small clown knife injured eye..

[ng80]

Hi my clown knife has injured its eye i have only had him 3 days. it is enlarged and blood shot looking. i assume he had a fight with a cichlid. he doesnt seem too distressed and tends to hide in the floating weed most of the time.
I have a uv steraliser on the tank and the ususal bumps and scrapes dont tend to get infected.
If he loses the eye will it affect him ? as i gather there eyesight is poor anyway and they use eletric impulses to navigate.
he feeds ok on blood worms but doesnt get many can i get him to eat pellets or am i wasting my time...
any advice would be great..
I will say now i am well aware of how big ck's get.

 

[Dirty Old Man]

Hi my clown knife has injured its eye i have only had him 3 days. it is enlarged and blood shot looking. i assume he had a fight with a cichlid. he doesnt seem too distressed and tends to hide in the floating weed most of the time.
I have a uv steraliser on the tank and the ususal bumps and scrapes dont tend to get infected.
If he loses the eye will it affect him ? as i gather there eyesight is poor anyway and they use eletric impulses to navigate.
he feeds ok on blood worms but doesnt get many can i get him to eat pellets or am i wasting my time...
any advice would be great..
I will say now i am well aware of how big ck's get.

Unfortunately I don't have any answers concerning his eye. Hopefully it'll heal. As for the feeding, I can help you with that. First off, how large is the knife? You can get them to eat pellets amongst other things (Like shrimp from the store, nightcrawlers, etc.)
Get him eating well first. Bulk him up. Get him to eat very healthily for the next 2-3 weeks. That way you know he's doing well. That's where his size comes into play. Depending on his size determines the max length of time you should starve him. If it is less than 3" I wouldn't starve him yet. From 3" - 6" a couple days. 6-12" probably around 6-7 days max. When I moved my 12" clown to a different tank, he wouldn't eat for about 10 days. It really got me worried.
It's important to feed at night when trying new foods and to offer the food you want him to eat every night you're starving him. If the food goes unconsumed by morning, take it out. Try again the next night with a new piece of food.

Some people use garlic extract to get the knives to eat other stuff. If pellets are left in the tank overnight they'll fall apart by morning and will compromise your water quality over time.

If anybody has any corrections or additional advise, by all means pitch in

 

[ng80]

thanks i think i might try a few baby cichlid pellets tonight as they are tiny and float around so they will probably drift into the weed he is hiding in..

 

[ng80]

Just an update and a further question..
The eye is healing although i think the knife is going to be blind in that eye as it is still blod shot..
im thinking of moving him into a community tank for a while so i can make sure he gets his share of food as he is up against some quite fiesty cichlids in the big tanks..
any opinons on movivng him ..
he would be going into a tank with cichlid fry and clown loaches.. as a temporary measure..