Is there anything to help an ignitus anthia in QT?

[myinvalidname]

I have three ignitus anthias in QT since Wednesday. I’ve been feeding 6-10 times a day with ROE eggs. And I’m running with an ammonia alert badge to monitor ammonia with all the feedings. One has been less active than the others since I brought the home, but was originally eating well. But today it’s breathing is more labored and it’s laying on the bottom of the tank. I’m wondering if there’s anything else I can do to help this fish.

After reading that these guys are susceptible to bacterial infections, I dosed some EM Erythromycin as a prophylactic measure after the first day.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Edit: I haven’t observed any behavior that suggests parasites, so I haven’t yet treated with prazipro or coppersafe.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Labored breathing can certainly be a primary symptom of parasites. Any fin damage that might suggest another fish is picking on it? What size is the QT?

Erythromycin can disrupt your nitrifying bacteria, do you have another ammonia test than just the badge? I’ve found these don’t always work well in reading lower ammonia levels, and with this species, you’ll want to provide the best possible water conditions.

Jay

 

[myinvalidname]

The QT is 20gallons and these guys are about an inch long. I’m not measuring with any other tests since I dosed a little bit of prime, which other tests don’t discriminate bound vs free ammonia.
Do you suggest dosing some prazipro?
I’m half way through a full water change on the QT right now.

There is no aggression. And no fin damage.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Oh, super tiny anthias, that explains the 6x ROE feedings! To be honest, I have very little successful experience with tiny anthias, I’ll want to defer to others on specific issues with those!
Prazi would be safe, but to be honest, the flukes that it would control do not cause rapid breathing in just one fish, early on like this. Rapid breathing and lack of feeding in just one fish are more often a result of aggression issues, or the start of a protozoan issue. I hate using copper on small anthias, but coppersafe would be the safest if you go that route.
Do you know where these fish were collected?
Jay

 

[myinvalidname]

Oh, super tiny anthias, that explains the 6x ROE feedings! To be honest, I have very little successful experience with tiny anthias, I’ll want to defer to others on specific issues with those!
Prazi would be safe, but to be honest, the flukes that it would control do not cause rapid breathing in just one fish, early on like this. Rapid breathing and lack of feeding in just one fish are more often a result of aggression issues, or the start of a protozoan issue. I hate using copper on small anthias, but coppersafe would be the safest if you go that route.
Do you know where these fish were collected?
We

I’ve been wanting some anthias for a while, but didn’t want the more common lyretail anthias because of their aggression. From my reading the ignitus anthias are much more passive.

I don’t know how they were collected.

I did try a freshwater bath to try to temporarily relieve a gill issue. I didn’t want to add stress to the fish, but felt like I needed to try something. I pulled it out after about 45 seconds because of perceived stress.

I did dose prazipro after the water change. The fish of concern has what appears to be better breathing, but still far from normal.

 

[myinvalidname]

I started a 1/4 dose of coppersafe. I’m going to observe and ramp the dose.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I started a 1/4 dose of coppersafe. I’m going to observe and ramp the dose.

I looked online, ignatius seem to be mostly collected in the Maldives, so aside from the long supply chain from there, at least they were net collected.
I take coppersafe to full dose in 24 hours, or more often, I just go right to 100%. My only hesitation here is that the fish are small anthias.
Jay

 

[myinvalidname]

I looked online, ignatius seem to be mostly collected in the Maldives, so aside from the long supply chain from there, at least they were net collected.
I take coppersafe to full dose in 24 hours, or more often, I just go right to 100%. My only hesitation here is that the fish are small anthias.
Jay

I appreciate the advice and the time Jay. Glad to have here at Reef2Reef.