Anthias expert needed: Borbonius Anthias swimming down in corner

[vetteguy53081]

Here is longer 5 minutes video for you. See if you still think the same about it


Borbonius (Blotched) Anthias swimming downward 3

What I see in video is a heap of turbulence which this fish is trying to cope with but understandable for the coral

 

[canadianeh]

What I see in video is a heap of turbulence which this fish is trying to cope with but understandable for the coral

I added helfrichi at the same time as the Borbonius that is smaller and it is not trying to cope with the turbulence. The rest of the fish are also fine.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I added helfrichi at the same time as the Borbonius that is smaller and it is not trying to cope with the turbulence. The rest of the fish are also fine.

The fire fish tends to stay at bottom to mid tank. My helfrichi is always below lower third of tank.
Again, was an observation.
I see nothing that indicates distress, bladder, etc

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So - is there an upwelling current at that point of the tank? If so, then the caudal fin motion is just the fish working against that current. If there is no upwelling there, or if the current is going top to bottom there, then yes, that fish is fighting against a gas bladder imbalance.

Jay

 

[canadianeh]

So - is there an upwelling current at that point of the tank? If so, then the caudal fin motion is just the fish working against that current. If there is no upwelling there, or if the current is going top to bottom there, then yes, that fish is fighting against a gas bladder imbalance.

Jay

So I turned off all the pumps including return pump. He is still swimming downward sometime. But the other time he stops swimming and just perch upside down in the corner. I notice that when he is not perching or not moving is caudal fin, he is kinda floating or going up slowly until he moves his caudal fin again to go down.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So - the best test is unfortunately one that you really can't do: anesthetize the fish with MS-222. When it can't swim, it should slowly sink to the bottom. If it floats, then you know positively that it is a air bladder disease. You can, however, get some sense of that - you alluded to the fish slowly rising in still water until it uses its caudal fin to move downward. That is positive buoyancy. However, it is a pretty mild case of it. I suspect it will resolve in a week or so as long as the fish is eating well and doesn't develop any other issues.

I used to get sacura anthias from a collector in Japan. They catch them on hook and line and bring them to the surface where they bloat up pretty badly. He sent me a picture one time of a bunch of sacura bobbing around in a bucket like big red corks, before they went in with a needle and de-gassed them all. He then holds them for a month to ensure the ones he ships are healthy.

Here is an article I wrote up about them:

Aquarium Fish: The Cherry Anthias: Sacura margaritacea

Now that they have become available through normal marine aquarium supply channels, they are a potential species for home aquarists as well. While not a fish for every aquarist, they are a very colorful, hardy species that may interest the rare fish collector willing to meet its basic husbandry...

reefs.com

Jay

 

[canadianeh]

It seems my Borbonius has adjusted to the tank and swim normally most of the time. Occasionally he still swims downward.

 

[texun]

Congrats

 

[Jgately757]

I just bought 3 last week and mine all sit on rocks and "hang" upside down they eat and are not picked on so I am thinking they are just weird but wanted to confirm if yours are still alive and happy and in the end it was just blotches being blotches

Thanks

 

[dailygrind81]

Any updates on your flamehawk with the small borbonius? I have two small borbonius in my tank right now and I was considering getting a flamehawk. I just don't want my borbonius to become expensive meals

 

[vetteguy53081]

I got this Borbonius Anthias on this past Sunday. Since then it has stayed in the back corner and swimming downward. I picked it up in person (not shipped) from LFS with oxygen in the bag. The salinity from LFS was about 1.024. I slowly raised it to 1.026 by mixing cup of water from my tank every 15 minutes.

He is eating and occasionally swim down to the substrate and perch on the sand on the back behind rock. Sometime I see him swimming normal horizontally but stay close to the substrate on the back behind rock works.

Tank mates: clowns, yellow tang, melanarus wrasse, royal flasher wrasse, lined dartfish, helfrichi firefish, Molly Miller blenny, yellow watchman goby, flame hawk fish.

Any idea?


Borbonius Anthias swimming downward 1
Bourbonius Anthias swimming downward 2

This looks like a buoyancy issue - Cave? This may be something known as edema and is a general condition related to the fish not being able to osmoregulate/- maintain its bodily fluids. If fish is breathing heavy, it involves the entire body and not just swim bladder. At times they eat head down but often correct themselves thereafter

 

[Zionas]

I really want one of these, but decompression issues are a ***** with deeper water species.