Lyretail Anthias died

[v_rouge]

I am new to the hobby and have set up a 75 gallon reef tank. Tank has been setup for over 2 months and I have been slowly introducing corals and fish. I started with a pair of clowns, added a blenny and have a torch, cotton candy LPS and introduced a RBTA. I also added a shrimp 3 weeks ago. All appear to be doing well. I make a 10 gallon water change with NSW adjust for Ca and test water at least once a week. Ammonia is at 0, NO3 and NO4 are 0. Last weekend I added 3 Lyretail Anthias. Last night I noticed they were hiding and the shrimp seemed to attaching one of them. I was not able to get the shrimp out but this morning all 3 Lyretail Anthias are dead. Any ideas what could be causing the mortality? Could the shrimp be causing issues.

[CanhMan]

Sorry to hear about your loss.
Have they been eating and what have you been feeding them? They require multiple feedings a day.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't the shrimp, it was just cleaning up.

[jetli1969]

Where did u purchased your fish?
Did u acclimate your fish?
Did u buy your fish still in bag?

[hydrahawk]

See if you can hit up SDGuy. He is very knowledgeable about Anthias.

[v_rouge]

I bought them at Pet Kingdom. They had been eating up until yesterday.

[keepswimming]

The shrimp is likely trying to clean your fish free of parasites. It probably came in with flukes, ich, or something else that took it down. You didn't quarantine? My bet is flukes, given that it died so quickly. Was it darting in front of the power heads or scraping on the sand or rock? Hiding can also a sign that something is wrong.

[v_rouge]

Could the culprit be my torch coral. I ask because Wednesday night I recall seeing these long red tentacle from the torch all over the place. They were coming out the torch and then breaking off and floating in the current. The torch is looking healthy.


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[davocean]

A few possibilities, anthia are known to ship dirty as some call it, prone to uronema and parasite issues, and while all fish should really be qt'd I'd say this is especially true for anthia.
Also your tank being just 2 months old, anthia are on the sensitive side, would do better w/ your tank a little more established, I would not be rushing sensitive fish into that new of a tank, it's just barely cycled.
Also a good idea to do a FW dip on all new anthia before going into QT or display to try to rid any parasite issues.
Multiple daily feedings are needed as well.

[keepswimming]

Could the culprit be my torch coral. I ask because Wednesday night I recall seeing these long red tentacle from the torch all over the place. They were coming out the torch and then breaking off and floating in the current. The torch is looking healthy.


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Fish are smart enough to not swim into harmful livestock, unless they are very sick or injuried. Might want to start thinking about the options you have to treat fish. Look for flashing, darting or visual signs of parasites to confirm. If you did bring in something, your other fish might start dropping as well.

[v_rouge]

Thanks for the advice. The other fish all seem fine for the time being. It just seemed strange that all 3 died at the same time after 5 days.


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[keepswimming]

Thanks for the advice. The other fish all seem fine for the time being. It just seemed strange that all 3 died at the same time after 5 days.


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Could be a number of things. Anthias are tough to keep, but once you get healthy happy ones, they last forever.

[inurmind]

Welcome to the forum and an awesome hobby to start with. I agree with the posts above... too new of a system being a HUGE factor but also those are not the lowest maintenance fish to begin with. Start slow and stay hardy, with time you can get more advanced livestock like that.

[v_rouge]

So I've had more fall out. My blenny and one of the clowns has died. Any suggestion on how to save the last 2 fish? All the corals look great.


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[keepswimming]

So I've had more fall out. My blenny and one of the clowns has died. Any suggestion on how to save the last 2 fish? All the corals look great.


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Now it sounds like velvet or flukes if they are not covered ich. Your first step is to trust people that have been doing this for over a decade.

You need to pull them out and put them in a qt with copper.

[keepswimming]

You can pm me your number and I'll talk you through the process. Just know if might be to late now, but you can try.