QT Dispar Anthias

[Hydrahawk]

I will be getting my hands on a trio of Dispars. I have both a 10G and 40G, which is better to use as a QT tank? Also I have Metronidazole and copper, which I will use. Should I give them a fresh water dip prior going into QT?

 

[naterealbig]

I would go with the 40 for sure. You will use more medicine with the larger tank, but the larger volume is more forgiving with respect to dosing and ammonia build up, and the fish will certainly appreciate the larger space. I would skip the FWD, unless the fish are currently diseased and showing signs of distress.

 

[Big G]

Been seeing an upswing in postings on Uronema with anthias lately.

 

[javisaman]

I recently quarantined 3 dispars with success.

This was my procedure:

1. Leave sponge (from sponge filter) in display tank for a month and seed 15 gallon long QT. I think you can use bacteria in a bottle for this step. A Seachem ammonia badge is useful also a bottle of Prime.
2. Make sure fish have plenty of places to hide. I used large PVC corners. Plastic decorations might also work.
3. In addition to the sponge filter with an airpump. I put two additional powerheads in the tank, all on one side. The flow was very high on one side, but mild on the other
4. I did not dip the fish when I received them or even acclimate. I made sure that my QT tank's water was within the same salinity as the water they were coming in. If I were to do it again, I might have dipped them in Ruby Reef Rally, just to be 100% sure.
5. I then spent the next few days figuring out what they are willing to eat. This is the key step. Without any appetite suppressing medications in the water, you'll know what they go for more readily. I used a syringe with some airline tubing and a rigid piece to feed them. I always squirted food on one side of the tank with the powerheads, causing the food to fly by them. In terms of preference, this is what they ate: frozen calanus, enriched brine, masstick, chopped mysis, and eventually pellets.
6. It took about 5 days to make sure they were all eating robustly. During this time I also gradually brought up the salinity to 1.026 (same as my DT).
7. I then added the recommended dosage of prazipro to the tank. While simultaneously feeding frozen with focus bound API general cure. I did this for 5 days. Then redosed again.
8. Then I did a large waterchange (about 50%) and began the copper regiment. I brought the copper up to 2.0 using Copper Power, dosing twice a day for 5 days. I continued to feed the same way but this time using focus to bind metro and kanaplex because I started seeing some white poop.
9. I kept them in copper for 30 days. I did waterchanges making sure the water I was changing with was also at 2.0 ppm copper.
10. I didn't put them in an observation tank, instead I placed them directly into my DT after acclimating.

Things I learned are that Dispar like to hide, but at the same time like light and flow. Give them all three and you'll find them out and about. They do get stressed out with regular PVC (because it lacks the nooks and crannies of rocks. They will get used to it eventually, but I think next time I'll try plastic rock decorations.

Hope that helps

 

[Big G]

Yep ^^^ this is very similar to my treatment for Dispars and fairy wrasses. Lots of plastic aquarium plants to hide among. Right on about the bubble filters and powerheads. They love lots of flow. And yes, yes, yes on the Ruby Reef Rally dip. Its antibiotic + antiseptic qualities work very gently on these sometimes finicky fish.

Very nice post @javisaman