# severum not eating



## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

hi everyone, i have not seen my severum eat in the last week or so.

he is sitting and not moving alot, close to the bottom of the tank under the floating anubias. he looks like he is kind of gasping more often also.

water parameters are fine, same as always. i feed nls sinking pellets and he has always eaten great, but recently he shows zero interest in the food.

very strange, his color is fine, all other fish are fine, dont know what could be wrong.

any ideas?


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Gill flukes maybe with the gasping. have you added any new fish recently?


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

no, i moved about 2 months ago and havnt added any fish or plants. what is gill flukes?


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Parasites that infest the host fishes gills and make it very difficult for them to breathe. Sometimes they're big enough you can see them. It's pretty easy to treat. Might be something else but that's what comes to mind from the symptoms you describe.


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## Ape-Fish (Jul 1, 2006)

Keep us posted and start a thread in the treatment threads. Just as a general indication - i would increase water changes if you have any nitrates present. My severums seem to prefer 10% or more water change every day, so that the nitrates are kept below 2 ppm. Otherwise my severums are prone to minor fin clouding and discomfort.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

*** been keping up with water changes, feeding once per day instead of two to avoid nitrates, watching closely etc.

its a week later and when i posted this it was almost two weeks since he ate and he still has not sniffed any food while i have been watching.

color looks fine, still hanging close to the bottom. swims around and explores here and there, but behaviorally really no change. the gasping i think was really a one time thing that freaked me out, it hasnt been an issue. what is wrong with my severum?

i may be insane, but im going to take one out of the waynes world book... i think hes just really bored. is that possible? i swear, his body language just screams "im bored as ****"

i dont know, he just doesnt show interest in things the way he used to when he shared the tank with the female gt. i removed her when i moved and moved my 4 keyholes to his tank for better long term stock. hes kind of a rough customer (doesnt bother the keyholes) and im getting vibes that he misses his running mate. is

does anyone have any suggestions as to what may be wrong with him? im starting to think hes not sick, just not happy.


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## Isis24 (Dec 10, 2008)

I don't know what's wrong with your Sev, but I started to have the same suspicion as you about my kribensis female. She lost her mate in an unfortunate accident, and after that...she stopped eating. 6 weeks went by without her eating anything. Nothing! not even one little bite. She was the only fish in all of my tanks that was "ill". I transferred her to a hospital tank and treated her for parasites, just in case. That didn't change anything. I euthanized her a couple of weeks ago because I couldn't take it any longer. I felt soo bad for her. I never figured out what was wrong, and none of my other fish are ill. I really think that she got depressed after she lost her mate. I never did get her a new mate though... I think I was too afraid that it wouldn't change anything.

I really hope that you figure out what's wrong with your Sev, and I really hope he gets better. I'm so attached to my Sev, and I can imagine that you are, too. Please let us know if anything changes!


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

thanks isis24. what made you think your fish had parasites? is this a possibility for me maybe?

where in va are you headed?


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## Isis24 (Dec 10, 2008)

I didn't really think she had parasites. I posted a thread in the illness subforum, and that's the only suggestion I got... her stomach was sunken in, but not until the very end of her fasting streak. My logic tells me that she was thin because she wasn't eating!! I didn't know what else to do, and I figured that the meds wouldn't hurt her, so might as well try.

So in short, I didn't think she had parasites, but I couldn't think of anything else that I could fix. I don't know much about fish illnesses, so you may want to post something in the illness section of the forum. They may come up with something you haven't thought of. You never know!

I'll be moving to Norfolk in a couple of weeks  I'm starting med school there.


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

have you tried feeding live earthworms? Those should take his attention.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

isis24, congrats! thank ou for the niformation.

hi ruurd, thanks for chiming in. congrats on all the success with your beautiful discus. i have been following closely!
i will try the earthworms. kind of funny, but i used to throw some in when i still had the gt and my sev really ignored them. the gt, she did not ignore them, she tore into them. i will give it another shot!


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

interesting night. i couldnt find any earthworms. i decided to try cooked/shelled peas. this has always been a favorite of my severum.

i threw them in and he perked up a bit. he came out from where he was hanging out and checked out the peas. he hovered over them and actually grabbed two different ones in his mouth but spit them out and i never saw him actually eat any of the peas.

he was definetely showing interest, but never actually ate any that i saw. i left and there were peas still sitting on the sand, i will go in a minute to see if there are any gone.

do these behaviors sound strange or indicitave to anyone? maybe hes just frustrated and needs a girlfriend. i cant say i would blame him if that was the case.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

i fed live blackworms the other day and he showed no interest. i take that as a bad sign.
i guess i will just keep up the water changes and hope for the best.

thanks for all the help.


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## TK220 (Mar 24, 2008)

I'm guessing that your fish is not actually bored and probably needs medical treatment. I would start with Metro+ or Jungle Parasite clear in an attempt to treat any parasites.

If this does not work than you can treat with an antibiotic in the event that it is actually a bacterial infection (try Maracyn)

Do you have a hospital or quarantine tank you can move him to for treatment?

In my experience, fish that stop eating will not just start eating again after a couple of months without treatment.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

i agree, problem is i just dont know what i am treating him for. other than not eating, he really is showing no symptoms. hes not losing weight/looking sunken, color is great, just a bit less active than normal.

thanks for the advice, i will see what i can do. i dont currently have another tank i could use to treat him, i just moved so one tank for now.

thank you for the advice and good luck with your treatment. i saw your thread about the chocolate and acara, best of luck to you.


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## Isis24 (Dec 10, 2008)

Sevs are great fish, and I'm sure you're attached to yours. I really hope that your Sev gets better. Are you going to try medicating? I agree about trying to treat him--at this point, it can't possibly hurt. But also remember that it seems that the only things we can treat for are bacteria, fungus, and parasites. There could be other reasons your Severum is sick, and we can't really treat our fish for those things.

Please keep us posted. I hope your Severum gets better


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

thanks isis24, i hope he gets better too. im gonna go by the store today and pick up some meds to see if they help.

i figure i will just keep posting things i notice and maybe someone will recognize a symptom or behavior and i can get a better idea of what i am treating. heres my latest...

i found another food that he showed serious interest in. he loves algae wafers and i tried them again yesterday. he was definetely interested and picked them up a bunch of times, but every time he spit them out them started opening his mouth real wide after he had spit them out. it almost looked like he really wanted to eat them but couldnt? could he have some kind of blockage?


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

Once a fish hasn't been eating for more two weeks...your chances go way down. At this point, you don't have much to lose. I would do one of 3 things...all involve a hospital tank.

1) Treat like the Bloat sticky suggests..with Clout--though I do daily water changes with it. Clout is very strong...but it kills most parasites.

2) Treat with Flagyl / Metro....similar to the above treatment.

3) Treat with Furan 2 at full dose and a malachite green ich medicine at 1/2 dose(don't use one with more ingredients).

4) Try epsom salt to free any blockage....then, if you are sure he is clear, you can force feed using a syringe, and a small fry food/water mixture ( only small quantities). Force feed a few times, then try one of his favorites.

I have done all of these, with some success. But not with 100 percent. Just assume the worst case.....then pick one of the methods and try.

***One other thing...Severums like warm water, make sure that it's at least 80 degrees. If it's to cold, he won't have much of an appetite.


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