medi Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 I recently lost my lawnmower blenny and my midas blenny within one week of each other. For the past few months both blennies have steadily lost weight and looked more and more emaciated. I observed both of them feeding multiple times throughout the day, but I was never able to get either to gain the weight back that they were losing. I even went so far as to hand feed the midas to make sure it was getting what it needed. Everything else in my tank looks just as fat and happy as always. My question is has anyone ever heard of a parasite or disease that targets the GI tract of just the blenny species? Or does anyone have any thoughts of what might have caused this? I would really like to replace my lawnmower blenny asap, but I'm afraid of any lingering parasites that might cause the same problem over again. Thanks in advance for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 I lost my lawnmower this week as well. He eats a ton of algae as well as nori sheets every other day. This is the second one I have lost to the exact description that you gave. They acted very healthy for well over a month each, but slowly lost weight and form. My watchman goby and foxface are both perfectly normal. I know there are parasites and worms that can cause similar wasting in FW fish, so I am assuming that they had something. I also purchased both of mine from the same place, so it could be something to do with it, but no way to know for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 This isn't really helpful answer but there are intestinal parasites that might explain it. I know from having sent a tang off for lab work (took a year and $200) that there are internal parasites that will present the same basic symptoms and are untreatable (and from what I observed in my tanks suggests it might be contagious or at least comunicable). Also bear in mind we basically only know about diseases at the class level or whats common for ALL bony fish which is the same class level for diseases of ALL mammals. We have essentially no information for order, family or genus level diseases for fish. For reference the cats and dogs are separated at the family level or two steps lower on the taxonomic tree and we know quite a bit about their seperate diseases Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bry Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 My lawnmower blenny did the same thing. Had good energy up until the last couple of days. Just kept getting skinny. I actually think at one point he started to gain then lost it again even though he'd eat. He was about 6 yrs old and that's about the beginning of "old age" for them with some living 9 yrs. Wierd though, just over a week later my 2 yr old copperband butterfly had the same thing. Didn't fight it as long though. I thought it was the blenny's old age until it happened to my copperband, who was always happy and a good eater. All other fish are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 This isn't really helpful answer but there are intestinal parasites that might explain it. I know from having sent a tang off for lab work (took a year and $200) that there are internal parasites that will present the same basic symptoms and are untreatable (and from what I observed in my tanks suggests it might be contagious or at least comunicable). Also bear in mind we basically only know about diseases at the class level or whats common for ALL bony fish which is the same class level for diseases of ALL mammals. We have essentially no information for order, family or genus level diseases for fish. For reference the cats and dogs are separated at the family level or two steps lower on the taxonomic tree and we know quite a bit about their seperate diseases Thanks for the info. That's pretty much what I figured. My bigger concern is is it safe to add a new blenny or am I going to have the same problem with a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 . . . My bigger concern is is it safe to add a new blenny or am I going to have the same problem with a new one. That's a really good question and probably anybodies guess. I quarantine my fish so for me best case it would be 4-6 weeks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoggyDollar Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 My lawnmower blenny did the same thing. Had good energy up until the last couple of days. Just kept getting skinny. I actually think at one point he started to gain then lost it again even though he'd eat. He was about 6 yrs old and that's about the beginning of "old age" for them with some living 9 yrs. Wierd though, just over a week later my 2 yr old copperband butterfly had the same thing. Didn't fight it as long though. I thought it was the blenny's old age until it happened to my copperband, who was always happy and a good eater. All other fish are fine. This is the exact same thing that is happening to my tank right now, except the other way around. I just lost my copperband butterfly two days ago. He was just getting skinnier and skinnier and eventually would not eat the last couple of days. I freshwater dipped him and quarantined him. I treated for parasites but, it was too late. Now, my lawnmower blenny is looking real emaciated and doesn't seem to be eating. I've tried feeding green marine algae... nothing. What should I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoggyDollar Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Oh yeah, the first fish I lost in this tank several months ago was a harptail blenny. Had pretty much the same symptoms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 My lawnmower blenny did the same thing. Had good energy up until the last couple of days. Just kept getting skinny. I actually think at one point he started to gain then lost it again even though he'd eat. He was about 6 yrs old and that's about the beginning of "old age" for them with some living 9 yrs. Wierd though, just over a week later my 2 yr old copperband butterfly had the same thing. Didn't fight it as long though. I thought it was the blenny's old age until it happened to my copperband, who was always happy and a good eater. All other fish are fine. This is the exact same thing that is happening to my tank right now, except the other way around. I just lost my copperband butterfly two days ago. He was just getting skinnier and skinnier and eventually would not eat the last couple of days. I freshwater dipped him and quarantined him. I treated for parasites but, it was too late. Now, my lawnmower blenny is looking real emaciated and doesn't seem to be eating. I've tried feeding green marine algae... nothing. What should I do? Since we don't really know for sure what's going on (Bry, there is the good possibility it was old age with your blennie and something totally unrelated with the butterfly) if it was my tank and assuming there hasn't been a significant change in water parameters recently I would take a wait and see approach and not add anything for at least a couple of months or longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bry Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Well months later I can say that it hasn't happened again. I have only added a sailfin tang and a spiny urchin. I have not done anything to may tank like a cleaning overhaul or add chemicals. All other animals still seem fine. It is still a mystery yet I would totally buy a blenny and copperband again. They were great. I know it's not an answer to what you should do. I think there is nothing at this point. I've read about adding chemicals(medicine) and possibilities but nothing really seem to be a real cure.. just others' ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoggyDollar Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 First off, sorry for hijacking this thread but thanks for the replies. Secondly, good news, I put the lawnmower in my quaratine tank with a parasite dose of meds. He is doing fine now. He plumped right back up in a day's time. I believe he just ran out of food in the DT. It is pretty clean, not much algae and I'm running GFO now. So, I'm going to find him another home. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maritesmacapagal Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Soggy Dollar what kind of parasites med you gave put in the quarantine. thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Soggy Dollar what kind of parasites med you gave put in the quarantine. thanks in advance.The last post is from 6 years ago. I do not think he's even in the hobby anymore.If you had a general question about fish disease, I'd start your own thread and I'm sure plenty will jump on there to help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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