Unusual Fish Behavior in QT

Hi folks,

I'm in the process of building my display tank, although it's not completed yet. Two weeks ago, I purchased 4 Bartlett's Anthias (1 male, 3 female) and placed them in my QT tank.

The QT tank has been set up for 3 weeks now... it completed its cycle a full week before I introduced the new fish. It's a 20g tall QT tank with a Topfin 20 powerfilter. I removed the carbon from the filterbag and replaced it with ceramic rings.

Here are the paramters of the tank today:
Temp - 78.3-79.5
PH - 8.1
Sal - 1.026
NH4 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 10ppm

I lost one of the fish during shipping and had it replaced 2 days later. Since then, all fish were doing fine and eating well. I feed 4 times a day. I alternate between frozen cyclops, frozen brine shrimp, bluezoo dry mixed food, and homemade frozen food (blended garlic, salmon, mahi mahi, scallops, and nori).

In the last 3 or 4 days, I've noticed the fish have changed their behavior a bit. They are rubbing against the PVC fittings I have as hiding places and they are darting around quickly in the tank from time to time. They have also taken to swimming up at the top of the tank in front of the powerfilter output. Gives me the impression their trying to get more oxygen.

Nitrates were a bit high (30ppm) so I did a 50% water change yesterday (did a 20% change last week).

Here's a video of what the male looks like when he rubs against the PVC fittings. Anthias Rubbing - YouTube

From what I've read, this rubbing behavior is typical for a parasite infestation like Ich. It seems all the fish are behaving this way, it's not limited to just one.

That being said, I can't see any cosmetic symptoms on any of the fish at all. I've included a few pics of the male and two of the females... I can't see anything out of the ordinary although I'm not sure I'm looking for the right things.

Male Pic 1:


Male Pic 2:


Female 1:


Female 2:


All the fish are still eating well. They do pick on eachother and it seems they've gotten more agressive over the last few days.

I'm also a little concerned that the simple powerfilter may not be providing enough oxygen so I'm going to put in an airstone as well to be safe. I tried a MaxiJet 400 powerhead but it was way too much flow for such a small tank. The fish could barely keep up with the flow swimming full speed into it.

I've ordered some Cuprimine which will get here tomorrow although I'm not sure if I should use it or not. I wanted to ask advice here first... is the rubbing and surface swimming behavior alone, with no cosmetic signs of infefction, enough to treat for parasites? How would you procede?

 

Use the cupramine. If you dose to the letter it will not harm the fish. Go 14 days then use active carbon to remove the cupramine. Verify removal with Seachem test kit. I would also recommend a couple days battery of fresh water dips. Once per day, for 5-10 minutes. Use an airstone in a bucket and put a heater in there too to match the QT temp. Net them in and out and dump the water each day for fresh RO/DI to remove any dropped off parasites. Keep them in the QT for a minimum of 30 days, but if yours are acting strange I would extend it at least another week or until oddities stop and they are eating well.

EDIT: Wait a few days after cupramine is done to FWD to reduce stress and make sure they are eating good.

 

If you go with his aggressive route you need to ph match the water.

 

I would just use the copper. It will do the job you dont need the F/W dips too. It will just stress the fish more.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys... I think I'd prefer to go with just the copper. Since I'm new to this, I'm not very good at catching fish with nets yet.: Just getting them out of their acclimation box when I first put them into QT took forever and one jumped out onto the floor!

I went ahead and ordered a copper test kit and I also picked up a small cannister filter I can use for the carbon. Unfortunately the little powerfilter that came with the 20g tank is too small to add a carbon bag in addition to the biorings I have in it.

Thanks again guys, I just wanted the peace of mind that I was heading down the right path.

 

True, it will have to be tested. I would use an airstone in the bucket too.

Right, you can get away with just the cupramine. But you can FWD safely. The fish will give signs that he is unduely stressed. He will try to jump out of the water or swim irratically. If he does this you can end the FWD with no real harm. If the fish settles in and just swims gently or stays stationary then he is under minimal stress and has taken to the treatment.

However, don't take this that I feel everyone must do it. Cupramine will prophylactically treat both ich and marine velvet effectively. So this step is often all that is required and is head and shoulders above doing nothing at all.

Just doing QT alone will not necessarily assure that you will not have an outbreak.

Good luck.

 

Did you order the Seachem test kit? I believe since cupramine is different than just dosing copper you should get the test designed for the dosed medicine.

Although I am not 100% on that, maybe others can ring in on that, I have heard it makes a difference in results.

 

Yes actually, bought the Seachem one. I'm not sure either but I figured since they're both Seachem that would be safest approach.

 

To be sure, I checked with Seachem. Here is what they say...

"In order for your test kit to accurately measure Cupramine, it needs to test for "free" or "ionic" copper, because Cupramine is NOT a chelated copper."

So it appears that any test kit that tests for "free or "ionic copper" will work fine, but all the same the Seachem kit will work fine for you.

Good luck.