please help my firefish :'(

We bought this firefish a couple of weeks ago. He was so beautiful we just couldn't pass him up. Now he's sickly skinny. He's eating normally but not retaining any nutrition from the food. Wet web media said it is from the cyanide they use to take them out of the ocean.That there is nothing we can do. The damage has been done and he will starve to death no matter how much he eats. How is this possible? There must be something we can do!

And why is using cyanide ok? If this is what it does to fish, why is the method still being used? These fish are suffering! And no one thinks this is torture?

I know this is a terrible picture but the white lights don't come on until noon. You can still see how skinny he is.

 

Capturing with cyanide is illegal in most areas and banned from practice, However this does not mean so do not do it. I would question where you got the fish and make them aware of this and if it is truly the case they should stop acquiring fish from their supplier.

There was a good thread a little while back about this and a test you can do to tell whether or not your fish was caught using this method without harming the fish ( the old method required killing a fish to test for the whole batch)

 

Cannot seem to find that thread. If it is cyanide though any way i can reverse it?

 

I do not believe so, if that was the method used then a large percentage die immediately from the poison, many more during transports, and even quite a quite a few more weeks after. THe percentage of fish surviving are very low which is why it was banned. I am sure others will chime in maybe someone can point you to some threads to help

 

I would be more inclined to think internal parasites first, and treat is possible for that.

 

I haven't had to deal with parasites before. How do I start diagnosing/treating? Are my other fish at risk aswell?

 

Oh darlin my heart is breaking for both the fish and you. Having to watch this has to be horrible. This fish is suffering for sure...please don't allow this to go on to long

 

thank you. I havent been home in about a week. my boyfriend said he was so thin and he didnt want me to see him. when i woke up this morning (the lights were off when I came home last night). I couldnt believe my eyes. My heart broke. I was in complete shock I had no idea how bad it had gotten he was completely fine last week (as far as I could tell). I am going to do all that I can to save him as long as he continues to swim around and eat. once he starts to look lethargic and stops eating I will not let him suffer anymore.

 

just did some research on parasites and none of the symptoms apply...he is eating and swimming fine, there are no visible marks or lesions.

 

I'm getting a little bit annoyed. I came here for help. my fish is seriously sick. my eyes are bleeding from all the research I've been doing. and none of you are giving me any advice at all. this is a forum. we are supposed to bounce ideas off eachother and help eachother. other memebers post pictures and get dozens of ooohs and ahhhs...but when I'm in serious need of advice I get two possible ideas and one concern? 92 of you have viewed this thread and only 3 of you have responded with any kind of thought? I'm a little dissapointed in you 3reef.