Sunburst Anthias Unable to Hold Down Food

[76fishman]

For the past 3-4 days, my sunburst anthias has been unable to swallow its food. It chases and attempts to eat different pieces, sometimes the same piece, but spits it out.
I feed a mixture of mysis and brine.

I’ve had this anthias for about 3 weeks now and it was eating well prior to all this happening. Only other tank mates are a pj cardinal and a small Talbot damsel, no aggression amongst them.

I’m stumped as to what could have caused this to happen.

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Do you see any injuries to the mouth?

Have you tried using different foods?

 

[Big G]

Have you treated the fish for internal parasites (worms)? Sometimes they are so full of worms they can't hold food.

 

[76fishman]

I do not see any injuries to the mouth.
The only other food I have tried is pellets.

It has not been treated for parasites. If it did have parasites when first introduced, wouldn’t it have just not eaten at all?

The anthias has been eating for the better part of 3 weeks and continues to try to eat, but just spits out whatever it consumes.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

With no injuries to the mouth I would suspect it's just being a picky eater. Fish often pick food and spit it out when they are being finicky. My fathead was a very particular eater for a long time. Maybe try a variety of foods including some live options.

As far as worms, that could be an explanation. Check for white stringy poo.

 

[Bigfish of La.]

Try feeding fish eggs.

 

[Toofattofish]

I do not see any injuries to the mouth.
The only other food I have tried is pellets.

It has not been treated for parasites. If it did have parasites when first introduced, wouldn’t it have just not eaten at all?

The anthias has been eating for the better part of 3 weeks and continues to try to eat, but just spits out whatever it consumes.

Spitting out food/poor appetite is a symptom of parasite infection. The infection could have grown over time or could be acquired from another member of tank. I'd be inclined to treat the fish with metronidazole either in food or in water column in QT if not holding food down.