Fish Sitting and might have a sick Toby.

[zachjohnson65]

My wife and I are watching a friend's SW tank. There is a Toby that is not eating well. Last night he did not have much of an appitite and today he is not eating. Seems to not interested in food and is not really swimming "with a purpose" he is sort of bumping into the glass more then normal. His eyes are little cloudy up toward the upper portion. His tail finn is clamp down. I do not have a SW tank of my own but i have been reading alot over the years. Do i treat him like a FW and isolate, lots of WC's and low light? The current owner is feeding frozen brine shrimp( i know not the most ideal diet) Should i try different food like frozen prawns? any help would be helpfull. Thanks

 

[greech]

This may be too late of a post but hopefully the toby is still doing ok.

Mysis shrimp would be better food. Soaking it something like Selcon would be even better.

First thing is test the water for temp and specific gravity. Ask the owner what the tank usually runs at and see if there has been a swing in those parameters. I would then test the water for ammonia, trites and trates before you do anything else. Do a WC if needed.

Hestiant to recommend setting up a hospital tank since you haven't had SW in the past. You could use the existing tank water and replace the water in the existing tank. To do so, all you need to do is match temp and specific gravity of the new water you mix. This should limit the impact to toby since you will be using the same water and the current display should do fine with a WC.

You will need to oxygenate the water somehow (pump, PH, HOB filter with decent tornover, etc). Be prepared with Amquel (for ammonia) and mixed SW ready to go for frequent water changes. Don't overfeed the QT. Only give what the fish will eat (if it will).

Even more hesitant to suggest meds but if the toby is new, it may be flukes or other parasites (ich) in which case Malachite green, Cupramine, Clout or PraziPro may be an option. The clouded eye and clamped gill suggest flukes might be the cause but if the fish has been in the tank for a while without sysmptoms, it shouldn't be that.

If you think it is bacterial Maracyn Plus may be an option.

If you choose to medicate, DO NOT medicate the display tank.

Good luck.

 

[zachjohnson65]

Thanks for the advise. Temp and SG are all normal. I have gotten him to eat some mysis and krill over the last two days. He seems a little better, diffidently more active. It is normal for tobies to have horrible aim when eating? He does eat when hand fed, but he can hardly ever catch floating food on the surface or in mid air. Thanks

 

[greech]

That doesn't sound normal. Their hovering ability usually makes them pretty accurate.

Glad its doing better.