What is this on Anthias?

[ReefCheef]

I’ve had a school of Anthias for about two weeks now. One arrived DOA. Two arrived almost DOA. The two sick ones died in the first 3 days leaving me with 7.

The 7 healthy survivors have been eating like pigs and everything going well. The biggest female has been noticably picked on by the male and now all the smaller females are picking on her too.

She spends most of her time hiding out swimming alone instead of with the school. One of her fins has been mangled by the what I can only assume is the male. She has been eating sporadically which gives me hope, but I noticed this “flake” on her today. It looks like a scale is flaking off or something. Is it some type of fluke or worm? Any ideas?

f its something I can treat for and not just recovering from bullying I’d like to do what I can to help her.

You can see a little white fleck in the pictures just behind her gills. Not professional photos but did the best I can.

@Jay Hemdal

 

[NJDragonet]

I'm a bit stumped on this one, on one hand it looks like a scratch or an injury which may have been caused by the other fish. On the other hand it could be flukes or a bacterial infection. The picture is not 100% clear so I can't tell the size of the spot, to me it doesn't seem like ich or velvet. But a more clear picture will help.

 

[MnFish1]

I'm a bit stumped on this one, on one hand it looks like a scratch or an injury which may have been caused by the other fish. On the other hand it could be flukes or a bacterial infection. The picture is not 100% clear so I can't tell the size of the spot, to me it doesn't seem like ich or velvet. But a more clear picture will help.

Were there any lesions on the fish that arrived DOA? How did you acclimate the remaining ones. I ask because I'm wondering about ammonia poisining during transport.

Second - schooling fish can often be a problem - in that if there are not 'enough' fish - the weakest one gets picked on - until they die then the newest weak one gets picked on. etc etc. But - IDK if thats whats happening here.

I'm assuming you didn't QT or observe the fish. The other dead fish would make me at least think about an underlying disease. But - frankly - I cannot see that from the picture. I know this is probably not a great deal of help

 

[ReefCheef]

I bought from a reputable quarantine vendor. In my experience quarantining is very hard on fish if it is not the only thing you are focused on for the month you’re doing it. I’d rather pay extra for someone else to do it professionally.

Unfortunately it seems that things get through no matter who you get them from. Yes the ones did have visible sores that I chalked up to uronema but I did not consider ammonia poisoning. There was a delay in shipping due to cold weather so maybe that was a stress inducing thing for the fish.

I acclimated by matching a 5 gallon bucket with freshly made saltwater to the salinity (1.025) that the vendor ships it in the day prior to arrival. When they got here, I checked the salinities. They were not the best packaged fish I’ve ever received, but they did have considerably more water in the bags than is typical which I liked. I float the bags for 40 mins, then empty the fish into a media basket over the sink, dump the bag water through the basket down the drain, then gently place the fish into the 5 gallon bucket of matching salinity water. I then dripped them from the display tank emptying half the water when it was near full a three times.

If the vendor was actually quarantining like they claim, I dont see how it could be flukes as these are my first fish. Who knows though I’m at a loss. Have prazi on hand if I decide it’s needed but I’d prefer not to suppress their appetites when they're so new. Just back in the hobby after a few year break. Always remembered the glamorous elements of the hobby when it’s on cruise control. Forgot about the heavy stuff like fish health episodes.

Appreciate the time you guys took to respond.

 

[MnFish1]

I bought from a reputable quarantine vendor. In my experience quarantining is very hard on fish if it is not the only thing you are focused on for the month you’re doing it. I’d rather pay extra for someone else to do it professionally.

Unfortunately it seems that things get through no matter who you get them from. Yes the ones did have visible sores that I chalked up to uronema but I did not consider ammonia poisoning. There was a delay in shipping due to cold weather so maybe that was a stress inducing thing for the fish.

I acclimated by matching a 5 gallon bucket with freshly made saltwater to the salinity (1.025) that the vendor ships it in the day prior to arrival. When they got here, I checked the salinities. They were not the best packaged fish I’ve ever received, but they did have considerably more water in the bags than is typical which I liked. I float the bags for 40 mins, then empty the fish into a media basket over the sink, dump the bag water through the basket down the drain, then gently place the fish into the 5 gallon bucket of matching salinity water. I then dripped them from the display tank emptying half the water when it was near full a three times.

If the vendor was actually quarantining like they claim, I dont see how it could be flukes as these are my first fish. Who knows though I’m at a loss. Have prazi on hand if I decide it’s needed but I’d prefer not to suppress their appetites when they're so new. Just back in the hobby after a few year break. Always remembered the glamorous elements of the hobby when it’s on cruise control. Forgot about the heavy stuff like fish health episodes.

Appreciate the time you guys took to respond.

If the other fish had uronema ?? its possible that the rest were exposed - but that might be 'odd'. I wonder about ammonia damage. as the culprit. As Tamberev said - flukes could also be possible

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I’ve had a school of Anthias for about two weeks now. One arrived DOA. Two arrived almost DOA. The two sick ones died in the first 3 days leaving me with 7.

The 7 healthy survivors have been eating like pigs and everything going well. The biggest female has been noticably picked on by the male and now all the smaller females are picking on her too.

She spends most of her time hiding out swimming alone instead of with the school. One of her fins has been mangled by the what I can only assume is the male. She has been eating sporadically which gives me hope, but I noticed this “flake” on her today. It looks like a scale is flaking off or something. Is it some type of fluke or worm? Any ideas?

f its something I can treat for and not just recovering from bullying I’d like to do what I can to help her.

You can see a little white fleck in the pictures just behind her gills. Not professional photos but did the best I can.

@Jay Hemdal

I can see the injury. By its demeanor, it seems to be hiding a bit more than I would expect. All of that points towards tankmate aggression. Treating it while that is still going on is not likely to work very well. Can you isolate this fish in a treatment tank?

You got 12 and have lost 5 early on, within 72 hours? I hate to say it, but that often means the fish had problems before you got them. Were they shipped by overnight carrier or by air cargo? I find that anthias don't always handle 24+ hour shipping times, especially during the winter.

Jay

 

[ReefCheef]

I can see the injury. By its demeanor, it seems to be hiding a bit more than I would expect. All of that points towards tankmate aggression. Treating it while that is still going on is not likely to work very well. Can you isolate this fish in a treatment tank?

You got 12 and have lost 5 early on, within 72 hours? I hate to say it, but that often means the fish had problems before you got them. Were they shipped by overnight carrier or by air cargo? I find that anthias don't always handle 24+ hour shipping times, especially during the winter.

Jay

Hey Jay, thanks for the response. It was shipped fedex overnight. They also delayed shipping them out twice due to cold weather between me (florida) and the vendor (california). It was 10 and 3 died within 72 hours.

I’m happy to hear aggression was your conclusion. After watching him obsessively for days I have drawn the same conclusion.

I've tried catching her a few times, but I’ve never had a tank this big before. I literally dont think it’s even possible to net her. I almost feel like I need to just leave her be and pray she keeps eating. She does seem to slowly be worming her way back to the group, although she definitely hides the majority of the day. I’m hoping when her fin heals up a bit more she gets more confidence. Shes by far the biggest female ifs not even close.

 

[ReefCheef]

If the other fish had uronema ?? its possible that the rest were exposed - but that might be 'odd'. I wonder about ammonia damage. as the culprit. As Tamberev said - flukes could also be possible

Ammonia damage eluded me as a possibility, but now that you guys mention it.. I would hope the vendor I used and the price I paid would mean good packaging, but I know the face of the company was in another state when my package shipped and he said scaling his company has been hard to keep quality as high.. so might have had a noobie packing my fish the bags were all flimsly when they arrived like they barely had oxygen in them. They were oversized bags but flimsy. I was admittedly thrown off by the packaging.

 

[Tcook]

I agree that looks like aggression though 3 dying is worrisome. Otherwise looks like a thick healthy fish. Several times I've had my 6 lyretails and bimac go into hiding after a stressor for several days and not eat for up to a week. Then all of a sudden back to normal. I would just observe and leave her alone. A group of 7 bimacs is going to look great. What size tank?