Fish Not Eating

[mark4785]

Recently the temperature of my aquarium water rose to 31 degrees C during a spike in the British Summer temperature on the 5th of June. This temperature rise, coupled with c02 injection and Easycarbo caused the fish with the largest gills (male German Blue Ram) to move his gills 3-4x faster than the usual rate due to oxygen depletion. He completely went off of his food and stayed at the bottom of the aquarium for about 48 hours. During those 48 hours I did my best to bring the temperature back down to 27 degrees C after consulting a fish disease book which stated that "bacterial gill disease can be positively correlated with abnormally high temperature increases" and that "bringing the temperature down or doing a large W/C resolves the fast gill rate".

The GBR is now breathing properly but he is still continuing to avoid consuming flake food; he will put it in his mouth and then spit all of it out. I've offered the entire Ocean Nutrition flake food range to him but he's not interested in eating it. He only swallowed a blood worm soaked in vitamins on Thursday of this week.

Behaviourally, he is still acting normal and still very colourful but I'm getting concerned that this avoidance of food will cause some issues if it doesn't get resolved soon!

Note: on the 7th of June when he showed a fast gill rate, I incorrectly suspected gill flukes which lead me to introduce a tank medication named Kusuri wormer plus. I'm suspecting that this may cause fish to go off of their food as subsequent to dosing every fish had lost it's appetite. The appetite of all the other fish (black neon tetras, Ottocinclus and a female GBR) is getting progressively better with the exception of the male GBR.


Water Stats:

Ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Nitrate 40ppm, PH: 6.0.


Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks.

 

[Caprichoso]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just think of it like getting the flu and not feeling like eating for a few days. Your fish can go awhile without eating. If in the next couple of days he's still not eating, you could always try some small live foods. That will usually get fish eating pretty good. Just make sure the live food is from a reliable source as to not introduce parasites into your tank.

Hope he's feeling better soon!

 

[mark4785]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just think of it like getting the flu and not feeling like eating for a few days. Your fish can go awhile without eating. If in the next couple of days he's still not eating, you could always try some small live foods. That will usually get fish eating pretty good. Just make sure the live food is from a reliable source as to not introduce parasites into your tank.

Hope he's feeling better soon!

I suppose that would get him eating but it wouldn't provide a balance of nutrients; I only fed the bloodworm (dipped in Waterlife Vitazin) as it was the time of the week when I normally add it anyway.

I know GBR's can be picky eaters. When I initially bought him from the LFS he was eating small pellets there and only continued to eat that food for a few weeks whilst he was within my aquarium. I was stumped as to why he stopped eating and eventually found that flake food had become his preference. I just hope that the gill problem hasn't caused another food preference transition, or are hurting to the point that he doesn't want to eat.

 

[mark4785]

Just posting this reply to say that the male GBR is eating again and I've done what I can to ensure the water temperature doesn't rise and cause the same issue again.

 

[Caprichoso]

Good to hear