siamese algae eater not eating

[muelleh]

Several weeks ago I noticed that one of my siamese algae eaters had a wound on the side of his head behind his eye. It looked like he might have scratched himself on a piece of slate (cave in the tank made of broken pieces of slate). So I treated the entire tank with Melafix for a week and he healed up nicely. However, around that time and since then, he has not eaten that I have seen, which is unusual behavior for him. I have not seen him eat anything for at least a week, and he is hanging out, kind of hidden, in a big java fern most of the day. I have had him at least 7+ years; he has been in the 55 gal since May 2011. All the water parameters are good and I change 20% of the water Sat., Tues. and Thurs. with Prime.

Last summer I lost an angelfish I'd had as long as the algae eaters and the pattern was the same: he quit eating and became less active and nothing I tried worked. He looked perfectly normal (as does the algae eater)...he just quit eating.

Any idea what this might be and how I can help this poor guy? All the rest of the fish are eating and behaving normally.

Thank you.

 

[I keep fish]

It could be just old age, Otherwise make sure to check for any other injuries and try feeding him right in front of the java fern.

 

[muelleh]

Thank you...

 

[Ziabis]

I have a question about SAE. I just got 2 SAE 2 days ago. All of my Beard algae is GONE. Now I am afraid that they will get hungry. Should I toss in some vegetables or pellets? Or do I really need to worry?

 

[muelleh]

Mine eat what the rest of the fish eat: frozen bloodworms (thawed), flakes, algae wafers, shrimp pellets, and even nibble on cucumber.

The one, however, is stlll not eating. I noticed that his whiskers are gone so I fear a bacterial infection. Am trying to get a QT tank up and running for him but have weird ammonia readings.