Rtcxtsn stopped eating

[Mfowlie626]

My 20" hybrid rtcxtsn all of a sudden stopped eating. Other than that its acting completely normal. It's been about 2 weeks since it last ate. All my other fish are eating like normal. It's in an 800g pool pond. I was thinking maybe it's because of the colder weather, although I live in Florida and the pond is heated to 77 degrees when the temperature rarely drops. It even comes to the surface looking at me for food but spits it out. I've fed it tilapia and shrimp forever and have even tried feeding it scallops and salmon to see if it was just getting bored of its diet but didnt accept that either. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[tlindsey]

My 20" hybrid rtcxtsn all of a sudden stopped eating. Other than that its acting completely normal. It's been about 2 weeks since it last ate. All my other fish are eating like normal. It's in an 800g pool pond. I was thinking maybe it's because of the colder weather, although I live in Florida and the pond is heated to 77 degrees when the temperature rarely drops. It even comes to the surface looking at me for food but spits it out. I've fed it tilapia and shrimp forever and have even tried feeding it scallops and salmon to see if it was just getting bored of its diet but didnt accept that either. Anyone have any suggestions?

Even though you state the other fish are fine I suggest testing your water parameters.

 

[kno4te]

Check the water. If labs are normal and acting fine then watch. Maybe a fasting period. See if any aggression or stress from other fish.

 

[Mfowlie626]

Ya I'll do some testing asap, need to get a new kit since mine expired recently. It's actually the pond boss so I doubt it has to do with aggression. It used to bully my rtc which used to be smaller but has caught up so maybe that has something to do with it. Thanks.

 

[Mfowlie626]

Just an update:
So I did a water test and got .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate. I did a 30% water change and tested again the next day. I got similar results so I decided to add some more biological filtration and it seemed to have worked. Haven't tested again yet but the rtcxtsn ate today. I must of just needdd to extra filtration since they've been growing like crazy. Thanks everyone.

 

[tlindsey]

Great to hear that.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Hey neighbor, yes, the ammonia must read firmly at zero by a liquid API test kit at all times.

The other red flag that jumped out at me is the diet - tilapia fillets are devoid of anything but protein. Shrimp is basically too plus it is high in thiaminase. I presume your fish [1] doesn't get the vitamins, minerals, microelements, enzymes, co-factors, beneficial gut bacteria, plant-derived matter, etc. it needs for a balanced and healthy diet and [2] might be suffering from an onset of the thiaminase problems, that the eventually deadly deficiency of vitamin B1.

I'd diversify the diet, cut the shrimp to less than 20% of the overall diet, and presoak the feed in Vitachem / stuff with quality pellets, also / or offer and make sure it feeds on pellets that offer an all inclusive diet.