Recently moved to the bay area from MD, and had my aquarium set up from the beginning of March. I have 4 juvenile bartlett's anthias that I've kept for a little over a month and half now. Naively, since I bought the fish from one of the more reputable stores in the SF bay area (where I am now) and my tank was pretty empty, I didn't quarantine them. For a week they looked fine, but soon after they showed some symptoms relating to flukes:
1) Frayed fins (tissue between spines is gone)
2) bullying cleaner shrimp
3) scratching against rocks
4) random spasms of flashing across the tank (jumping out!)
I did a prazi pro treatment for 5 days and noticed improvements. The fins grew back and behavior was almost normal. Consequently a couple of the fish got secondary infections (red blotches), that I assume were internal bacterial infections that lead to hemorrhaging. After the first regiment, I fed 3-4 times a day, with selcon nutramar ova, pe mysis, and NLS Thera-A. The discoloration disappeared after about 3 days and all seemed well. A few days after that, I noticed again the fish were showing signs of flukes (this time frayed fins and hiding). I started a second regiment of prazi pro (around 4 days after the first). In between I had done 3 x 10% water changes, ran the skimmer again, and ran chemi-pure elite, but of course removed the carbon and took off the collection cup during treatments. During the second treatment, the fish started behaving normally again but showed lesions around the second day. I followed up with the same nutrition plan and the lesions went away and the fins grew back. I stopped the treatment last thursday, did a water change, ran my skimmer, and put the carbon back. Sunday I noticed again that the fish's fins were frayed and they were hiding again. So I started my third regiment that day. By Tuesday the fins were improved and one of the fish showed an infection.
Why is it that the anthias are dependent on the prazi-pro? Their behavior and fins seem to be fine when I'm doing a treatment (but filtration is off outside of LR). Though I haven't been able to catch any of them and confirm that they have flukes by an FW dip, I'm almost certain that they do based on what I've researched so far and the fact that the prazi-pro seems to have some affect. They always seem to be getting secondary infections during or right after the treatment.
I would like to have this cured before I bring in the rest of my corals (SPS) from MD. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make my treatment more effective? I have ordered Seachem's Focus and Metronizadole to at least help with the secondary infections.
My specs
60 gallon w/ 20 gallon sump
Bubble Magus curve 5 skimmer
Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 20 (a bit high); API Saltwater test kits, Salifert and Hanna are in MD...
Other Live stock:
1 Large Ocellaris clown (no signs of flukes)
1 female mandarin (also no signs of flukes)
1 blood red fire shrimp
1 halloween hermit
1 turbo snail
3 trochus snails
1 florida fighting conch
Thanks in advance
1) Frayed fins (tissue between spines is gone)
2) bullying cleaner shrimp
3) scratching against rocks
4) random spasms of flashing across the tank (jumping out!)
I did a prazi pro treatment for 5 days and noticed improvements. The fins grew back and behavior was almost normal. Consequently a couple of the fish got secondary infections (red blotches), that I assume were internal bacterial infections that lead to hemorrhaging. After the first regiment, I fed 3-4 times a day, with selcon nutramar ova, pe mysis, and NLS Thera-A. The discoloration disappeared after about 3 days and all seemed well. A few days after that, I noticed again the fish were showing signs of flukes (this time frayed fins and hiding). I started a second regiment of prazi pro (around 4 days after the first). In between I had done 3 x 10% water changes, ran the skimmer again, and ran chemi-pure elite, but of course removed the carbon and took off the collection cup during treatments. During the second treatment, the fish started behaving normally again but showed lesions around the second day. I followed up with the same nutrition plan and the lesions went away and the fins grew back. I stopped the treatment last thursday, did a water change, ran my skimmer, and put the carbon back. Sunday I noticed again that the fish's fins were frayed and they were hiding again. So I started my third regiment that day. By Tuesday the fins were improved and one of the fish showed an infection.
Why is it that the anthias are dependent on the prazi-pro? Their behavior and fins seem to be fine when I'm doing a treatment (but filtration is off outside of LR). Though I haven't been able to catch any of them and confirm that they have flukes by an FW dip, I'm almost certain that they do based on what I've researched so far and the fact that the prazi-pro seems to have some affect. They always seem to be getting secondary infections during or right after the treatment.
I would like to have this cured before I bring in the rest of my corals (SPS) from MD. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make my treatment more effective? I have ordered Seachem's Focus and Metronizadole to at least help with the secondary infections.
My specs
60 gallon w/ 20 gallon sump
Bubble Magus curve 5 skimmer
Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 20 (a bit high); API Saltwater test kits, Salifert and Hanna are in MD...
Other Live stock:
1 Large Ocellaris clown (no signs of flukes)
1 female mandarin (also no signs of flukes)
1 blood red fire shrimp
1 halloween hermit
1 turbo snail
3 trochus snails
1 florida fighting conch
Thanks in advance
