Is my bluespot going to die?

[uberfrag]

Hi, had this guy a little over 2 months now and it's been mixed results.

As anybody who has kept one of these fish or knows about them, they are definately a special needs fish, although my sandbed is around 3 inches the sand is mostly quite soft so I got plenty of rubble for him to make a burrow and settle.

Over the months he has made many burrows, but just can't seem to settle on one even though some of them have looked fine to me, he just keeps moving.

Over the last 7-10 days I started to notice white patches developing on him, he's still eating but prefers when I more or less handfeed him, right now Im just giving him mostly garlic brine to try and boost his immune system, to be honest I thought he would already be dead by now

He's in the tank with 2 clowns and a firefish which all leave him alone so it's not stress over a territory issue or anything, my water params are more or less perfect so it's not that either. The tank is 275L and I keep temp around 23-24 degrees.

Either im getting something wrong with the fact he cant settle on a burrow or im feeding him the wrong diet, my question is....can I save this fish?

I have attached a picture to show you what I am talking about with the white patches.

 

[theplantman]

the white patches may be from him rubbing up against rock, etc. The pick looks like missing scales. Is there anything in your tank that could be irritating him that he has been digging near. As far as the moving around goes, do not worry about that, mine did that monthly. Make sure you are feeding him a varied diet. If all he is receiving is brine, he could be malnourished. I fed my tank about six different foods and would alternate daily. Brine, mysis, krill, cyclopeeze, vegeterian pellets and rods food which was a carnivour mix. My blue spot would eat all of it ravenousely.

I also kept my tank at 78.5-79 degrees Farenheit, 26deg Cels.

Good luck, i hope he perks up.

 

[uberfrag]

His gills seem fine to me, from all I have read if he had brook or blue spot disease he would of died already so im guessing its not that????

Possibly you are right on the diet, all I feed him his garlic brine which he will happily eat, but I should get some mysis and krill in there too, ill often drop some garlic pellets into the tank which he seems to enjoy too..like I said im just worried about these white patches, the picture doesnt really highlight them that well, they look worse if you see him in the flesh. I think the fact he's not settling on a home is not doing me any favours, I need to find a way on creating a burrow for him. I'll wait for him to dig a new burrow and then ill put loads of rubble next to it, he stays there for a few days and then moved back to a different burrow, sometimes just right out in the open...i.e the corners of the tank, its clear to me my substrate is just not right for him and at 3 inches deep not deep enough either.

 

[lbiminiblue]

the white patches may be from him rubbing up against rock, etc. The pick looks like missing scales. Is there anything in your tank that could be irritating him that he has been digging near. As far as the moving around goes, do not worry about that, mine did that monthly. Make sure you are feeding him a varied diet. If all he is receiving is brine, he could be malnourished. I fed my tank about six different foods and would alternate daily. Brine, mysis, krill, cyclopeeze, vegeterian pellets and rods food which was a carnivour mix. My blue spot would eat all of it ravenousely.

I also kept my tank at 78.5-79 degrees Farenheit, 26deg Cels.

Good luck, i hope he perks up.

pretty sure Jawfish have only a scaled head, scaleless body.

 

[LSUFireGal]

My jawfish likes to make new burrows all the time. He eats whatever I drop near his burrow and if I am being lazy he will come out and eat. He sometimes remodels or changes burrows several times a day.

I agree that brine shrimp are not a good diet. They are basically like candy and have little nutritional value. Mine likes Rod's Food and any kind of carnivore pellet. I would fortify his diet for sure.

 

[uberfrag]

Im not gonna get rods food here in the UK, so I'm gonna need something different with equal nutritional value...anybody got any ideas?

 

[lbiminiblue]

Any sinking pellets, try mysid shrimp, more nutritious than brine. How about chopped bait squid or clams or fish?