Lyretail Anthias QT Questions

[cnote2991]

-Are Lyretails difficult to get through TTM?
-Are they known to be poor shippers?
-Do they need water flow to stay healthy while doimg TTM?
-Is it too hot right now to expect them to ship healthy?

I have tried 2 different groups this past 6 weeks with no success.

1st group of 4 females and 1 male from LiveAquaria. 2 females DOA. The remaining 3 did not make it to the 3rd day. They were in a 10g with heater, airstone, and PVC. I also got a tank bred clown with the same order and he made it through QT just fine.

2nd group of 8 females and 1 male from LA also. This time I put them in a cycled 20g long using an aquaclear 50, heater, airstone, mj400, ammonia alert, and LOTS of PVC pieces. I thought water flow might work better.
All seemed healthy upon arrival. I started with prazi on day 1. 4 females died within 3 days. Every morning another would be dead. I did a 90% water change on day 4 to see if the absence of prazi would help them eat. Yesterday the male died and now another female dead this morning. It has been 5 days since they arrived.
Since the male died 1 female has become pretty aggressive toward the others. There was no aggression displayed before. They will barely eat anything. Not even Nutramar Ova. The male never even ate and spit like the others.

QT tanks were SG matched to 1.020 like they were shipped. Fish were Temp matched and released. No drip.

None of the fish would go inside the PVC. they would hide beside it or just hang out next to heater or filter.

Can anyone offer any advise or tips getting them through QT? Pretty discouraged right now. Lots of time and work and I have no idea if the last 3 will make it through QT. I would really like a large group in my DT but I am wondering how i will ever get them through QT and if some will try to turn to males of done is batches.

 

[Humblefish]

Considering the heat, right now is probably not the best time to be ordering fish online. The fall would be better. I've run anthias thru TTM a few times, but I did use a couple of 20L to provide more swimming space. Another possibility is the anthias are coming in with velvet, which is running rampant thru the wholesalers right now. You'd need to treat with copper or CP for velvet; TTM doesn't work on that.

 

[cnote2991]

Can velvet kill that quickly with no visible symptoms?

The only fish that showed any kind of symptom was the last male. He was breathing heavy and not very active about an hour before he died.

I will probably wait until the fall to try again, but I would like to know your thoughts on using copper or other meds that cause appetite suppression on picky eaters like anthias. Should I start dosing copper from day 1? They start dropping off so fast that I am thinking I should. How long would you take to get to full dose if you suspected velvet?

 

[Humblefish]

Can velvet kill that quickly with no visible symptoms?

Yes, velvet can easily kill a fish within 72 hrs if left untreated. The dinospores often invade the gills first, and the fish dies due to asphyxiation before visible symptoms can ever manifest on the skin. However, there are usually key behavioral symptoms of velvet to watch out for that I list here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

Should I start dosing copper from day 1? They start dropping off so fast that I am thinking I should. How long would you take to get to full dose if you suspected velvet?

Chloroquine phosphate is actually a better treatment for velvet than copper. You also can provide temporary relief for velvet by administering a 5 min FW dip, and/or a formalin or acriflavine bath.

 

[cnote2991]

I really didn't see any behavioral symptoms that you listed besides loss of appetite. These being anthias I just figured that was normal. I did see the male breathing heavily right before he died but I think it was too late by then.

Would you recommend the fw and acriflavine dips as preventative medicine on new arrivals before they go into qt?

 

[Humblefish]

Would you recommend the fw and acriflavine dips as preventative medicine on new arrivals before they go into qt?

I would only do them if the fish had velvet (or brook); or was coming from a velvet (or brook) infested environment. But not as a general preventative.

 

[Fenzinna]

-Are Lyretails difficult to get through TTM?
-Are they known to be poor shippers?
-Do they need water flow to stay healthy while doimg TTM?
-Is it too hot right now to expect them to ship healthy?

I have tried 2 different groups this past 6 weeks with no success.

1st group of 4 females and 1 male from LiveAquaria. 2 females DOA. The remaining 3 did not make it to the 3rd day. They were in a 10g with heater, airstone, and PVC. I also got a tank bred clown with the same order and he made it through QT just fine.

2nd group of 8 females and 1 male from LA also. This time I put them in a cycled 20g long using an aquaclear 50, heater, airstone, mj400, ammonia alert, and LOTS of PVC pieces. I thought water flow might work better.
All seemed healthy upon arrival. I started with prazi on day 1. 4 females died within 3 days. Every morning another would be dead. I did a 90% water change on day 4 to see if the absence of prazi would help them eat. Yesterday the male died and now another female dead this morning. It has been 5 days since they arrived.
Since the male died 1 female has become pretty aggressive toward the others. There was no aggression displayed before. They will barely eat anything. Not even Nutramar Ova. The male never even ate and spit like the others.

QT tanks were SG matched to 1.020 like they were shipped. Fish were Temp matched and released. No drip.

None of the fish would go inside the PVC. they would hide beside it or just hang out next to heater or filter.

Can anyone offer any advise or tips getting them through QT? Pretty discouraged right now. Lots of time and work and I have no idea if the last 3 will make it through QT. I would really like a large group in my DT but I am wondering how i will ever get them through QT and if some will try to turn to males of done is batches.

Of my own experiences with ordering anthias from LA I had a casualty each time in shipping. None of 8 made it through. I was doing Resplendents. When you did your WC, did you use water from your display or fresh mix? My fresh mixed IO mixes with .5-1ppm ammonia. You could have accidentally torched them with ammonia stress on top of shipping stress. Your badge may not have alerted you.