FlameHawk Change in behaviour

stuart Kemshead · Oct 24, 2015

Hello.

I have a flame hawk that has suddenly become extremely reclusive. Normally he charges around the tank without a care in the world, almost like he owns the place. My other concern is since he rarely ever leaves the rocks he misses out on any food I add to the tank. Most days he is a quite aggressive feeder eating from my hand or even out competing my purple tang in the race to get pellets.

I have noticed on a couple of occasions that he will swim around almost like he is terrified, or stressed at the very least.

I cannot see any visible signs of disease as it hides all the time. All my parameters were good last weekend and all my other fish seem perfectly fine..

Any help appreciated..

Thx.

RareEarthCorals · Oct 24, 2015

Any stray electrical changes? New electrical equipment. Is your tank grounded?

stuart Kemshead · Oct 24, 2015

No new equipment. Tank is not grounded.
I did look at this some time ago because I had a similar situation with the purple tang a couple of months ago. Ie swimming erratically. Soon after when my return pump started to play up I realized it was giving off stray charge, but I have since change it. Maybe time to ground the tank just to be safe.

Any idea how long a hawkfish will survive without food.

RareEarthCorals · Oct 24, 2015

This is a great ground and $15.00 on Amazon. Depending on how healthy he is maybe 5-7 days.

RareEarthCorals · Oct 24, 2015

If he isnt feeding try nori on a feeding clip in the area he hides in the most. It may help.

RareEarthCorals · Oct 24, 2015

Lastly, is he bouncing/rubbing on rocks or shaking his head. Its a quick jerking motion. Also gills are extended all the time looks like he is breathing hard? Flukes could be something to look into.

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Gill_or_Skin_flukes

melypr1985 · Oct 24, 2015

Do you think he might be getting picked on by another fish? How long have you sat and watched your tank from a good distance? Watch and see who gives him attention when he does come out of the rocks.

Flukes is a good thing to look into and easy to test with a fresh water dip in a dark container. Also, velvet can make a fish reclusive as it seems to make them sensitive to light. There are some strains of velvet that dont show very many symptoms and can kill quickly. I agree with @RareEarthCorals to look for specific symptoms that might give you a clue as to what's going on.

RareEarthCorals · Oct 24, 2015

melypr1985 said:
Do you think he might be getting picked on by another fish? How long have you sat and watched your tank from a good distance? Watch and see who gives him attention when he does come out of the rocks.

Flukes is a good thing to look into and easy to test with a fresh water dip in a dark container. Also, velvet can make a fish reclusive as it seems to make them sensitive to light. There are some strains of velvet that dont show very many symptoms and can kill quickly. I agree with @RareEarthCorals to look for specific symptoms that might give you a clue as to what's going on.

Is true and he has a purple tang which are very aggressive.

stuart Kemshead · Oct 24, 2015

RareEarthCorals said:
If he isnt feeding try nori on a feeding clip in the area he hides in the most. It may help.

The purple tang is rather partial to the nori and would pig it in as soon as he found it, and the hawfish has never shown any interest in nori or most frozen foods with the exception of brine. Pellets all the way basically.

My first though when I got home ( work away during the week and my parents feed fish ) was that some kind of bullying had occurred. The hawk and the tang have been together for over a year and they basically ignore each other. That being said the purple tang who is generally fairly placid, is prone to the occasional violent outburst almost as if he is having a bad day but even then he just chases a bit then gives up. It is not what I would describe as constant. The hawk does seem to get out of the way when any fish goes near him but I have not seen any aggression since getting home but then he is in the rock a lot and I cannot even see him much of the time.

No signs of disease. No flashing or head shaking. Most of the time just sits under a rock.

A fresh water dip would be last resort i'm afraid, since catching this fish in the past has been near on impossible usually requiring removing rock and 80% of the water..

melypr1985 · Oct 25, 2015

stuart Kemshead said:
The purple tang is rather partial to the nori and would pig it in as soon as he found it, and the hawfish has never shown any interest in nori or most frozen foods with the exception of brine. Pellets all the way basically.

My first though when I got home ( work away during the week and my parents feed fish ) was that some kind of bullying had occurred. The hawk and the tang have been together for over a year and they basically ignore each other. That being said the purple tang who is generally fairly placid, is prone to the occasional violent outburst almost as if he is having a bad day but even then he just chases a bit then gives up. It is not what I would describe as constant. The hawk does seem to get out of the way when any fish goes near him but I have not seen any aggression since getting home but then he is in the rock a lot and I cannot even see him much of the time.

No signs of disease. No flashing or head shaking. Most of the time just sits under a rock.

A fresh water dip would be last resort i'm afraid, since catching this fish in the past has been near on impossible usually requiring removing rock and 80% of the water..

I feel ya on trying to catch him. Been there done that and it sucks. Have you tried soaking the pellets in garlic or selcon? You could try both, that way he gets some needed vitamins and the garlic should entice him to eat a little more. Also use a turkey baster or something similar to squirt the food right where he is (after the others are already eating) to give him a better chance. In the mean time keep a close eye on all your fish for signs of parasites and be ready to treat if necessary.

Also, if you suspect flukes prazipro is "reef safe" and will take care of flukes for you. As far as I know I'm the only one who had a semi bad reaction to prazi in a reef and it only caused my sps to fade some. They bounced back. So take that for what its worth.

RareEarthCorals · Oct 25, 2015

Well hope for the best. Its a process of elimination with these guys. Sometimes simple and other times it leaves you with your head scratching.

stuart Kemshead · Oct 25, 2015

Thx for replies.

I don't really suspect disease because its been 4 months since adding anything to tank, and i quarantined as well. But some species can have their own set of issues sometimes, so i thought I would ask since a google search did not give me any clues. In the end I am guessing the purple tang may have given him a hiding for some reason and now he's hiding out. Will try feeding with garlic and polylab polyp booster and see how he goes, otherwise it may be a long week for him...

stuart Kemshead · Oct 25, 2015

Unfortunately I lost the hawkfish. Seemed normal ( apart from hiding ) last time I checked, then dead. I checked as best I could for any obvious signs of disease but seemed normal.

Essentially, he stopped eating for 3 days, no outward signs of disease but hid all the time. I did notice a couple of times he seemed to thrash around in the sand as though he was having a minor fit. But no excessive breathing or flashing.

I did see this once before on a Gold Headed Goby ( when I first started in the hobby ) and concluded it died due to lack of adequate food.
The only other thing that springs to mind is 12 months ago my refugium experiment backfired where all the macro algae died, killing most of my fish presumably from high nitrates. My Hawkfish was one of the survivors so what internal damage was done can only be guesswork..

ReefMadScientist · Oct 25, 2015

I bought my FlameHawk because he is a moron. Just looks dumb half the time starring at me.

Piranhapat · Oct 25, 2015

I have the same problem with my scarlet hawk fish. At first I thought it was my swallow tail bothering him. So I removed him and placed him in his own tank. He's still not active and hard for him to catch the food. I also treated him and the tank Prazipro. I really think its his swim bladder. He's been like this since July. It seems the best thing I can do is keep him in 20 gallon. So he has a better chance of catching the food.

melypr1985 · Oct 25, 2015

stuart Kemshead said:
Unfortunately I lost the hawkfish. Seemed normal ( apart from hiding ) last time I checked, then dead. I checked as best I could for any obvious signs of disease but seemed normal.

Essentially, he stopped eating for 3 days, no outward signs of disease but hid all the time. I did notice a couple of times he seemed to thrash around in the sand as though he was having a minor fit. But no excessive breathing or flashing.

I did see this once before on a Gold Headed Goby ( when I first started in the hobby ) and concluded it died due to lack of adequate food.
The only other thing that springs to mind is 12 months ago my refugium experiment backfired where all the macro algae died, killing most of my fish presumably from high nitrates. My Hawkfish was one of the survivors so what internal damage was done can only be guesswork..

Sorry for your loss. Sometimes we just dont know what happened. Lack of food could have been it, but with the thrashing i doubt it.

RareEarthCorals · Oct 25, 2015

Shame, sorry such efforts didn't save him/her. It still leaves to question why? It seemed strange, and I would still not rule out illness or toxic death.