Young Endlicheri not eating

[JuniorMonsterKeeper]

ok now I know that these guys are hardy and can go quite some time without eating. I also k ow that they won't starve themselves to death. So my issue is why is my smaller Endlicheri not eating and just laying on the substrate and noticeably gettin weaker and weaker also a passing fishes wake can move it easily. Today he did a barrel roll for 2.mmins when I checked to see if he was even alive. Yesterday I did a 50% water change as I always tend to do in my tanks. This tank is a 125 gal beast that has a 6 foot long blue print. There are 2 ornates that are still young but considerably more mature about 6 - 7 inches I could be wrong and another Endlicheri whom is about 4-5 inches long in the tank as well as 7 cichlids whom i keep at bay during feeding time with a cleaning pole. My water parameters are pristine and I do water changes weekly my temperature depending on the day teeters between 76-78degrees and I use a fluval fx6 filter which is good for 400gal tanks as well as a powerhead that I ve rigged to polish my water. My ph sits at 7.5.

I know that ornates are more aggressive and cannabalistic towards other types of bichirs but that's not the case in my tank as they inhabit the left side of the tank and have laid claim to the tunnel work under the rocks that my cichlids have made and only travel the tank when I place food in and they never even notice my Endlicheris. My cichlids are the same they practically sit on top of him once I give up trying to keep them at bay to get the food in which I practically lay on top and all around him. This is frustrating. Today I placed him in my quarantine cooler (as my regular quarantine tank is full of platy fry and 2 young pleccos that I'm growing out) the cooler is the same cooler I brought my bichirs home in from the lfs after they had sat in their tanks there for over 2 weeks as a quarantine period as they were special order for me so came into contact with no other fish and were in a closed off system. I did not want to rush to treating with anything and started with the basic simple care checks.

Fresh water in a cycled system.
Lots of oxygenation.
Aquarium salt present.
Temp consistent.
The water is low enuff for him to easily go up for air as well.

The photos up top are him in the cooler and there is food I placed in there an hour ago. I used a cooler for them because I know they are more comfortable in the dark and thought that it would help with decreasing any stress but as you can see the food is just sittin infront of him and he sits there seeming lifeless. I can nudge him he won't swim off i would have to really pester him to get him to move.


Sorry for the long story but I wanna be as detailed with everything so as to best help you all understand to easily help me better. I d hate to lose this guy and the window to get them has closed for my lfs right now and I d hate to get a senegalus as they just don't satisfy me esthetically. I am in Halifax Nova Scotia ,Canada so some treatments are gonna be impossible or not accessible. Help me please as I feel we are in the last quarter of the game with this guy.

 

[kno4te]

How long have u had the endli? Was it from the lfs or another hobbyist? Was the activity always like this? Any physical injury suspected from getting air? When you got it...did u treat it for internal parasites?Was it ever treated prior that ur aware of? What was it fed? Atleast for now I would dim the lights on it. Try and use some tilapia or cut up earthworms. Most will take it well. Keep the water clean and cont salt. The one thing to consider is to get meds for internal parasites. See what's available. Wait a bit as it needs to eat more than anything else.

 

[JuniorMonsterKeeper]

Got it from a local fish store that's private owned opposed to a franchise store that doesn't even bring them in at all nor does special order. I've gotten my other fish there and it has a great reputation and is a place DIY sensation Joey Mullen recommended. I have no idea if it was treated prior to my ordering and picking it up. I did not treat it as all of the other fish I ve ever gotten from them have been in excellent condition. Upon purchase it was in great health and active. It was fed sinking pellets in the store and upon gettin it home I waited a few days before feeding and continued with the same style of feeding and added in brine shrimp and blood worms. It has since shown some fin rot on the tail fin but nothing that worries me as I think it's lack of eating isn't helping it to get better. I have the fix it twins in melafix and primafix and I also have some prazipro as well. I'm headed to the store to look for talapia hopefully they have it or I ll have to settle for another kind of whitefish. Thanks for the speedy response. I'm going to try feeding him some whitefish and hopefully he takes I checked on him this morning and he had eaten some of the brine shrimp. And had moved to a location under the filter.

 

[Bigfishnut]

Earthworms will get it eating and healthy if it's not too late. Chop them in a cup of water and rinse well. If it won't eat earthworms than I'm afraid it's too late.

 

[kno4te]

Would stop the pimafix and melafix. The prazipro is a good start and well treat IP in Polys. Cont salt at 1 tsp per gallon. If it ate pellets then try and restart that but for now try tilapia and cut up earthworms. That'll fatten it up like bigfishnut mentioned.

Please post ur water numbers. What one thinks is normal the other person may not. Don't recall it specifically in the 1st post.

I'm not a fan of shrimp especially if it's more than 20% of the diet.

Repost in the poly section under the ancient fish part.

Thanks for answering the questions asked.

 

[kno4te]

Also you can raise the water level in that cooler. As well as the heater. The endli will try to hide in there and don't see a guard on it. Might get some burn issues....most polys don't get fin rot. Not that it can't just want to reduce most of the stress on the fish.

 

[JuniorMonsterKeeper]

Would stop the pimafix and melafix. The prazipro is a good start and well treat IP in Polys. Cont salt at 1 tsp per gallon. If it ate pellets then try and restart that but for now try tilapia and cut up earthworms. That'll fatten it up like bigfishnut mentioned.

Please post ur water numbers. What one thinks is normal the other person may not. Don't recall it specifically in the 1st post.

I'm not a fan of shrimp especially if it's more than 20% of the diet.

Repost in the poly section under the ancient fish part.

Thanks for answering the questions asked.

Shrimp and bloodworms I was trying to introduce to them amidst giving them pellets because they obviously weren't fed them in store. And slight correction I haven't been using the melafix or primafix I was just stating I have them and the prazipro on standbye and that if there was any suggestions for treatment in terms of product and dosing I was all ears.

My tank parameters before my water change 2 days ago
PH 7.6 on high range test 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates .5

I just got the talapia so I'm heading home to rinse dice it up into portions and rinse in tank water. Should I get garlic oil to let it soak in ?

 

[kno4te]

The tilapia by itself is usually all it needs. No need to soak unless you want to use a vitamin soak. If not eating still then soak food with bloodworm juice. Works as well as garlic.

Got you about the meds. Sometimes polys that are wc or fed live foods and develop problems with weight gain and not eating this from IP. So you can treat with prazi. The fins can be treated with clean water and salt by itself.

 

[JuniorMonsterKeeper]

Ok perfect I mentioned the garlic as I've seen it suggested as a good soak for helping treat the IP. To be honest I didn't even know if my store had talapia til today don't know why but I never noticed it to be honest.

So I'm goin to change the water in the quarantine tank first and then will proceed to try feeding my little guy and my bigger guys their first tastes of talapia. Will update soon. Thanks everyone for your help!!

 

[kno4te]

For IP prazi and epsom salt work well. Not sure about garlic for IP other than inticing it to eat. Hope it all works out. Post an update when you get a chance. Post in the polypterus section. Lots of members will help out there as well.