Lionfish help

[SalteeDogg]

The lionfish has been doing some weird things and I dont know if its normal. He keeps swimming infront of the powerhead and he flies in circles while swirling upside down, backwards, or whatever way he decides to blow. I got worried so I turned the powerhead off and then the skimmer started making him go out of control. He will then sit on the sand for about 5 minutes and then back up to the weird swimming. To me its look like he is drunk I checked all my levels and they are perfect besides calcium being a little high. Any ideals? Thanks

 

[breebauer]

How long have you had him? And how big is he?

Is he eating ok? Does your tank have enough DO? (Just checking)

I had one years back that was a monster, well, a nusiance actually, but still very hardy.

I noticed he was very sensitive to light, for some reason. But he never swam in circles. Did he possibly eat something bad? (I don't know, rotten fish?)

I hope he's ok....

 

[SalteeDogg]

He's been in the tank for about 5 days, he is about 1 month old, was swimming kind of like I stated from day 1 but not ever this bad. He only eats ghost shrimp, ate last night but wouldn't eat tonight but he still had a whisker hanging from his mouth which is weird cause usually it would digest by now. And when you said DO, im new to this salt thing so could you break it down to idiot terms lol. Tank has been up and going for a couple years. Man I hope he dont have a swimming bladder issue.

 

[breebauer]

Hi, again, I was talking about disolved oxygen, but it's probably ok, if you have an established tank. Some tanks don't have enough surface area for these guys. They take up alot of air, since they're so big. BTW, how big is the tank, and do you have alot of other fish in there?

When you say one month old, how many inches is he, head to tail?

I bought mine almost fully grown, so I might not be too much help. I can tell you that my lionfish wouldn't eat ANYTHING unless it was alive, usually guppies. And I needed to keep an airstone and make sure there was enough surface agitaion to keep the o2 level high enough for him.

At the time I had an aggressive tank so he was with other aggressive fish. And, of course, he was the king, anything smaller or weaker was lunch.

Are you sure you checked your ammonia? If you have alot of big fish this can biuld up quick. Also if you added too many at one time. Big fish crap alot, and the food they don't eat only makes the situation worse...

Tank size?
Tank age? from setup to now...
Fish in it? what kind and sizes
Filtration? what kind, and live rock or live sand specs
Feeding schedule? What and how much..

It's been a while for me with big fish problems, but I'l try to help...

 

[SalteeDogg]

The lionfish is probably 4" long MAX
tank is 30 gallon (upgrading to 80 gallon in 4 months)
tank has been going for 2 and a half years I just bought it 2 weeks ago but everything is the same and I haven't changed anything
Has between 15-18 pounds of live rock, 1 green carpet anemone, 1 bubble tip, colt coral, gsp, mushrooms, Lots of swimming room
Its just him and a little clownfish(under 2") that stays in his anemone all day
I have 1 cpr bak pak skimmer with a millenium 2000 filter
Every night I been feeding him 1 ghost shrimp thats it but tonight he wouldnt eat it, Tonight I had put some garlic extract in with the ghost shrimp so I dont know if thats why. There was ich on him when he first got home but its gone now. Something is telling me he has swim bladder issues, just from the looks of him swimming.

 

[SalteeDogg]

The ammonia was checked and was at 0. I had done a 5 gallon water change earlier today if that matters? I always check the water before I pour it in the tank and it all checked good

 

[breebauer]

Maybe check the ph again? (Just to make sure) Oh ,and the temp. You never know..

The ich also could've weakened him and made him succeptable to some other kind of bacteria.. just a thought.

I think I'm out of suggestions! I hope someone else can help!

There fish are usually extremely hardy, but I'm a little suspicious since you've only had it a few days. It might be due to something not within your control.

Good luck!

 

[SalteeDogg]

Thanks for your help..

 

[Doc]

hmmm, that does not sound good. I had a 7 incher that started doing the same things and was dead within a week. I hope your experience is different. I assume it is a Volitan Lionfish? they should be amazing eaters that will devour you if you let it, regardless of fare. feeding only on Ghost shrimp is not enough to sustain it. I fear it may be slowly starving to death. I had a radiata that I had to trigger the feeding response by thawing out krill and putting it in front of the powerhead to it would literally "fly" across the tank to trigger the hunting respose for him. It took after about 3 tries.

If your Volitan is not eating krill or silversides at his size, my guess is that he is slowly starving. Sorry. I hope I am wrong

-Doc

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I would add an air stone to get the oxygen levels up. I got my lion to eat krill by holding it at the top of the tank and letting it eat from my fingers. It was was scary to let the puffer do it. I thought I was going to lose my fingers.

 

[Doc]

air stones tend to get clogged up and are less useful. If you want to add oxygen to the tank, add another powerhead. Powerheads that break or agitate the top of the water actually increase the transferred oxygen into the tank. point your powerheads up toward the top if the water and you will have plenty of oxygen in your tank

-Doc

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree, when it comes to saltwater, skip the airstones.