Sick Harliquine Tusk

BigRed78 · Jan 3, 2020

Hello everyone, I am very worried about my juvenile tusk. He used to be a very active swimmer. Now he just sleeps on his side up against the glass during the day and night. He does come out to eat but his appetite isn’t what it used to be. He does occasionally swim around but it seems like he can’t stay up in the water column for long. It almost seems as though he is front heavy. All my parameters are normal 0 ammonia and nitrite phosphate is undetectable on my api year and nitrate is between 5 and 10. This is my favorite fish help would be greatly appreciated. And just to clarify he is in my 75 gallon but I am grounding him out for my buddy that has a 220 gallon.

ndrwater · Jan 3, 2020

1st off, #WelcometoR2R !
2nd, tusks can sometimes be lazy.
If he's still eating, that's a good sign. How old is the tank? API tests are notoriously unreliable

Big G · Jan 3, 2020

Has the fish been prophylactically treated for flukes/internal parasites, ich/velvet, etc.?

albano · Jan 3, 2020

Is it possible that he is losing his eyesight? I’ve had 2 tusks go blind in 2 different tanks/systems in the past 6 months!

Big G · Jan 3, 2020

Lots of discussion about the use of cyanide to collect tusks as they move very fast in the wild. Some think the fish stop eating and die very quickly may be due to blindness from the cyanide or over dosing both in quantity and duration of copper during shipping.

BigRed78 · Jan 3, 2020

The tank is about 6 months old. The sand and most of the rock is a year old. I would think even though the api test isn’t the best my parameters are fine because all my other fish and coral are as well. This blindness or cyanide collection issue could be the culprit but I’ve had him in my tank for about a month and a half before this with no issue. I haven’t treated him for anything however I could set up a ten gallon quarantine tank with an job filter. It wouldn’t be cycled but I could take some rock out of my sump and put it in there. Would this be too stressful for him. And if the quarantine is a good idea what should I treat him with thank you.

Big G · Jan 3, 2020

Usually the first step would be a freshwater dip to confirm or eliminate for flukes.

Then without any sign of ich, velvet, Brook, the treatment for internal parasites and worms, with Metro + prazi or General Cure. Then observe.

reef lover · Jan 4, 2020

Welcome to r2r!

BigRed78 · Jan 4, 2020

So I think I may have figured out the issue. I saw my clownfish table a chunk out of his tail today and him go flying off to hide. I think they may have been harassing him into hiding. I’m working on catching them and putting them in my sump until I figure out what to do with them.

Terri Caton · Jan 4, 2020

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with him. The strong will pick on the weak.

I hope he’s ok.

BigRed78 · Jan 4, 2020

Terri Caton said:
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with him. The strong will pick on the weak.

I hope he’s ok.

You make a great point. I have a quarantine tank set up and I’m waiting for him to enter my trap to remove him.

BigRed78 · Jan 7, 2020

I figured id update this just in case anyone has another issue like mine. He is currently in quarantine now as of last night. I treated him with a half dose of coopermine and he seems to be more active. I am unsure if this is because of the medication or the lack of bullies. the tank is much dimmer. I will also be feeding him garlic soaked food tonight.

JasonK84 · Jan 7, 2020

BigRed78 said:
I figured id update this just in case anyone has another issue like mine. He is currently in quarantine now as of last night. I treated him with a half dose of coopermine and he seems to be more active. I am unsure if this is because of the medication or the lack of bullies. the tank is much dimmer. I will also be feeding him garlic soaked food tonight.

How is he doing with eating while secluded? Has his appetite returned? I had an adult Tusk pass Saturday and took the fish in for a necropsy that so far hasn’t yielded and culprits. He quit showing much interest in food then quit eating all together a week before it passed.

Halal Hotdog · Jan 7, 2020

Is this one of the Juvis from LiveAquaria/Divers Den? You definitely made the right call pulling him and medicating. You will want to treat for internal parasites after you completed the copper treatment. Harlequin tusks look mean, but it's all for show. A little stress and they go on a hunger strike. They deteriorate due to parasitic infections pretty quickly as well. Take your time and read up on copper, all the dos and don'ts. This is his best shot. Keep offering food but don't get disheartened if he takes a bit of a hunger strike. Something about krill makes tusk's go bananas, so try to have a nice varied diet on hand.

albano · Jan 7, 2020

JasonK84 said:
He quit showing much interest in food then quit eating all together a week before it passed.

Sorry, have to ask ... do you think that he could have gone blind? Also was it Aussey tusk?

JasonK84 · Jan 7, 2020

albano said:
Sorry, have to ask ... do you think that he could have gone blind? Also was it Aussey tusk?

I don’t know? I never thought it seamed to have trouble seeing. Here’s the link to a thread I started about the Tusk. Yes it’s an Aussie.

Any mail in necropsy services for hobbyists?

I am loving this thread. Thank you for being willing to share your adventure. Hope your truck is back on the road soon.

www.reef2reef.com

We can discuss further there so we don’t cloudy there OP’s thread here.

BigRed78 · Jan 7, 2020

JasonK84 said:
How is he doing with eating while secluded? Has his appetite returned? I had an adult Tusk pass Saturday and took the fish in for a necropsy that so far hasn’t yielded and culprits. He quit showing much interest in food then quit eating all together a week before it passed.

I saw your post about that i'm really sorry man that must have been a tough loss. He just ate a piece of garlic soaked mysis in his quarantine tank so i'm hoping he is on the road to recovery. He is also a lot more active now.

BigRed78 · Jan 7, 2020

Halal Hotdog said:
Is this one of the Juvis from LiveAquaria/Divers Den? You definitely made the right call pulling him and medicating. You will want to treat for internal parasites after you completed the copper treatment. Harlequin tusks look mean, but it's all for show. A little stress and they go on a hunger strike. They deteriorate due to parasitic infections pretty quickly as well. Take your time and read up on copper, all the dos and don'ts. This is his best shot. Keep offering food but don't get disheartened if he takes a bit of a hunger strike. Something about krill makes tusk's go bananas, so try to have a nice varied diet on hand.

Thank you for your input he was from divers den. I will keep up with the treatment! I do like the krill idea though the only problem is he is pretty small. Are there any smaller krill options available?

JasonK84 · Jan 7, 2020

BigRed78 said:
Thank you for your input he was from divers den. I will keep up with the treatment! I do like the krill idea though the only problem is he is pretty small. Are there any smaller krill options available?

Yes, hikari makes a cube that is krill. I had some and my Tusk would eat it really well. It also ate regular full krill but the size of this would work well for you.

BigRed78 · Jan 7, 2020

JasonK84 said:
Yes, hikari makes a cube that is krill. I had some and my Tusk would eat it really well. It also ate regular full krill but the size of this would work well for you.

Thank you very much!