Dead Anthia

[TylerDurden]

Hey everyone, looking for some insight. I added three Lyretail Anthias (females) to my tank yesterday. They were shy and stayed mostly in one corner, not eating yet but otherwise seemed okay. This morning, I found one dead on the sand.

Notably:

• It had white marks on the body
• Both eyes were gone
• The other two Anthias are still alive but hiding deep in the rocks, so I can’t catch them without tearing down the aquascape.

Water parameters are stable (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <10, salinity 1.025, temp 78.5°F).

Could this have been acclimation stress? Or maybe aggression or a parasite? And any tips on what to do about the remaining two—should I just leave them be and monitor, or try to trap them somehow?

I got them 3 weeks ago at my LFS.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey everyone, looking for some insight. I added three Lyretail Anthias (females) to my tank yesterday. They were shy and stayed mostly in one corner, not eating yet but otherwise seemed okay. This morning, I found one dead on the sand.

Notably:

• It had white marks on the body
• Both eyes were gone
• The other two Anthias are still alive but hiding deep in the rocks, so I can’t catch them without tearing down the aquascape.

Water parameters are stable (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <10, salinity 1.025, temp 78.5°F).

Could this have been acclimation stress? Or maybe aggression or a parasite? And any tips on what to do about the remaining two—should I just leave them be and monitor, or try to trap them somehow?

I got them 3 weeks ago at my LFS.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Are there any other fish in the tank?
Do you know the salinity of the tank they were in compared to your display?
What were they treated with before going into the display?

 

[TylerDurden]

I don’t know the alkalinity at the LFS. I have two clown fish, one neon back one hawk and recently added a Tomini Tang. They were all medicated at LFS

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I don’t know the alkalinity at the LFS. I have two clown fish, one neon back one hawk and recently added a Tomini Tang. They were all medicated at LFS

Oh, I thought you held them in another tank yourself.

Call the LFS and ask what the salinity of their tank was and compare it to yours and let me know. At the same time, ask what the fish were treated with.

The missing eyes was probably from some invertebrate scavenging after it died. The white spots could also be that, or it could have been damage from another fish while it was still alive.

Let me know if the other two are still eating today.