Anthias Breathing rapidly - hiding - TTM

[seastar]

I am in the middle of day 6 of 3 Dispar Anthias doing TTM QT. I had a sunburst but he didn't make it past day 5. All were eating well (frozen fish eggs) until today. They will pop out a bit but mostly hangout under this foam sponge I have in a 10gal. I did prazi for about half a day before the first transfer and that's when the Sunburst stopped eating and didnt make it into the next day. Yesterday one of the Dispar looked to not be eating as much and this last feeding today only one came out to look at it but no one ate. Help please, I dont want to stress them more but dont want to loose them either. Should I fresh water dip? Prazi? There isnt any velvet dots of ich that I can see, they look great other than rapid breathing and hiding. All of those "dots" are fish eggs, a little brine, some flake and some ocean plankton, none of which they were very interested in.

 

[seastar]

The photo with the 3 of them, I know it looks like they are ich dots, but is' just kicked up fish eggs. Here is the sunburst as well, sorry for the fuzzy photos my phone dropped a few days ago as well and cracked the camera lens.

 

[Humblefish]

I would FW dip one of them to check for flukes: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

If a fish is loaded with flukes, then dosing Prazipro can actually kill them without doing a FW dip beforehand.

 

[seastar]

Thank you as always @Humblefish! I was worried that the freshwater dip might stress them more, but it's probably worth the risk right? I am going to dip them now.

 

[Humblefish]

Thank you as always @Humblefish! I was worried that the freshwater dip might stress them more, but it's probably worth the risk right? I am going to dip them now.

I feel at this point you are probably dealing with either flukes or velvet; doing a FW dip should provide some answers.

 

[seastar]

I feel at this point you are probably dealing with either flukes or velvet; doing a FW dip should provide some answers.

Welp... doesn't look like flukes. I do see what looks like a tiny dot on the tail of the guy that is the worst off. Looks like we have our answer. I am so saddened by this. I got Velvet the last time I bought fish around 6 months ago as well.

 

[polyps707]

Hey seastar your QT looks a lot like my QT tank
Im not sure if you checked but just make sure the tank has cycled and acclimated to the new bioload I've used the seachem ammonia alert although it does work it's not as sensitive as an ammonia test I found out. Not sure what your quarantine process is but I try and let the fish adjust to the tank for a few days to let the bacteria count build and get them "socially" comfortable. Then on the 3rd or 4th day I add cupramine and a week after I add prazipro. Then I move them to a identical tank minus the medications to observe for one week. Then add to DT it's worked for me since my DT has passed the two month of being fallow. no sick fish cross my fingers!

Make sure you rule out the weird stuff too like chemicals in and around the tank, faulty electrical equipment (leaking electrical current).

When I brought my lyretail anthias home I added more current to the QT tank they loved that!

 

[seastar]

Hey seastar your QT looks a lot like my QT tank
Im not sure if you checked but just make sure the tank has cycled and acclimated to the new bioload I've used the seachem ammonia alert although it does work it's not as sensitive as an ammonia test I found out. Not sure what your quarantine process is but I try and let the fish adjust to the tank for a few days to let the bacteria count build and get them "socially" comfortable. Then on the 3rd or 4th day I add cupramine and a week after I add prazipro. Then I move them to a identical tank minus the medications to observe for one week. Then add to DT it's worked for me since my DT has passed the two month of being fallow. no sick fish cross my fingers!

Make sure you rule out the weird stuff too like chemicals in and around the tank, faulty electrical equipment (leaking electrical current).

When I brought my lyretail anthias home I added more current to the QT tank they loved that!

Thanks, I was trying TTM for the first time because I was hoping not to have to do copper, but it is looking like I am going to have to get copper started right away because it's too small to be ich.

 

[seastar]

Honest question here... is TTM even viable anymore with how rampant velvet is at the distributors?

Begun the Velvet treatment method and after a 5min freshwater dip, onto the Ruby Reef Rally. That is ending in 5min. @Humblefish, have you ever tried copper and Rally at the same time? Just curious as they say this can treat/cure velvet on it's own. Im wondering if a 90min bath daily for 2-3 days might also help.

In the meantime..

I have Coppersafe up to 12.5ml (recommended for 10 gals) and its testing on an API test kit somewhere near 1.75ppm. I also added furan-2 - I was prepared this time based on the info you gave me the last time around, but dang.. seriously terrible luck. The Sunburst Anthias that died yesterday showed absolutely no signs so I thought for sure I was in the clear with velvet.

 

[seastar]

Aaaaand the anthias that was the worst off has already left us. :'(

 

[melypr1985]

Honest question here... is TTM even viable anymore with how rampant velvet is at the distributors?

Begun the Velvet treatment method and after a 5min freshwater dip, onto the Ruby Reef Rally. That is ending in 5min. @Humblefish, have you ever tried copper and Rally at the same time? Just curious as they say this can treat/cure velvet on it's own. Im wondering if a 90min bath daily for 2-3 days might also help.

In the meantime..

I have Coppersafe up to 12.5ml (recommended for 10 gals) and its testing on an API test kit somewhere near 1.75ppm. I also added furan-2 - I was prepared this time based on the info you gave me the last time around, but dang.. seriously terrible luck. The Sunburst Anthias that died yesterday showed absolutely no signs so I thought for sure I was in the clear with velvet.

I'm sorry for your loss Rally wouldn't cure velvet on it's own, it's mainly good as an antiseptic since infections are pretty common with fish that get velvet. It helps a great deal in that area. I think you are on the right track here, so keep up the good work. Oh and for what it's worth, velvet can often show zero physical signs and the only time you know something is up is because the fish start hiding a lot, breathing heavy and dying.

 

[seastar]

Thanks. The remaining two didn't look all that hot so I'm praying they make it through the night. Now being anthias, on top of everything else I'm worried about them not eating.

 

[Humblefish]

Honest question here... is TTM even viable anymore with how rampant velvet is at the distributors?

Begun the Velvet treatment method and after a 5min freshwater dip, onto the Ruby Reef Rally. That is ending in 5min. @Humblefish, have you ever tried copper and Rally at the same time? Just curious as they say this can treat/cure velvet on it's own. Im wondering if a 90min bath daily for 2-3 days might also help.

In the meantime..

I have Coppersafe up to 12.5ml (recommended for 10 gals) and its testing on an API test kit somewhere near 1.75ppm. I also added furan-2 - I was prepared this time based on the info you gave me the last time around, but dang.. seriously terrible luck. The Sunburst Anthias that died yesterday showed absolutely no signs so I thought for sure I was in the clear with velvet.

Until velvet gets reined in at the wholesale level, I am wondering the same thing myself. And that really SUCKS because of all the QT methods I've tried, TTM has always been the most successful. FWIW; several LFS I advise refer to velvet as the "West Coast Plague" because it usually comes in from a California wholesaler dealing primarily in Indo-Pacific species. If you buy a fish originating in the Caribbean and it doesn't go thru a California wholesaler, then the odds of velvet go way down.

As far as acriflavine goes, its best used as a 1-2-3 punch for treating velvet: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/page-7#post-3376258

 

[seastar]

Until velvet gets reined in at the wholesale level, I am wondering the same thing myself. And that really SUCKS because of all the QT methods I've tried, TTM has always been the most successful. FWIW; several LFS I advise refer to velvet as the "West Coast Plague" because it usually comes in from a California wholesaler dealing primarily in Indo-Pacific species. If you buy a fish originating in the Caribbean and it doesn't go thru a California wholesaler, then the odds of velvet go way down.

As far as acriflavine goes, its best used as a 1-2-3 punch for treating velvet: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/page-7#post-3376258

Thanks for the link. Now I need to research who I need to limit buying from for a while.

 

[seastar]

As an update, no one made it despite my best efforts. In the beginning on overlooked signs I probably wouldn't have in other fish writing it off as them being a bit more shy because they were anthias.

 

[Humblefish]

As an update, no one made it despite my best efforts. In the beginning on overlooked signs I probably wouldn't have in other fish writing it off as them being a bit more shy because they were anthias.

Unfortunately, velvet can be a very fast killer. Dinospores jam up the gills, and the fish can die due to asphyxiation before visible physical symptoms ever present themselves.

 

[drawman]

Very sorry for your loss velvet downright sucks

 

[germs101]

As an update, no one made it despite my best efforts. In the beginning on overlooked signs I probably wouldn't have in other fish writing it off as them being a bit more shy because they were anthias.

After losing 3 batches of fish to velvet, I now refuse to buy fish online and am VERY specific about what store I buy from. I drive 1.5 hours away just to have a better shot at avoiding velvet. It's the worst. Sorry about your losses.