Lethargic Anthias

[KKaiser4]

Hi all, I have a Red Stripe Anthias that has been just hanging on the rocks and bottom for a day or two. At first I thought she was spooked but she is still not swimming around. Her color looks good except for a couple vertical bleached out lines towards the tail. She has just been sitting on the sand now for about 8 hours. Breathing ranges from fast to normal and she seems to still be able to hold her self up and move around slightly but does look to be getting weaker. I do have a 10G hospital tank she can go in. Is there any medicine I should try to get and put her in the hospital tank? Thoughts, ideas? and what might be wrong. It all happened so sudden. Water Paramaters are good. Salinity 1.024, Nitrate and Phosphate 0. Temp around 79 degrees.

[+etannert]

Anthias have very high metabolisms and need to be fed several times a day. How often do you feed? Does she eat well?

[KKaiser4]

She was eating very well up until a couple days ago and then she went into hiding and stopped eating. I have had her a little over 2 weeks. My initial research seemed to indicate the Red Stripe Anthias was a little different from other Anthias in that they would be okay with one feeding a day. She ate very well during my heaving feeding in the evenings. Right now she is in my hospital tank hiding under a cave. She will still not eat. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

[Gonzobob]

Not sure what you normally feed but if you haven't yet you might try soaking in garlic or even better selcon. Might try live brine shrimp to tempt her into eating. (low food quality but if it breaks an eating slump they can be usefull).

Now that she's in your hospital tank can you get a better look at her? Anything significant other than the tail?

[KKaiser4]

I tried feeding frozen PE Mysis soaked in garlic this morning but she wouldn't eat. Her color is still bright but there are 4 vertical bleached out lines starting just behind her gills going towards her tail. Might just be from the stress. All her fins look good but she is just sitting upright on the bottom breathing heavier than normal. She can swim a little to move positions but doesn't look like she wants to. It must be something internal because I am seeing no external signs of problems. I can try some live brine to see if that helps. Should I dose any medicines in the hospital tank? Thanks for the help!

[Teresa]

I'm pretty sure mine died a couple of weeks ago from a bacterial infection. It behaved the same way yours did, was eating well for a while too. Sadly, it died and I didn't know why until I started to see the red splotches on my lemon peel. I lost the lemon peel before I realized it was a bacterial infection. I treated the tank with furan 2 and saved my two chromis. I'm wondering if Anthias show symptoms of a bacterial infection differently from other fish or if we simply can't tell because of their own bright colors??

[+Hydro]

I have had a lot of experience with anthias in the last few months and I have some tips for you. Anthias pick up diseases easily when stressed and it probably does have a bacterial infection or parasite. Freshwater dip it. Get the KH, temp, and ph as close as possible and leave it in there for 5 mins and put it back in the qt. I freind suggested it for me for a sick dispar that I had and it saved it. He thought the fish was going to die it was so far gone but it pulled through.

You should try feeding live foods for sure. Is it skinny? Is the front seem fat and the back half look thin?

[KKaiser4]

Well my Anthias is looking a little better just from being out of the main tank. Her breathing is back to normal but she still has no interest in really swimming. She darted around the bottom of the tank a little when I put some food in there like she was interested but she still didn’t eat. I am going to pick up some live brine from the Dome today. What kind of freshwater should I use for the dip? My RO\DI water, bottled water, de-chlorinated tap water? She is still decent size but may be getting a little skinnier. She is normal size and then just tapers down towards the tail.

[+Hydro]

Use ro/di water for the dip. I have noticed that anthias naturally have a thick front but that doesn't mean they aren't skinny. When they get skinny you can usually see a line through the middle of them with the back being considerably thinner.

Good luck!

[KKaiser4]

Well I am just not sure what to do at this point. We are going on day 8….. My Anthias looks perfectly normal but she still won’t eat anything or swim around the tank. I have tried Cyclopeeze, Live Brine, Garlic soaked brine and bloodworms. She just hides around a cave in the hospital tank. She will swim\hop back and forth around the rock but has no interest in swimming around the 10 gal tank. She can swim if she wants to because she swam up to the top yesterday and then hung upside down on the wall for a couple hours. I have been treating her for internal parasites just in case but she still won’t eat. Any suggestions on what I could do? Should they not be kept alone? Do they require a group of Anthias? Thanks for any help!!

[+Hydro]

Other anthias would help to bring it out for sure. Do you have a peaceful fish you could put in there with it? Firefish are supposed to be good at getting them to come out I read. Of course you take the risk of passing parasites to the other fish but it sounds like you have already treated for all of that. I think that the QT is too small for it also, maybe that is causing stress. Anthias are used to being in strong water currents because they feed in the water coulumn and maybe there isn't enough flow or room in the tank for her to do that. If you have a peaceful tank and you are sure there is no infection I would put it back in the DT and hope for the best.