditions, as they are suspected of doing liver damage, which is fatal in fish, just as it is in humans. The live food should trigger a feeding response if anything will, and the advantage with mollies is that they will survive indefinitely in the marine tank, meaning you need not worry about them being eaten immediately. Other than that, check to make sure that the water parameters are OK (Lionfish ARE sensitive to long term high nitrate damage, despite what many books indicate), vary his diet and keep your fingers crossed. As dumb as it sounds, some fish seem to seriously suffer from boredom and letting a hunter hunt has been know to help on occasion> thanks, Ashley Lionfish deaths resultant from goldfish feeding Bob, <Adam> Two quick things. Some people in my club were talking today about the dangers of feeding goldfish to lionfish because it blocks the digestive tract. Well, I searched WWM and found lots of info on the goldfish issue, but not the info I've heard you say before about what percent of lionfish die from this and the dangers to the lion. Can you give me a good link to that? Thanks <Don't have solid data, but I would "guess" a good percentage, perhaps 30-40 die directly or not so (fatty degeneration internally) from this practice... next in preponderance as a source of mortality, and important is "poor water quality" from this practice and being in too small volume, poor maintenance...> Also, we would still love to have you here in SLC this year. If a fall trip would work for you, that would be great. I plan to stay in touch during these summer months, and I'll see you at IMAC. <Will see you there, and we'll chat. Am pretty much done for 04... there are many good friends/associates here who might be willing to come out and give pitches. Would you be interested in having another of the WWM Crew make a presentation? Bob Fenner> Thanks, Adam - Lionfish Coloration - Hi There! I am returning to ask you another question about my lionfish. It is a dwarf zebra and is about 5-6 inches and I have noticed lately that he sometimes sits on the substrate and flares his gills and turns a bright red color which usually only lasts a few minutes and then he returns to his normal coloring. I am trying to get him off of feeder goldfish (the fish store I bought him from had him for about 5 weeks and only fed him feeder goldfish and I have had him for about 3 weeks now am having a really hard time getting him to accept krill or silversides) and he hasn't eaten in 4 days. Could this be part of the problem? <I doubt that.> I've tested my water and all is fine there. He is the sole occupant of a long 90 gallon tank. Could it be that he is already too big to be weaned and is the redness just a show of anger because he's hungry? <It could be that part of the problem in getting your fish to accept non-live foods is its age, but I don't think the coloration has anything to do with this... even so, it's really difficult to know the true motivations of fish. Many fish can change their coloration to an extent and many do this as often as seems necessary. Have heard stories of clown triggers that are pale until their owners arrive to take a look... I'd be more concerned about the non-eating than the coloration at this point. Do try - if you haven't already - to offer those krill on the end of a skewer or feeding stick... waggle it around like a bit of live food and see if that helps.> Any feedback would be greatly appreciated....Thanks so much....Lana. <Cheers, J -- >
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