Lyretail Anthias swimming on its side and hiding after QT

wheresmypistolshrimp

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Over a month ago I purchased some green chromis and male lyretail anthias and started their qt. Considering they are high risk for Uronema, I started by doing a reef rally bath for 90 minutes, transferred them to the qt tank where I started treating them with metroplex (total 14 days in water column and food mixed with focus) and first 3 days included prazipro. After about 4 days, some of the Chromis began to show ulcers similar to what you see in Uronema so I started treating with Kanaplex and Nitrofurazone in qt tank along with metroplex. During this time the anthias seem to have developed white patchy fuzz on his side which I assumed was either a secondary bacterial infection or uronema infection so I repeated the reef rally bath only on the anthias. The bath cause the white fuzzy stuff to fall off and a uronema-like sore was left. I continued to treat all fish for a total of 14 days of metroplex (in water and food), Kannaplex and Nitrofurazone for about 10 days in conjunction with metroplex, and prazipro during the first 3 days, and at the end of all the antibiotic treatments. They have been in qt for about 30 tank days now, no signs or risk of ich so I did not treat them with copper considering they were battling uronema. As far as medicated food, some fish ate it, others didnt, so I would feed unmedicated food like flakes and brine shrimp in the evening to ensure everyone ate. I only lost 1 chromis out of 12 and all seem to have recovered, look healthy, and are ready to be transferred to dt.

The male lyretail anthias, however, was active during the first two weeks in qt, and for the last 2-3 weeks he has been hiding this whole time under the sponge filter. I have never seen him eat in the past 3 weeks, but I assume he's been eating whatever would float by otherwise how is he alive? I took him out and placed him in a small bucket to observe him, and he mostly just floats on his side. When he swims, he almost looks like one of those big goldfish, without good coordination. I did notice he looks "fat" or has distended abdomen could it be swim bldder issues? I wouldn't expect him to be so fat considering I never see him eat and he's been hiding under the sponge filter this whole time. I also noticed some white poop, does not look stringy so Im assuming he has not been eating well.

I have included a video. Any suggestions of what could be going on? Swim bladder issues, neurological issues, parasites? Should I treat him for anything, put him in DT, euthanize?
 

Jay Hemdal

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Over a month ago I purchased some green chromis and male lyretail anthias and started their qt. Considering they are high risk for Uronema, I started by doing a reef rally bath for 90 minutes, transferred them to the qt tank where I started treating them with metroplex (total 14 days in water column and food mixed with focus) and first 3 days included prazipro. After about 4 days, some of the Chromis began to show ulcers similar to what you see in Uronema so I started treating with Kanaplex and Nitrofurazone in qt tank along with metroplex. During this time the anthias seem to have developed white patchy fuzz on his side which I assumed was either a secondary bacterial infection or uronema infection so I repeated the reef rally bath only on the anthias. The bath cause the white fuzzy stuff to fall off and a uronema-like sore was left. I continued to treat all fish for a total of 14 days of metroplex (in water and food), Kannaplex and Nitrofurazone for about 10 days in conjunction with metroplex, and prazipro during the first 3 days, and at the end of all the antibiotic treatments. They have been in qt for about 30 tank days now, no signs or risk of ich so I did not treat them with copper considering they were battling uronema. As far as medicated food, some fish ate it, others didnt, so I would feed unmedicated food like flakes and brine shrimp in the evening to ensure everyone ate. I only lost 1 chromis out of 12 and all seem to have recovered, look healthy, and are ready to be transferred to dt.

The male lyretail anthias, however, was active during the first two weeks in qt, and for the last 2-3 weeks he has been hiding this whole time under the sponge filter. I have never seen him eat in the past 3 weeks, but I assume he's been eating whatever would float by otherwise how is he alive? I took him out and placed him in a small bucket to observe him, and he mostly just floats on his side. When he swims, he almost looks like one of those big goldfish, without good coordination. I did notice he looks "fat" or has distended abdomen could it be swim bldder issues? I wouldn't expect him to be so fat considering I never see him eat and he's been hiding under the sponge filter this whole time. I also noticed some white poop, does not look stringy so Im assuming he has not been eating well.

I have included a video. Any suggestions of what could be going on? Swim bladder issues, neurological issues, parasites? Should I treat him for anything, put him in DT, euthanize?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The anthias does appear to be positively buoyant. Could it have been bracing itself under the sponge filter to keep it from bobbing upwards? There are not a lot (any?) treatment options for that.

Internal Uronema has no workable cure, despite what you'll read. By the time you see the lesions on the skin's surface, the tissue damage has already been done. Chloroquine does seem to reduce free-living Uronema. Here is a link to an article I wrote on this:


To be honest, I "treat" Uronema by avoiding the "big three" - green chromis, lyretail anthias and yellow coris wrasse.

Jay
 
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wheresmypistolshrimp

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Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The anthias does appear to be positively buoyant. Could it have been bracing itself under the sponge filter to keep it from bobbing upwards? There are not a lot (any?) treatment options for that.

Internal Uronema has no workable cure, despite what you'll read. By the time you see the lesions on the skin's surface, the tissue damage has already been done. Chloroquine does seem to reduce free-living Uronema. Here is a link to an article I wrote on this:


To be honest, I "treat" Uronema by avoiding the "big three" - green chromis, lyretail anthias and yellow coris wrasse.

Jay
Thank you for your response. I do think this whole time he was bracing himself under the sponge filter. And I agree, the best form of treatment is prevention, however, I have always really wanted these two types of fish.

Are you suggesting it may be due to internal uronema damage? I feel terrible but I think I will proceed to euthanize the fish.

Regarding the chromis, now that I have treated them with multiple antibiotics and do not see any signs Uronema, when is it safe to introduce them to the dt? I am actually now second-guessing if I really want the chromis in the tank. I would not want to risk the rest of my fish getting Uronema. Since it's been over 30 days without signs of ich, is it necessary to treat with copper at this point?
 

MnFish1

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Agree with Jay - it could also be possible that there is some medication toxicity causing an illness - that may not be infectious. I know this is not a big help - but - at least its another options
 

Jay Hemdal

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Thank you for your response. I do think this whole time he was bracing himself under the sponge filter. And I agree, the best form of treatment is prevention, however, I have always really wanted these two types of fish.

Are you suggesting it may be due to internal uronema damage? I feel terrible but I think I will proceed to euthanize the fish.

Regarding the chromis, now that I have treated them with multiple antibiotics and do not see any signs Uronema, when is it safe to introduce them to the dt? I am actually now second-guessing if I really want the chromis in the tank. I would not want to risk the rest of my fish getting Uronema. Since it's been over 30 days without signs of ich, is it necessary to treat with copper at this point?
No, the anthias being buoyant is unrelated to Uronema, but we see them get it a lot.
The chromis are a very low risk for introducing Uronema since it isn’t very contagious. I always quarantine fish with copper if they are moving into a tank with other fish.
Jay
 

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