Anthias and wrasse ich? Or Velvet?

[GSnake]

I've been losing new anthias in my tank, it hasn't been long time since setup. 8 wks.

Is it ich? Velvet? They were eating too and I thought they might fight it off, like I've seen before in my older tank.
My wrasse has it worse looking but he acts ok and im sure will pull through.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, tough to see in the pics. A short video might work better. That also allows me to see their respiration rates, which in turn is diagnostic for velvet.
Since the tank is so new, more background info would be helpful. Here is a link about what is needed:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[GSnake]

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: Reef
Aquarium water volume 90g
Filtration type skimmer, nopox,
Lighting radion type fixtures, roughly 12hrs on and off
How long has the aquarium been established? 8 weeks
Digital image of the aquarium under white light

Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using)
Temperature 78f
pH: 8.3
Salinity / specific gravity 1.026
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Phosphorus not sure
Copper 0 probably - use rodi water, 0 tds
Other

I was about to measure the anthias respiratory rate but it is no longer with me, it was faster than normal though. The wrasse is always swimming so fast to check, almost swims around too much like it's uncomfortable.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I don’t see spots of ich, and the rapid breathing could point to velvet. However, I see some green chromis and a cardinal fish - velvet usually hits all fish in the tank at about the same time.
If you see flashing/scratching, it could be flukes - that issue doesn’t hit all fish as swiftly as velvet does.
Jay

 

[GSnake]

there has been no flashing at all
I was leaning towards velvet too, as ive seen ich before and the spots are mostly large - this is like a white dusting ( on the wrasse at least; and it gets much less prominent when im feeding her) . the other anthias i lost last week showed no abnormal behavior signs either, and passed overnight. none of them showed signs of white dusting like my wrasse does , except my lyretail above which i can see a little bit of it.

the other fish have been acting ok though! the least stressed fish can ward velvet away from themselves?

going forward, is there anything in tank, invert and coral safe i can add? aside from qt'ing new additions

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

there has been no flashing at all
I was leaning towards velvet too, as ive seen ich before and the spots are mostly large - this is like a white dusting ( on the wrasse at least; and it gets much less prominent when im feeding her) . the other anthias i lost last week showed no abnormal behavior signs either, and passed overnight. none of them showed signs of white dusting like my wrasse does , except my lyretail above which i can see a little bit of it.

the other fish have been acting ok though! the least stressed fish can ward velvet away from themselves?

going forward, is there anything in tank, invert and coral safe i can add? aside from qt'ing new additions

Typically, when velvet breaks out, if untreated, it kills all of the fish in the tank. There isn't any reef safe treatment for that. Fish with velvet stop feeding, breath rapidly and sometimes hover in water flow, followed by death within 48 hours or so....I'm still not sure you have/had velvet in this tank though.

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

I'm curious - I have had and tried many 'groups' of anthias - and depending on the number - I have seen 1 after the other after the other die - as they out-compete each other. When I look at the picture of the anther - I see (imagining?) white spots and fin injury.

I suppose that it could be that some of your fish are immune to disease x or disease y - to me the wrasse does not look like velvet per se. I'm assuming you did not QT the fish before adding to the display - I would CONSIDER - removing your fish, treating them per the QT protocol - leaving your tank fallow for 45 days. Then when you re-introduce fish make sure they have all gone through the QT protocol.

If you do not want to QT the fish - there are online vendors that offer QT'd fish - I do not necessarily 100% trust the veracity of some of these sites - but if you look on the forum - you can see which ones people have had success with. I personally get all my fish from a local LFS that does species specific QT - and I have never had a problem. I will no longer order fish online (from the big players) - due to problems such as yours.

 

[GSnake]

Typically, when velvet breaks out, if untreated, it kills all of the fish in the tank. There isn't any reef safe treatment for that. Fish with velvet stop feeding, breath rapidly and sometimes hover in water flow, followed by death within 48 hours or so....I'm still not sure you have/had velvet in this tank though.

Jay

. I got some more pics today while flow was off . Looks like ich to me now, it's just many more than im use to seeing. (One dot)

I'm curious - I have had and tried many 'groups' of anthias - and depending on the number - I have seen 1 after the other after the other die - as they out-compete each other. When I look at the picture of the anther - I see (imagining?) white spots and fin injury.

I suppose that it could be that some of your fish are immune to disease x or disease y - to me the wrasse does not look like velvet per se. I'm assuming you did not QT the fish before adding to the display - I would CONSIDER - removing your fish, treating them per the QT protocol - leaving your tank fallow for 45 days. Then when you re-introduce fish make sure they have all gone through the QT protocol.

If you do not want to QT the fish - there are online vendors that offer QT'd fish - I do not necessarily 100% trust the veracity of some of these sites - but if you look on the forum - you can see which ones people have had success with. I personally get all my fish from a local LFS that does species specific QT - and I have never had a problem. I will no longer order fish online (from the big players) - due to problems such as yours.

Ya the anthias spots are harder to see but I think some are there. The fin injury happened after he became lethargic. It was a pair if bimaculatus and one lyretail. The aggression you see in a group was hardly there between the pair. I am considering fallow and qt

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

. I got some more pics today while flow was off . Looks like ich to me now, it's just many more than im use to seeing. (One dot)


Ya the anthias spots are harder to see but I think some are there. The fin injury happened after he became lethargic. It was a pair if bimaculatus and one lyretail. The aggression you see in a group was hardly there between the pair. I am considering fallow and qt

Yes, that’s pretty clearly a moderate case of ich. Copper or hyposalinity should be started ASAP. Remember that both of these treatments take up to 3 days to start to work, and the fish will be very sick by then.
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Answering your other post, I see and suspect ich. Agreeing with Jay, velvet will have clear signs in addition to all contracting it as it is a flagellate, you will see :
- Scratching body against hard objects
- Fish is lethargic
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Rapid, labored breathing
- Fins clamped against the body
- rapid breathing and mucus around the gills

Fish with velvet will typically stay at the surface of the water, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the aquarium. As the disease progresses outwards from the gills, the cysts then become visible on the fins and body.