HELP! Problem with fish?

[fluidimagery]

I have a 100g reef that has been setup for about 2 months.

About a month ago I added an Eibli Angel, Cleaner Shrimp... and some small chromis. Everything was going great... I've had cleaner shrimps before in other tanks but never have seen them actually "clean" For the first time I was watching the cleaner clean the insides of the Angel's gills and thought it was the coolest thing. Figured it was normal for them to do this. The angel was never scratching it's head but would just on occassion make it's way over to the shrimp. This may be completely unrelated... but

2 Weeks ago I purchased a trio of Lyretail Anthias, 1 male and 2 females. I noticed a few times the 3 of them would also be getting cleaned by the shrimp. Lately they've been going over even more and now it's gotten to the point where they don't leave the shrimp alone and are constantly looking to be cleaned. The male seems to be the worst, the shrimp cleans the inside of it's mouth and gills. The females just get their body cleaned. The fish are not out in the open like they used to be, and they don't seem to be eating as ferociously as they have been. They seem to be more interested in getting cleaned.

I've also been noticing that the male and one of the females will scratch their head on the powerhead. I don't see them breathing very hard but their not as animated as usual. The angel seems to be normal and is out in the opening and eating like it always does... It sounds like fluke to me, but I have no idea since I've never dealt with this before.

Some pics from a few minutes ago.

 

[littlefish]

My story seems like yours.
After everything you said happened, I started seing what look like ich on my fish.
I added two more shrimpsn two cleaning wrasses, and garlic in the food.
I've lost 6 fish in the last three days.
Today alone, three die.
It's very upsetting.
All thou I lost a lot of money, the worst part to me is to take a fish out of his reef and bring him home to die. Also some of those fish I've had for a couple of years and they survived black out, heat, and everything you can think of. fery discouraging.
I feel like getting rid of everything.
I suggest you ask for help and also keep a very close eye on your fish. If you see any ich or what it looks like ich, get your fish out and put them in a tank with copper.
I also know very little but what i know for sure is that I wouldn't like to see anyone go through this that i'm going through right now.

Alfredo

 

[marrone]

I seriously doubt you have Flukes. Flukes are really bad and your fish would probably be dead by now if you did.

From just looking at the pictures the fish seem to be looking very healthy. It's very common for some fish to let clean shrimp or cleaner wrasse clean them all the time. Anthias are very tough fish to keep and a lot of them don't always eat or don't eat enough. Try feeding them a # of time during the day, and see if they start to eat more. Also what are you currently feeding them?

I would just watch them as see if they continue to keep on scratching or breathing heavy. If they do you're going to need to remove them and start to treat them.

Also you should Quarantine all your fish before you place them into your main tank.

 

[fluidimagery]

I was reading your post earlier today. Very upsetting, keep your head up. This is supposed to be a fun hobby right?

I forgot to mention before... the male anthias doesnt' seem to be closing his mouth. He seems to be breathing normally and I see whatever is in his mouth respirating but his mouth isn't opening and closing... Although I'd hate to... I'll pull the trigger and do some freshwater dips or whatever I need to.

 

[ireefny]

if they are eating, soak food in garlic, anthias you have are hardy, I see my group scratch & swim weird all the time, they were handed over to me by a very good friend.

 

[ireefny]

here are some pics, when I started my tank about 6 months ago, no jumpers & still going strong. BTW, there are two males in the group.

 

[fluidimagery]

Very cool... I think it's really just the male that's a problem. He's breathing a little hard but doesn't eat anything. He swims through the food when it goes in the tank but doesn't eat anything. His mouth pretty much stays open and is just hanging out by the cleaner shrimp.

I added a 2nd cleaner shrimp tonight.

Ultimately I want this solved without taking the tank apart, I think I loose years off my life whenever I do it. You definately don't want to be around me when I'm pulling the rock out of the tank to catch a fish.

 

[fluidimagery]

I don't get it... I got home and was all ready to start tearing the tank apart.
The Male Anthias is now eating, but he is still flashing against the rocks and is down by the cleaners quite a bit. His mouth is now normal and he's not breathing fast. I've noticed him "yawning" a few times tonight. The other females seem to be too. I noticed one of the females down by the cleaner and flashing one time on the powerhead

The angel seems perfectly fine, haven't seen him flash once.

Is this fixing itself?

 

[fluidimagery]

Yup... still lost with this one.

Angel seems perfectly fine... the anthias seem to be out in the open parts of the tank more than they were yesterday. 2 of the anthias still flash once in a while... normal breathing, no signs of rapid gill movement, no quick movements around tank. If it weren't for the occasional flashing and going to the cleaner everything would be normal. Although the anthias especially the male don't seem too interested in eating... They are also more aware of my movement around the tank, when I open the canopy they come up to the top, although it's still too hard to catch them. I need better skills.

I don't know what to do... the problems seem to be improving. Any ideas?

Could the cleaners actually be erradicating the problem?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

They are probably stressed, leave them alone, supp with garlic extract in the food and never ever ever do a freshwater dip, it only stresses the fish out and that can cause you to be one fish less in your tank.

 

[fluidimagery]

I'll keep trying... do you think this is going to go away on it's own?

How long should I let this go before I start trying to do something?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

If you start to see white spots on the fish I would remove them to a qt tank and treat them with copper. Use the search function for ich and be guided by those threads. Never add copper medication to your main display also I am cautious not to add any invert or reef safe medications to my tank either.

Keep in mind that removing the fish to a qt tank may cause the fish as well but if you medicate your display the seals and the rock as well as any substrate will absorb the medication and eventually leach it back into the aquarium and may hurt any invert you add to the tank.

 

[fluidimagery]

I don't plan on medicating the tank.

I have a feeling this is Skin / Gill Flukes and not Ich... it's been going on for 4 days and has basically stayed the same (no better / no worse). Maybe it was just my imagination that they were getting better... but definately not any worse

They still all look the same, colors may be a little faded on the male anthia, the only fish breathing harder than normal is the angel but he's eating fine where the anthias are not. The Male and One Female anthia are the only ones flashing.

It's hard to watch the fish go through this...

 

[scarf_ace1981]

fluid just give it some time. this is the risk you run after purchasing new fish. sometimes it takes the disease a while to show up.

did you qt before adding to the tank? it's something you may want to do in the future

 

[fluidimagery]

I didn't QT and I will in the future. Should I QT these fish now or just wait for the disease to show up?

I'd hate to run the risk of having other fish in the tank get it.

 

[Rhegaana]

This might be a long shot but check for hydroids. They might have been introduced in you tank. they are really tiny and look like white suction cups with tentacles attached to the glass. I had them and they affected my anthias to the point where the stopped eating and cause splotchy coloring. I FW dipped the fish ahd hypoed the tank to cure.

 

[Awibrandy]

Hypoe a reef? No expert, but I think NOT.

Are you even sure the fish are sick? What are you feeding them? I can tell you my anthias won't touch anything but mysis. So I add mysis for them with every feeding at least twice a day. Hope your wrong and there is nothing wrong with your fish.

 

[fluidimagery]

I hope I'm wrong too! but they're down by the cleaner too often to really overlook. The flashing is another sign... it happens maybe once every 30 minutes but he'll do it a few times and it's fairly "violent"

The anthias were eating everything... Formula 1 / Formula 2 / Mysis / Brine / Cyclopeeze / Rods Food

I really want to FW or Formalin Dip to see if the male gets better but I don't want to risk killing him. I figure doing it now will be better than doing it later when the fish is weaker.

 

[Awibrandy]

Try getting in touch with House or Masterswimmer, they may be able to help you better. There # is on their post.

 

[fluidimagery]

Thanks, I sent House a PM