Bimac anthias swimming vertically

[jdbot]

Hey everybody. I’ve had 3 bimac anthias in QT for the last two weeks. About 2 days ago the largest one started to predominantly swim vertically. It also had stringy poop (not white) for a day or so.

I added sand to discard stress from what seemed to be reflection on the bottom of the tank. Behavior still present.

When I look for some time it seems there is positive buoyancy. Fish eats well and is fairly active chasing others.

I dosed metro and prazi (general cure) two days ago. No change.

Any thoughts on what it could be and what treatment to try, if any?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everybody. I’ve had 3 bimac anthias in QT for the last two weeks. About 2 days ago the largest one started to predominantly swim vertically. It also had stringy poop (not white) for a day or so.

I added sand to discard stress from what seemed to be reflection on the bottom of the tank. Behavior still present.

When I look for some time it seems there is positive buoyancy. Fish eats well and is fairly active chasing others.

I dosed metro and prazi (general cure) two days ago. No change.

Any thoughts on what it could be and what treatment to try, if any?

Please identify the issue before dropping meds in the tank. I understand the concern. metro has to be precise by weight and makes fish food taste bitter General cure also has metro and low level Prazi.
Can you provide a video under bright white intensity for best assessment?

 

[jdbot]

Please identify the issue before dropping meds in the tank. I understand the concern. metro has to be precise by weight and makes fish food taste bitter General cure also has metro and low level Prazi.
Can you provide a video under bright white intensity for best assessment?

Thank you @vetteguy53081! I had posted a video, but for some reason it was not inserted. Edited the OP to add it again. Hopefully worked.

I had used GC precisely because of what was likely an infection (evidenced by the stringy poop), but otherwise I certainly don't drop medicine in the tank indiscriminately.

I do see it sculling its caudal fin to counteract what seems like slight positive buoyancy. At night, I found it inside the PVC tube, fully against the top of the tube, consistent with buoyancy. Thanks again for your thoughts here!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you @vetteguy53081! I had posted a video, but for some reason it was not inserted. Edited the OP to add it again. Hopefully worked.

I had used GC precisely because of what was likely an infection (evidenced by the stringy poop), but otherwise I certainly don't drop medicine in the tank indiscriminately.

I do see it sculling its caudal fin to counteract what seems like slight positive buoyancy. At night, I found it inside the PVC tube, fully against the top of the tube, consistent with buoyancy. Thanks again for your thoughts here!

Video does not play and I have different types of codecs. White stringy feces can often be excess mucus in the stomach lining and often mistaken as internal issue

 

[jdbot]

Uploaded video on Vimeo. Hopefully that works!


Vertical swimming is constant (more pronounced than what you see in video)

Re: video issue, there seems to be an issue with direct upload. Works well with Chrome, but apparently not Safari (see this thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/no-videos.745558/post-8438317)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey everybody. I’ve had 3 bimac anthias in QT for the last two weeks. About 2 days ago the largest one started to predominantly swim vertically. It also had stringy poop (not white) for a day or so.

I added sand to discard stress from what seemed to be reflection on the bottom of the tank. Behavior still present.

When I look for some time it seems there is positive buoyancy. Fish eats well and is fairly active chasing others.

I dosed metro and prazi (general cure) two days ago. No change.

Any thoughts on what it could be and what treatment to try, if any?

That symptom is from positive buoyancy due to gas buildup. Usually, this is in the swim bladder, but can also be in the intestines. What happens is that some bacteria produce gas, and that makes the fish float. One common cause with anthias is an infection from when they were needled to release gas when collected in deep water.

There is not an effective treatment for this. I’ve tried decompressing the fish with needles, but that just compounds the infection risk. I even built a pressure chamber - that worked until I released the pressure, and then the fish start floating again.

That it is still eating is a good sign though.

Jay

 

[jdbot]

That symptom is from positive buoyancy due to gas buildup. Usually, this is in the swim bladder, but can also be in the intestines. What happens is that some bacteria produce gas, and that makes the fish float. One common cause with anthias is an infection from when they were needled to release gas when collected in deep water.

There is not an effective treatment for this. I’ve tried decompressing the fish with needles, but that just compounds the infection risk. I even built a pressure chamber - that worked until I released the pressure, and then the fish start floating again.

That it is still eating is a good sign though.

Jay

Thanks, Jay! Fish still eats very well. If not worth it to do erythromycin or anything else to attempt to treat, I will continue to observe and see if it resolves on its own. Will update the thread in any case. Thanks again all.

 

[jdbot]

An update to close this earlier post. After an extended QT, all Bimac Anthias were still doing well and eating. Despite the fish still exhibiting positive buoyancy, I decided to move them all to the DT (a few weeks ago). Happy to report that the issue resolved on its own, a week or two after being in the larger tank.