Lyretail Anthia issues

[addys]

Hello all this is my first post but I am having issues with 1 of the 3 new Lyretail Anthias I got, on Monday I purchased 3 new Anthias one male and two females brought home acclimated and added to tank with no problems all eating for the first two days swimming around normal until the end of the second day the Male Anthia decided he didn’t want to eat anymore so I started trying different foods including live brine, baby brine, live tiger pods, PE calanus, reef plankton, mysis shrimp, krill, spirulina pretty much anything I could get my hands on and still no desire to eat, at first he would atleast try it and spit it back out but now won’t even do that, I have noticed he seems to be losing color starting to notice a pinched belly and today when I came home he seemed to have a white string hanging below him I am assuming it was either waste or parasite or even empty bowel movements or just mucus from all of the live food etc. if anyone has any idea what I should do moving forward I would love to hear any thoughts, my tank is 120 gallon IM SR stocked with 2 clowns one zebra dart goby, one cardinal, one flasher wrasse and the newer 3 Anthias one male and two females.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello all this is my first post but I am having issues with 1 of the 3 new Lyretail Anthias I got, on Monday I purchased 3 new Anthias one male and two females brought home acclimated and added to tank with no problems all eating for the first two days swimming around normal until the end of the second day the Male Anthia decided he didn’t want to eat anymore so I started trying different foods including live brine, baby brine, live tiger pods, PE calanus, reef plankton, mysis shrimp, krill, spirulina pretty much anything I could get my hands on and still no desire to eat, at first he would atleast try it and spit it back out but now won’t even do that, I have noticed he seems to be losing color starting to notice a pinched belly and today when I came home he seemed to have a white string hanging below him I am assuming it was either waste or parasite or even empty bowel movements or just mucus from all of the live food etc. if anyone has any idea what I should do moving forward I would love to hear any thoughts, my tank is 120 gallon IM SR stocked with 2 clowns one zebra dart goby, one cardinal, one flasher wrasse and the newer 3 Anthias one male and two females.

Please post pics using white light intensity, no blue
Can be intimidation, trauma from netting as examples but pics may offer clues

 

[addys]

Hello all this is my first post but I am having issues with 1 of the 3 new Lyretail Anthias I got, on Monday I purchased 3 new Anthias one male and two females brought home acclimated and added to tank with no problems all eating for the first two days swimming around normal until the end of the second day the Male Anthia decided he didn’t want to eat anymore so I started trying different foods including live brine, baby brine, live tiger pods, PE calanus, reef plankton, mysis shrimp, krill, spirulina pretty much anything I could get my hands on and still no desire to eat, at first he would atleast try it and spit it back out but now won’t even do that, I have noticed he seems to be losing color starting to notice a pinched belly and today when I came home he seemed to have a white string hanging below him I am assuming it was either waste or parasite or even empty bowel movements or just mucus from all of the live food etc. if anyone has any idea what I should do moving forward I would love to hear any thoughts, my tank is 120 gallon IM SR stocked with 2 clowns one zebra dart goby, one cardinal, one flasher wrasse and the newer 3 Anthias one male and two females.

Please post pics using white light intensity, no blue
Can be intimidation, trauma from netting as examples but pics may offer clues

Thank you for the response here are a few pictures and I can also grab video if that would help

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for the response here are a few pictures and I can also grab video if that would help

Fish is indeed a little thin and did you see it eat at time of purchase?
It should have relished the brine shrimp at minimum. Is fish breathing normal or heavy?
I dont see anything that suggests aggression and may again be trauma from capture

 

[addys]

yes i had the LFS feed them for me before buying and they gobbled the live brine up so i got some to bring home to feed them with and still gobbled it up just later that second day the male wouldn't go for it. fish seems to be breathing normal and not hiding. I will be feeding them here soon and can try to get a video of it if that would be able to help more at all. I'm not very familiar with Anthia habits this is my first time keeping them but i have noticed the male and larger female will sometimes swim up to the other while swimming on its side for a little against the other and then slowly go away till it happens again and also the larger female will attempt to do it to the flasher wrasse a few times. i have no idea if this is some kind of order getting established with the anthias or just random

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello all this is my first post but I am having issues with 1 of the 3 new Lyretail Anthias I got, on Monday I purchased 3 new Anthias one male and two females brought home acclimated and added to tank with no problems all eating for the first two days swimming around normal until the end of the second day the Male Anthia decided he didn’t want to eat anymore so I started trying different foods including live brine, baby brine, live tiger pods, PE calanus, reef plankton, mysis shrimp, krill, spirulina pretty much anything I could get my hands on and still no desire to eat, at first he would atleast try it and spit it back out but now won’t even do that, I have noticed he seems to be losing color starting to notice a pinched belly and today when I came home he seemed to have a white string hanging below him I am assuming it was either waste or parasite or even empty bowel movements or just mucus from all of the live food etc. if anyone has any idea what I should do moving forward I would love to hear any thoughts, my tank is 120 gallon IM SR stocked with 2 clowns one zebra dart goby, one cardinal, one flasher wrasse and the newer 3 Anthias one male and two females.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That does sound like a disease process since the fish was eating well and now is not. Trouble is, internal issues are very difficult to identify, and some cannot be treated.

Here is a write-up I did about mucus feces. IMO, this sounds most like coccidia, since the fish isn't eating:

Excess mucus in fish feces:

This will present as white or light colored, stringy fecal material that often hangs from the fish’s anus for a longer than normal period. There are a number of different causes for this, some benign, others very serious. Without access to a microscope, there is little that can be done to diagnose this issue effectively.

Idiopathic mucus feces: this fancy term is just to describe white mucoid bulky feces of no serious consequence, but of an unknown cause. Some suspicion is that this can be caused by changes in diet or diets high in fats.

Starvation: Fish that have no food moving through their bowels may excrete white mucoid feces with little bulk to them. The primary diagnostic for this issue is evident in that the fish won’t been seen to be eating. Resolving the anorexia is of course the prime focus to resolve this issue.

Bacterial infection: internal bacterial infections can cause stringy feces as well. While some of these may resolve on their own, medicated foods containing a broad spectrum, gram negative oral antibiotic may be required.

Metazoan infections: multicellular worms are often blamed for mucoid feces, but in reality, they are almost never the root cause for this, and really, can only be diagnosed through looking for their ova in fecal samples. Fish can harbor tapeworms and nematodes without producing mucoid feces.

Protozoan infection: Hexamita and related diplomonad flagellate protozoans very frequently cause white stringy feces, especially in newly acquired clownfish. Metronidazole is the most frequent treatment for this issue. It can be dosed orally at 25 mg per kg of fish body weight, or 5 g in a kg of food. However, it is a very bitter medication, and some fish will refuse to feed on food containing it. It can be dosed in the water at 25 mg/l, but this is more effective in treating marine fishes, as freshwater fish do not “drink” aquarium water.

Coccidia: These microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled parasites are common diseases in dogs and cats. In fish, they cause epithelial necrosis of the gut, enteritis and the copious production of mucus (Noga 2010). These cannot be diagnosed without microscopic examination, and there is no well researched cure for this in fishes, although Toltrazuril has been tested.

Constipation: This malady is often given as a cause for stringy feces, but it is not as common as one would think. When it is seen, the feces are usually dark, not light in color. Often touted as a “cure for constipation”, many aquarists add Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) to the aquarium’s water – do not do this in marine aquariums, its use is primarily as a tonic/dip for freshwater fish. Seawater formulas already contain between 7 and 19 grams of magnesium sulfate per gallon (depending on the recipe). NSW magnesium level is around 1200 ppm and sulfur is around 840 ppm. Some benefit might be seen using it as a dip in additional concentrations, but adding a small amount to a marine aquarium itself has no benefit. Epsom salts do have some possible benefit when mixed into the food as a 3% by weight adjunct. Another commonly heard remedy for constipation is; “feed fresh peas”. This is an effective cure for fancy goldfish and Malawi cichlids that develop constipation and bloating. Again, overextrapolation has marine aquarists trying to feed peas to carnivorous fish, etc. The best method to enhance gut motility in fish is to feed frozen adult brine shrimp – not as a permanent diet, just long enough to get the constipation resolved.

 

[addys]

Hello all this is my first post but I am having issues with 1 of the 3 new Lyretail Anthias I got, on Monday I purchased 3 new Anthias one male and two females brought home acclimated and added to tank with no problems all eating for the first two days swimming around normal until the end of the second day the Male Anthia decided he didn’t want to eat anymore so I started trying different foods including live brine, baby brine, live tiger pods, PE calanus, reef plankton, mysis shrimp, krill, spirulina pretty much anything I could get my hands on and still no desire to eat, at first he would atleast try it and spit it back out but now won’t even do that, I have noticed he seems to be losing color starting to notice a pinched belly and today when I came home he seemed to have a white string hanging below him I am assuming it was either waste or parasite or even empty bowel movements or just mucus from all of the live food etc. if anyone has any idea what I should do moving forward I would love to hear any thoughts, my tank is 120 gallon IM SR stocked with 2 clowns one zebra dart goby, one cardinal, one flasher wrasse and the newer 3 Anthias one male and two females.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That does sound like a disease process since the fish was eating well and now is not. Trouble is, internal issues are very difficult to identify, and some cannot be treated.

Here is a write-up I did about mucus feces. IMO, this sounds most like coccidia, since the fish isn't eating:

Excess mucus in fish feces:

This will present as white or light colored, stringy fecal material that often hangs from the fish’s anus for a longer than normal period. There are a number of different causes for this, some benign, others very serious. Without access to a microscope, there is little that can be done to diagnose this issue effectively.

Idiopathic mucus feces: this fancy term is just to describe white mucoid bulky feces of no serious consequence, but of an unknown cause. Some suspicion is that this can be caused by changes in diet or diets high in fats.

Starvation: Fish that have no food moving through their bowels may excrete white mucoid feces with little bulk to them. The primary diagnostic for this issue is evident in that the fish won’t been seen to be eating. Resolving the anorexia is of course the prime focus to resolve this issue.

Bacterial infection: internal bacterial infections can cause stringy feces as well. While some of these may resolve on their own, medicated foods containing a broad spectrum, gram negative oral antibiotic may be required.

Metazoan infections: multicellular worms are often blamed for mucoid feces, but in reality, they are almost never the root cause for this, and really, can only be diagnosed through looking for their ova in fecal samples. Fish can harbor tapeworms and nematodes without producing mucoid feces.

Protozoan infection: Hexamita and related diplomonad flagellate protozoans very frequently cause white stringy feces, especially in newly acquired clownfish. Metronidazole is the most frequent treatment for this issue. It can be dosed orally at 25 mg per kg of fish body weight, or 5 g in a kg of food. However, it is a very bitter medication, and some fish will refuse to feed on food containing it. It can be dosed in the water at 25 mg/l, but this is more effective in treating marine fishes, as freshwater fish do not “drink” aquarium water.

Coccidia: These microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled parasites are common diseases in dogs and cats. In fish, they cause epithelial necrosis of the gut, enteritis and the copious production of mucus (Noga 2010). These cannot be diagnosed without microscopic examination, and there is no well researched cure for this in fishes, although Toltrazuril has been tested.

Constipation: This malady is often given as a cause for stringy feces, but it is not as common as one would think. When it is seen, the feces are usually dark, not light in color. Often touted as a “cure for constipation”, many aquarists add Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) to the aquarium’s water – do not do this in marine aquariums, its use is primarily as a tonic/dip for freshwater fish. Seawater formulas already contain between 7 and 19 grams of magnesium sulfate per gallon (depending on the recipe). NSW magnesium level is around 1200 ppm and sulfur is around 840 ppm. Some benefit might be seen using it as a dip in additional concentrations, but adding a small amount to a marine aquarium itself has no benefit. Epsom salts do have some possible benefit when mixed into the food as a 3% by weight adjunct. Another commonly heard remedy for constipation is; “feed fresh peas”. This is an effective cure for fancy goldfish and Malawi cichlids that develop constipation and bloating. Again, overextrapolation has marine aquarists trying to feed peas to carnivorous fish, etc. The best method to enhance gut motility in fish is to feed frozen adult brine shrimp – not as a permanent diet, just long enough to get the constipation resolved.

Thank you for the very detailed and thoughtful response so far today I have tried to feed him twice but still no luck he is still swimming around and interacting with the other fish but definitely doesn’t seem to have much energy, I looked into the coccidia parasite like you mentioned and it says that most times it will only spread in the feces if another fish tries to eat it and is most of the time species specific, is this your experience as well / any recommendations on steps to take going forward ?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for the very detailed and thoughtful response so far today I have tried to feed him twice but still no luck he is still swimming around and interacting with the other fish but definitely doesn’t seem to have much energy, I looked into the coccidia parasite like you mentioned and it says that most times it will only spread in the feces if another fish tries to eat it and is most of the time species specific, is this your experience as well / any recommendations on steps to take going forward ?

Sorry, I don't have a treatment for you if it is coccidia. That can be spread by fish eating another fish's feces. However, it also seems limited to certain species.

 

[Chessmanmark]

Anthias can be tough. A friend recommended a PraziPro dip for these fish.