Anemone & API General Cure

[Sig32]

About a month a ago my clown showed signs of flukes. I was able to catch her and treat her in a QT with API General Cure with success. She has since returned to the DT. I have been medicating food in an effort to treat any other fish that may have been infected. So far all but one fish is eating the medicated food.

I have noticed that my Cardinal has not eaten in a few days and shows no interest in food. Other than not eating, his behavior is normal. I did; however, notice he had white poop today. I have tried in vain to catch him, but he's not cooperating.

Is it safe to treat my DT that has an anemone? It's a mixed reef and I do have a couple of feather dusters (I know they will probably die), but I hate to lose the fish. What should I do? Any experience or suggestions on this situation would be appreciated.

 

[Swayze27]

Man, I will probably get drilled on here for saying this but is the cardinal not cheaper than the multiple feather dusters? In my opinion you can cause more stress digging your hand in and moving stuff around trying to catch a fish than the parasite itself can cause. It's definitely worth monitoring but if all other inhabitants are healthy and eating I wouldn't go throwing chemicals in it only because one fish isn't eating. Especially if youre not even certain if what you are treating for is his problem. This is gonna sound harsh and I'm not discounting the lives of the inhabitants we keep but sometimes some just do not fair well in the environment we keep them in. They go through a lot from the ocean to the tank and it's too much for some. I rarely treat for parasites, even ich (velvet would be a different story) and have never lost a fish to parasites. A haddoni maybe but no parasite. I'm thick skinned so I can handle the onslaught of criticism, lol.

 

[Sig32]

Swayze, thanks for your reply. I agree with your thoughts and I’m not keen to treating the tank. Really, my concerns are that if I don’t treat the cardinal that I may lose all of my fish which include a DaVinci clown and Betta among them. I lost my Black Cap Basselet yesterday (I’m assuming that it’s related). It hid a lot so I never saw it so I really don’t know what happened. I’m not sure how to best proceed.

 

[Swayze27]

What size tank, stock list, parameters, anything new added? Any bullying?

 

[Sig32]

What size tank, stock list, parameters, anything new added? Any bullying?

65 gallon mixed reef

Black cap basselet (died)
DaVinci clown
Black Ocellaris
Cardinal (not eating)
Tailspot blenny
Purple fire fish
Hi-fin goby and pistol shrimp
Marine Betta
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Malu anemone
2 feather dusters

Parameters are consistent
pH 8.2
Calcium 455
Alkalinity 9.8
Magnesium 1650
Nitrate 3
Phosphate 0.05
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0

The tank is a true "œcommunity tank", never had an issue with fighting or bullying. The newest addition to the tank was my Betta. He went into the DT when I pulled the clowns out to be treated. The blackcap had shown signs of tail rot since September, but I could never catch her to treat her. She never lost her appetite (until recently) and I hoped she would fight off the infection. With the exception of the Cardinal, everyone is eating and is not showing signs of illness. Thoughts?

 

[Swayze27]

Just my opinion if all other fish are happy and healthy I wouldn't do anything too drastic. On a separate topic, any pics of malu?

 

[Sig32]

Thanks for your input. I'll keep an eye on everyone and just see how things develop. As for my Malu, here you go. It's still coloring up and adjusting, but so far so good. My clowns have no interest in it, but I am hoping they'll eventually call it home. You can see more pics in an older thread (link below) from when I first got the anemone.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2657339