[mstnquaw]

My lion is sick, I have had him over a year and he is by far my favorite fish ever. He has always had so much personality. Recently while I was going thru some treatments that make me very sick. I let my regular cleaning of my tank lapse. I checked the water parameters and found my Nitrates to be around 100 which I know is AWFUL. I immediatly started doing intense water changes until I got them back down to 10 ppm. My nitrites are 0ppm and ph is 8.4, ammonia is 0, salinty is 1.023 and temp is 76. He stopped eating so I thought it was from nitrate poisoning but I read that they will come back around given time and proper water parameters. I tried enticing him with live feeders just because he wouldn't take anything else and he did go after it but when he did he hit his face really hard on the tank side when darting for the fish. Ever since he will not even try to eat. It has been almost 6 weeks since he has ate anything. Although he does not look like he is starving yet. All my other fish which include a yellow tang and a blue devil damsel are doing great. My lionfish just sits on the bottom facing a corner and nothing esle. I was trying to entice him to take some squid the other day and when I got it close to him he moved away from it a little, but enough to get himself facing down into the crushed corral and sand. He was trying to swim back to his corner I assume but he just acted like he couldnt steer, he was face first into the sand and was swimming straight down, to the point that sand was coming out his gills. I had to take my feeder stick and get him turned and he wiggled back into the corner straight ahead of him and has been there ever since. My question is, when he rammed into the glass chasing the feeder could he have damaged whatever it is that controlls his steering and swimming abilities?

Pleas help,
Wendy

[WhatReef]

i highly doubt he damaged anything i have a lion fish as wel if you let the water get to bad they will start to form a slim over there body i dunno if this is your case but do his eyes appear to be glazed over if so this is from bad water conditions , the lion fish have a mucas that surrounds there bodys and keeps parasite off them and if they get a parasite or disease they usually will shed the mucas off there body, the best treatment would be hypo salinty gradually add non salt water to your QT tank lowering the salt level in the tank to about 1.009 to 1.010 but make sure you watch the water closely and watch the fish he should inprove over time(week or two) depending on how sick he is and also if you are feeding him the same food all the time it can cause a blockage in his intestines, try mixing up his diet cause lockjaw can also occur and that i dont know how to fix lol good luck

[mothergoose]

Wendy,
I have a dwarf lion that I just love to death. He is only 3 inches long and I have only had him for about 3 weeks. I'm not sure how to help with your fish but I wish you luck. Keep us posted.
thanks,
Nina

[WhatReef]

i went home today and found my lion fish floating dead that sucks

[mothergoose]

I better go check on mine this must be going around. Sorry for your loss.