Lethargic dispar anthias, no other symptoms. QT?

[KWolfe81]

My tank has been fairly stable with no fish loss for a while. Stats below. I recently added 4 female anthias to the tank courtesy of TSM Aquatics about 9 days ago. Their QT is way more controlled than mine, so I did not QT myself this time around.

For the first week, everyone was happy, eating, look great. In the last two days, one of the anthias has stopped eating, hangs on the bottom, and appears lethargic. Still looks healthy and can swim confidently when it wants to. Maybe she's undergoing a sex change based on color, but don't know for sure. Should I proactively pull and put into QT?

Maybe unrelated event: I saw eggs in the tank for the first time yesterday too.

• Aquarium type: Fish-only, DT
• Size: 120 gallons w/ 30 gallon sump
• Filtration: filter roller, protein skimmer, algae scrubber, 25w UV
• Lighting: 2x ATI Straton
• Established: 9 months
• Livestock: Flame Angel, 4x blue/green chromis, 2x clowns, 2 orchid dottyback, midas blenny, 4 dispar anthias
• Temperature: 79.6 F measured by 2x inkbirds
• pH: 8.1
• Salinity / specific gravity: 1.025 (refractometer)
• Ammonia: undetectable (API)
• Nitrate: 5 ppm (Hanna)

 

[JGT]

How's her size relative to the others? She might be bullied. Se also looks pretty thin. Are you feeding multiple times/day? Mine are always on the go so sluggishness is atypical and not a good sign.

 

[KWolfe81]

She also looks pretty thin. Are you feeding multiple times/day? Mine are always on the go so sluggishness is atypical and not a good sign.

Yea, exactly. I want to say she's getting thinner. 3x daily autopellet feed + 1x frozen at night. Lots of chances to get food, but she's not eating. I haven't seen any bullying going on, but that's not to say it isn't happening. And your right, the other 3 are VERY active. This is atypical.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

great discussions so far on this thread

what is your pod situation in tank?

Might suggest picking up live black worms from freshwater LFS and/or feeding pods

raising tig pods - tiny 2.5g tank experimental culture #2

2nd attempt at raising tig pods is officially underway. Original attempt was outdoor lazy banana leaf method I found online - that is still underway but seems to be failing. Suspect Texas temperature and full day direct sunshine is too much, but that pod culture experiment still underway. 2nd...

forum.dfwmas.org

 

[JGT]

Do you have another tank you could move her to see if that might reduce any stress and get her eating?

 

[KWolfe81]

what is your pod situation in tank?

Might suggest picking up live black worms from freshwater LFS and/or feeding pods

Great idea. It's been probably too long since I last stocked up (>1 month) and I haven't seen any for a little while.

 

[KWolfe81]

Do you have another tank you could move her to see if that might reduce any stress and get her eating?

I should be able to set one up very quickly. If nothing else, if she's got some disease, it'll at least give some isolation.

 

[MnFish1]

My tank has been fairly stable with no fish loss for a while. Stats below. I recently added 4 female anthias to the tank courtesy of TSM Aquatics about 9 days ago. Their QT is way more controlled than mine, so I did not QT myself this time around.

For the first week, everyone was happy, eating, look great. In the last two days, one of the anthias has stopped eating, hangs on the bottom, and appears lethargic. Still looks healthy and can swim confidently when it wants to. Maybe she's undergoing a sex change based on color, but don't know for sure. Should I proactively pull and put into QT?

Maybe unrelated event: I saw eggs in the tank for the first time yesterday too.

• Aquarium type: Fish-only, DT
• Size: 120 gallons w/ 30 gallon sump
• Filtration: filter roller, protein skimmer, algae scrubber, 25w UV
• Lighting: 2x ATI Straton
• Established: 9 months
• Livestock: Flame Angel, 4x blue/green chromis, 2x clowns, 2 orchid dottyback, midas blenny, 4 dispar anthias
• Temperature: 79.6 F measured by 2x inkbirds
• pH: 8.1
• Salinity / specific gravity: 1.025 (refractometer)
• Ammonia: undetectable (API)
• Nitrate: 5 ppm (Hanna)

Thanks for the detail. It seems to me - that anthias in a tank are kind of like discus. They pick on the weakest until that one is gone, and then go for the next one.

 

[czoolander]

Thanks for the detail. It seems to me - that anthias in a tank are kind of like discus. They pick on the weakest until that one is gone, and then go for the next one.

Yup ^^^^ This ^^^^ agree ^^^^

I picked up 5 anthias month and a half ago

3 of them died off from either bullying or disease 1 - 2days into QT 2 - 8 days into Qt and 3 on day 21 and 4- tail nipped almost died but recovered after i added the two remaining into the display tank and they have been thriving since

I feed 1-2 times a day anthias and wrasse

I find the " you need to feed 5-6 times a day for wrasse and anthias " to be a myth.

I mean if you want to feed 5-6 times a day and your system can support that sure why not but i think its a myth and unnessesary to do so . People enjoy feeding their fish so i think over time this has just become acceptable behaviour and we tell ourselves they have short digestive tracts or they are active fish or whatever else we want to say to convince us they need 5-6 feedings a day

Mine are healthy and happy with 1-2 feeds a day