Emaciated rabbitfish?

blugar44 · 06/26/2017, 01:28 AM

Hi all,
A day or so ago, I bought a rabbitfish that we had shipped into the LFS I work at. It was less of a purchase and more of a rescue, as when we unbagged it about a week ago, it was shockingly emaciated. Emaciated is an understatement here -- you can see the tip of each rib on its belly, and it hangs its mouth open since it's obviously lacking any muscle in its jaw.
We treated it with prazi since we suspected intestinal parasites, and fed it as much as possible. It does eat, but it's a slow process as it struggles to nibble and graze due to aforementioned lack of muscle.

The boss let me take it home to give it the best possible chance, since it isn't feasible for us to keep him in a quarantine tank by himself. He's had to compete with others from the same shipment with little success.

He's currently in a mature refugium that I've isolated to act as a quarantine while still making sure there's plenty of microorganisms and algae to graze on, as well as a mature biological cycle. He's still trying to eat, inhaling tiny amounts of food. I've been soaking frozen food mixes in garlic, as well as adding plenty of nori.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? I've seriously never seen a fish so skinny. It's disturbing. Should I be doing anything differently? Any ideas on what the cause could be? Give me false hope that he can make a full recovery too, thanks!

06/26/2017, 01:28 AM	#1
blugar44 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 20	Emaciated rabbitfish? Hi all, A day or so ago, I bought a rabbitfish that we had shipped into the LFS I work at. It was less of a purchase and more of a rescue, as when we unbagged it about a week ago, it was shockingly emaciated. Emaciated is an understatement here -- you can see the tip of each rib on its belly, and it hangs its mouth open since it's obviously lacking any muscle in its jaw. We treated it with prazi since we suspected intestinal parasites, and fed it as much as possible. It does eat, but it's a slow process as it struggles to nibble and graze due to aforementioned lack of muscle. The boss let me take it home to give it the best possible chance, since it isn't feasible for us to keep him in a quarantine tank by himself. He's had to compete with others from the same shipment with little success. He's currently in a mature refugium that I've isolated to act as a quarantine while still making sure there's plenty of microorganisms and algae to graze on, as well as a mature biological cycle. He's still trying to eat, inhaling tiny amounts of food. I've been soaking frozen food mixes in garlic, as well as adding plenty of nori. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? I've seriously never seen a fish so skinny. It's disturbing. Should I be doing anything differently? Any ideas on what the cause could be? Give me false hope that he can make a full recovery too, thanks!