clown knife not eating

Question
i have a african clown knife fish in a 125 gal reef ready aquarium it is approx 28 inches long and a year old now my ph ammonia and nitrate levels are all in the normal range i do weekly partial water changes. she has always eaten with a vengence and been a joy to watch swim the tank and feed. the last 3 weeks she stays in one end of the tank and is no longer interested in the gold fish i had been feeding her, the last batch of goldfish i purchased were larger than normal and i thought that maybe they being larger she just wasn't needing to eat as many as she usually does. i have purchased small goldfish thinking that this might bring back her appitite but with no results i have since removed the large goldfish and she only has smalls now with a few minnows. she shows no signs of any surface disease or unusual marks, i am at a loss any ideas. thanks jeff tuell

Answer
Hi Jeff;

She may have picked up an internal parasite or something from the feeder fish. Feeder fish are not usually in very good physical shape once we tank them home. It causes any underlying pathogens already present in the feeders to multiply while they are under stress. It's really hard to treat fish for internal problems too when they don't eat and we can't say for sure that it's the problem anyway. I'm just not sure what it could be.

It's also possible she has reached her limit in that tank and needs a bigger one now. You might want to cruise around on the following site and maybe post a question for the knife experts there;

www.allthingsknife.net

I wish I had a better answer for you.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins