Anglerfish qt experience? What should/should not do?

Islandvib3s · May 4, 2023

I just received my small anglerfish and going to Qt for 45 days, I plan to methane blue dip it because it looks like it has s ok me skin infection. Wondering if they are copper sensitive or if any other meds might not be good for it. I plan to use general cure, some copper, focus, Metroplex. Thanks I'm advance

Jay Hemdal · May 4, 2023

Our basic quarantine protocol is on the front page of this thread:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Anglers can be tough to quarantine. Skip the methylene blue dip - it won't control anything, and if you get the dose wrong, it can be toxic. Dips are never 100%, so if there is an active protozoan disease, it will still be there after the dip.

What makes you think your angler has a skin infection, can you post a pic?

Don't mix General Cure and Metroplex, they both have metronidazole in them. Skip the Focus, it won't have any application here unless you have the angler converted to non-living food, and then you need to calculate a proper dose.

What copper product do you have? What copper test kit?

Jay

Islandvib3s · May 4, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
Our basic quarantine protocol is on the front page of this thread:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Anglers can be tough to quarantine. Skip the methylene blue dip - it won't control anything, and if you get the dose wrong, it can be toxic. Dips are never 100%, so if there is an active protozoan disease, it will still be there after the dip.

What makes you think your angler has a skin infection, can you post a pic?

Don't mix General Cure and Metroplex, they both have metronidazole in them. Skip the Focus, it won't have any application here unless you have the angler converted to non-living food, and then you need to calculate a proper dose.

What copper product do you have? What copper test kit?

Jay

Well i already did the dip. I usually mix metro,focus,general together with freeze dried mysis and brine along with second and some tank water to make food feedings. I'll get a picture soon. It's currently in a tank with a live rock and bubbler filter.

Jay Hemdal · May 4, 2023

Yes, a lot of people mix Metro and GC and Focus, but it is not a correct treatment. GC has 250mg of metro in it already so you don't want to mix Metroplex and GC. Then, the oral dose for the prazi in GC is different than the metro in it, so you cannot use it in food at all. Metro needs to be dosed at 0.50% by weight in food and prazi is dosed at 23mg per pound of fish weight.

Here is an article on the proper way to dose oral medications:

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

This article offers information about developing medicated foods for aquarium fish

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

lion king · May 4, 2023

I would not use anything prophylactically, the only successful treatment I have ever seen was using gc to treat internal parasites. Using gc to ensure the best the best outcome I would split the dose into 3rds and administer each 3rd every 4-8 hrs depending on how they respond. Anglers are delicate and temperamental even when in perfect health. If you use anything else it is very unlikely they will survive, they may not die immediately, but they will die soon after if they survive treatment.

Because of they way these fish eat and digest food, using in food will not work. New additions will likely only eat live food and their feeding schedule should have a fasting period.

Jay Hemdal · May 4, 2023

lion king said:
I would not use anything prophylactically, the only successful treatment I have ever seen was using gc to treat internal parasites. Using gc to ensure the best the best outcome I would split the dose into 3rds and administer each 3rd every 4-8 hrs depending on how they respond. Anglers are delicate and temperamental even when in perfect health. If you use anything else it is very unlikely they will survive, they may not die immediately, but they will die die soon after if they survive treatment.

As I mentioned though - General Cure should never be used as an oral medication - the doses of the metro and the prazi in it don't match, so you cannot get the dose right. Metro is dosed at 0.50% by weight in food and Prazi is dosed at 23 mg per pound of fish weight....

Jay

Rp8 · May 4, 2023

Gotta picture?

Islandvib3s · May 4, 2023

Not the greatest pictures. He's a tiny one lol so cool tho. Mainly was asking if they're copper sensitive like puffers.

looks like it maybe got a gash near its tail and looks like something near its gills. I'll just monitor for now and try and fatten before preventative treating. It would be a cool addition to my one of my tanks.

lion king · May 4, 2023

They will not tolerate copper. Your water conditions must be pristine or that injury can turn into a bacterial infection, and although they may survive an antibiotic treatment, they usually die soon afterward. They will need to fed live food to fatten up and strengthen their immune system. For long term success they will need live foods included in their diet. Here's a thread I wrote on their care if you are interested.

So you want a frog fish; I call them anglers

I've kept a few, my first going back 25 years. These are very difficult fish to keep and I am still very frustrated as to the success in keeping these guys long term. I do have some information I would like to share for those interested. Be forewarned, they are not for everyone and do take...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay Hemdal · May 5, 2023

While they cannot tolerate ionic copper, they do tolerate coppersafe and copper power. However, I try not to use it on them. One of the big issues though is the difficulty in diagnosing protozoan parasites on them. Their coloration and skin texture makes it difficult to see early stages of ich. then, by the time it is readily apparent, it makes treatment much more difficult - people finally decide to add copper and the fish dies and they blame the copper, not the late treatment start.

Hyposalinity is another option.

Jay