New Midas Blenny- still stressed and not eating

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linus.chan

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I got via LA a new Midas Blenny on Friday morning (June 30). It came without another fish that was sadly DOA.

The blenny was definitely stressed (coloration was brown almost black stripes from head to mid torso- turning yellow and orange only on the tail). After putting in the QT, she swam in the LR (i used a cycled, 40 gallon tank as my QT with a canister filter and some Chaeto) I don't plan on using medications unless necessary and will use a 2 separate tanks for TTM before placing into my DT. And the this tank has 0 ammonia, etc etc.

I left her alone for the day, but thought she was in serious trouble. (No heavy breathing, but not very active).

In the meantime, she has moved around the tank, but doesn't show much sign of activity, and has not eating. SHe is also still very brown/black in front coloration.

I have fed hikari pure Mysis, and LR Reef Frenzy and Life Spectrum pellets. I haven't tried garlic yet, but may start soon. (Do you just soak the food in garlic oil?)

Any other suggestions that i am missing?
 
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There are garlic additives made for the aquarium trade you can use, I know some people use real garlic juice to flavor food. No white spots, dark or white patches on the body?
 
no spots, no signed of belabored breathing (no gasping or flared gills), no signs of injury.

If i don't get aquarium garlic, just garlic oil is i assume okay?
 
Avast
I'm not really sure what garlic oil is, but you can just crush up regular garlic and use the juice from that on their food.
 
Garlic will most likely help them to get eating, i also recommend adding variety of food and check which one it starts to eat, maybe some flakes too
 
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I personally only use garlic sparingly for finicky-feeders, since regular use can possibly cause liver damage [emoji15]

I mean, if it helps get them eating it's worth the risk but I will discontinue use after it's no longer needed.
 
There is also Seachem Entice, never tried it but it's designed for finicky eaters especially for CBB and Angels and it doesn't contain garlic so it won't damage liver in the long run.
 
Okay so this is frustrating- tried garlic and used reef Frenzy, mysis shrimp, and sinking mini pellets all soaked in garlic. The blenny has looked a bit better, slightly more active, but no interest in eating. Generally the blenny is still very inactive, (mainly just laying on the bottom, though does seek shelter in a pvc pipe when spooked). The coloration is a bit more yellow, but with dark brown stripes and a mostly brown head. Still no gasping, and no discernible spots.

So here is the kicker- I am planning to be out of town from Thursday- Monday. I have a friend who will be coming to help care for my main tank, and i was planning on this person to help top off evaporation and feed the fish in quarantine as well. Now this blenny came with a red hooded wrasse that was DOA. Last friday I called LA and arranged for a replacement but arranged for it to come AFTER i returned from my trip.

Lo and behold i get an email from LA saying that they are shipping my fish tonight. I call to try and stop the shipment, but it is too late and it is already on its way. I confirm it is their mistake (they give me a $30 credit), but i am still stuck. Now i will be able o receive the fish tomorrow morning, but now i have a dilemma.

It is not ideal for me to place a new fish in QT and leave and have my friend take care of it. But with a midas that doesn't seem well, i am even more concerned. I worry that placing it in the tank will either subject the new fish to whatever disease is plaguing the blenny, and if the blenny passes away, the potential ammonia spike. I would feel better if the midas was improving substantially, but going on a week without eating is not great.

I feel like i have 3 options-

1) go ahead and place the new fish in my QT, it is a large tank 40gallons, fully cycled and over filtered. (both LR an oversized cannister filter) and hope that the blenny pulls through somehow or at least doesn't die until after i get home.

2) Try and bust my butt and get another QT tank- 10 gallon from a local store. I already have a sponge filter sitting in my DT (only for about 12 hours or so), i can float some chaeto and even place some LR in the tank. Of course, this is not ideal, but it only needs to last until Monday night. Sadly i am pretty pressed for time- i do have water ready and would likely use a decent amount from my DT anyhow.

3) see if i can convince a LFS to hold the fish for me. I really have no idea if this is done at all, or whether any LFS would agree to it.

I realize that these are all just different risk assessments, but anyone have some insights?
 
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Top Shelf Aquatics
Ill go with either option 1 or 3. If your friend has an idea of what he is dealing with then leave it in quarantine and let him check on it, the 40 gallon will allow for some room of extra feeding or other parameter variation which might occur if your friend accidentaly over fed maybe or other variations.

For LFS some might hold it for you, i have a LfS that keep the fish if he has some room for some fee. With LFS you need to be careful as they might not care about the fish, just through food in tank and go, also they might put it in tank with parasites and it gets infected. On the other hand some lfs will help you and probably you will come back to find your blenny eating and healthy. So i would suggest lfs if you know where they will place the fish and they will observe it and treat it if necessary.

Its your judgement to choose which option you believe might be more benifitial for the fish as either option people might be careless or professional, assuming that the lfs agreed to hold the fish for you.
 
Well the point is moot as the fish again came DOA. I am a bit traumatized. I don't want to keep ordering dead fish.
 
I would go with Option #1. Show your friend how to feed the QT and make sure he understands not to cross contaminate the DT with wet hands, using the same feeding apparatus, etc. Basically, tell him to do whatever needs to be done to the DT first before even looking at the QT. ;)

You can deal with the medication part of QT after you get back.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com

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