advice when a fish won't eat

[vetteguy53081]

Add a little garlic extract to entice feeding

 

[Katrina71]

Any update?

 

[Pbh-reef]

Any update?

Not for a bit, it’s 630am right now so the humans are just having breakfast

 

[Pbh-reef]

Not for a bit, it’s 630am right now so the humans are just having breakfast

Nope no eating this morning, but I will keep trying with pumps on, the perchlet tends to hang in the back right corner of the tank, but this morning it was on the power head, which at least different!

 

[Pbh-reef]

This morning I combined the advice of @NY_Caveman and @Katrina71 - I fed large mysis in very heavy flow... AND THE PERCHLET ATE!!!!! not only did he eat he chased the shrimp in the flow! I’m pretty sure he was eating a little before but finallyI see a proper active feeding response! My heart leapt!

Thank you everyone for your advice and especially @Katrina71 for pushing me to keep trying feeding with the pumps on. I’ll keep everyone posted on how it goes from
This point on.

 

[WMR]

Congrats! I’m glad you got him to feed, it’s frustrating sometimes(worrisome) when your new fish don’t eat for awhile, been there, done that. What I’ve found with perchlets & basslets is they usually hide out for few days before eating, I get them eating with adult brine shrimp or the smallest ghost shrimp I can get( go to the LFS & ask them for the smallest ones or ask them if they’ll let you net them). It’s the movement & a sense of natural selection( ghost shrimp) for them that gets them going. I usually feed for 3-4 days, then introduce frozen foods into the mix. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer for some fish

 

[Katrina71]

I'm super happy for you!!!!

 

[Katrina71]

We'll need video

 

[Auto-pilot]

That's good to know! Hopefully you can get him fattened up and ready for your DT. I found fast flowing food to entice picky anthias as well. The fish need something to trigger their natural instincts I think. Fast food looks like alive food maybe?

 

[NY_Caveman]

This morning I combined the advice of @NY_Caveman and @Katrina71 - I fed large mysis in very heavy flow... AND THE PERCHLET ATE!!!!! not only did he eat he chased the shrimp in the flow! I’m pretty sure he was eating a little before but finallyI see a proper active feeding response! My heart leapt!

Thank you everyone for your advice and especially @Katrina71 for pushing me to keep trying feeding with the pumps on. I’ll keep everyone posted on how it goes from
This point on.

This is great news! Made my morning.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Yippee!!!!

 

[Pbh-reef]

An update to say the fish didn’t make it, he died a few days later, with the telltale white stringy poop coming out of him as he died. It was frustrating and sad. I wonder if I had gotten him to eat earlier if I could have cured the internal parasites, you live and learn in this hobby.

In happier news the hifin goby and pink streaked wrasse both made it through qt and are in the display tank. The goby has paired with my pistol shrimp and they are amazing to watch together (there’s a pic of them in my build thread).

Thank you everyone who advised me in this thread, I hope this info will help someone else save their fish!