New Anthias - Male with Bladder Infection?

[umluis]

Just yesterday, I added 4 beautiful Dispar Anthias (1 male with 3 females) to my 90 gallon tank.

Last night, they all looked fine...except for the male. He was a little more stressed than the females.

This morning, i tried feeding them all, but they wouldn't eat the frozen food I brought from the LFS. I'm working on several different preparations and plan on trying live brine tonight.

Besides that, I noticed the male hasn't been swimming with his ladies. He's spent most of the day facing the bottom of the tank...seemingly fighting buoyancy.

I went during lunch to my LFS to get new food and talk to them about my problem...they said that it was probably a bladder infection and should be cured by taking the male to my QT and treating with Mardel's Maracyn.

And so, the mission began!

I spent about 45 min trying to catch the male, while he darted in and out of my live rock. I moved everything around, cornered him multiple time, but just couldn't seem to net him.

So, rather than stress the entire tank any more than I had to, I gave up.

I'm afraid to treat the main tank with the medication i brought home, since I've read a few forums where people have lost valuable corals and even some beneficial bacteria...pretty much resulting in a major cycling of the tank.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can treat this little guy in the main tank without causing harm to anything else?

I'd hate to watch him die - - hoping one of the females will be able to take his place.

Thanks!
Luis

[ryan_paskadi]

fish trap...or just let him be and see what happens...

[useskaforevil]

well, treating an infection means using antibiotics, using anti biotics means killing bacteria. don't do this in your main tank, get a fish trap or just let it go

[NaH2Ofreak]

I would just let him be. He may be able to beat the problem on his own. I would just provide optimum conditions for them and let nature take it's course.

Try getting some frozen cyclopseeze to feed them. They can be pretty picky feeders but, cyclopseeze is pretty hard to resist.

Good luck,
Dennis

[ACBlinky]

Not sure if you want to try this, but you can sometimes get antibiotics into a fish by soaking its food. I brought a damsel home once, thinking she was missing a scale, but the spot rapidly developed into a raw, gaping hole in her side that was clearly raging with infection. I soaked pellets in a little tank water with half of a crushed up antibiotic pill (I think it was Maracyn II) and fed her this about five times daily. She healed within a week.

I'm not sure if frozen foods would soak up medicine very well, but freeze-dried cyclopeeze sure would. It needs to be rehydrated anyway, why not get some meds in while you're at it? NaH2Ofreak is right, cyclopeeze is like crack for fish -- once they try it, 99% are hooked.

[umluis]

Thanks for all the advice!

I'm going to stop by the LFS later this afternoon to try all this out.

This morning, I fed them live brine and shrimp with no luck...UGH!

Hopefully the cyclopeeze will do the trick!

Thanks,
Luis

[rbursek]

Cyclopeeze is fish crack!!!!!!! They love it.
Bob

[ReefTECK]

Yeah I would agree with that notion, cyclopeeze is irrisistable for fish. I would say remove and treat him, but your talking about an anthia here, they're next to impossible to catch without ripping a tank apart. Plus the more stress you induce on him now, the less are his chances for survival.

If this were a parasite I would say screw the fish's life, do the utilitarian thing and get him outta there by any means to save the others. But, even then, in many cases fish will turn around after a few days or weeks of excellent water parameters and proper nutrition, the antibiotics in the food help too!

Now next time, you might end up with a parasite, and then what will you do? Believe me I just spent the last three weeks with ALL of my fish (11 total, representing some $360) separated into 6x20 gallon containers spread out throughout my living room! What a nightmare, and this all after I QTed the new fish for two weeks. It's a tough lesson to learn the hard way to QT your new fish, but believe me it is worth it!

Not to chastities you, but rather trying to save you from a lot of lost money and heartache.