need advice on this new fish (pic)

kyle4201

kyle4201

Active Member
post-1182-0-80377000-1333115297_zps5165c1e4.jpg
The beginning. Saw this guy (some kind of box fish,, Hawaiian blue or something? ) at a lfs I go to once and a while. he was not eating and they had him for 4 days. He would not sell since he wasnt eating. They were just going to let him starve and I figured he had a better chance with me than at the lfs in a tiny box or with some wacko who thought he was pretty 4 his gf and would do no special care till he died. so anyway, they slashed the price and wished me luck.

so far no eating. brine, myissis, and I heard the like open faced clams to munch on so I got 1 and nothing. The money is not bothering me if he dies, but hes such a beautiful fish I really want him to pull through. (i feel so sorry 4 the fish in the stores that get no special attn and die cuz their special needs are not met). Im willing to try anything to save his life. Hes alone in a 45 gal. Its going on like 7 or 8 days so time is fleeting for poor Ringo. (I calle him ringo cuz of the big nose. :) )
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
in a search... I did find this post below... with some advise from Lee Birch, if it's helps any...

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/79514-porcupine-puffer-not-eating.html

This was Lee's post... below

No need to get excited. These fishes are known to stop eating now and then. Nobody really understands or knows why. You can guess about it until the next blue moon and still not have any good answer.

HOWEVER, there could be a reason why it stopped, such as tank mate issues, illness, or water qualitiy issues. Make sure your water quality is top notch. What have you been feeding the fish? How much food? How often? The answers to these can sometimes give some hint as to what could be happening other than the 'normal' fasting these fishes sometimes do.

Just keep offering foods and when the fish is ready, it will start eating again (if there are no other tank problems going on).
 
Bearjohnson

Bearjohnson

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
RS Ambassador
Try soaking his/her food in garlic. You can mash up a small piece of garlic to a bloody pulp and add it to whatever you're feeding.
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
Hey Kyle, I'm assuming that is not a pic of the fish you just picked up? I see the exact same photo on another forum post from nearly 2 years ago. How is your fish looking in comparison?

Boxfish release a pretty nasty poison when they are stressed or dying called ostracitoxin. It's capable of killing any other fish in the aquarium including the boxfish itself. I find it very likely this fish has been extremely stressed and may be succumbing to it's own defense mechanism.

I would try running carbon or chemi-pure (my fav) to remove the potential toxins. Plan on keeping the fish in it's own tank, this will not be a fish for your reef or predator tank. Live food may help entice it to eat and then hopefully you can train it to eat frozen if it pulls through. Good luck!
 
Iamonlyme

Iamonlyme

Member
Have you tried live mollies or guppies? I read somewhere that it might entice him to eat


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kyle4201

kyle4201

Active Member
thx every1,, however, the puffer advice wont work for a box fish I dont think. I tried the garlic and nothing,, and I mis typed when I said he was all by himself,, hes in the QT with a baby dwarf fuzzy lion fish. what I ment was hes not in the main tanks. The lion has been doing great and eating and being normal.
 
Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
Saw the bat signal. Wednesday night church. It's a Ostracion meleagris, White Spotted Boxfish. Can you get up a pic of yours? We'll pull him through. Oh yeah, forgot, it's a male.
 
Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
A couple things I can tell you from memory are: They are known only to eat off the bottom of the tank. They're not at all like puffers, tobies, or porcupine fish. Don't why they're even included in the same sentence. They don't inflate themselves, but they release a toxic mucus when threatened.
 
kyle4201

kyle4201

Active Member
is it weird that he likes to play in the bubble collum from the bubble stone? He swims in it, hangs 4 a sec or two, swims out and spits out air bubbles.
 
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