Blood-Fin Anthias thinks he is a Hawkfish?

[Josh40996]

Greetings Fish Freaks!

I am beginning to get alittle concerned for the newest addition to my tank, which is a male Blood-fin Anthias and was purchased along with 2 females who are doing very well and settled in immediatly. When added to the tank (1 week ago) he dived straight into the rockwork and hid for a few hours whereas the two females were straight out and playing about, after a few hours the male came out but was very timid and shot straight back to the when I came near.

The next day he refused to eat but the females did. He was less shy but still stayed close to the rockwork and hardly ever swam. Since then he has ate everyday and looks good, he has just developed some very strange behaviour, he sits on the rocks and occasionaly hides in the rocks, he also tends to sit about half way up the side of the tank in the corner with his head facing upwards. He can swim and doesn't seem to have any difficulty doing so and competes with all the other fish for food. Here is a picture of him pretending to be a Hawkfish,

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Water parameters seem good with no ammonia or nitrite, 5ppm Nitrate and pH. 8.2

I don't believe he is being intimidated by any other tank mates as he is the largest fish in the tank and the other fish are peaceful and have good tempers. I am at a loss for what could be causing him to be acting this way.

 

[Josh40996]

Oops, photobucket isn't working at the moment so I am having to use alternate image hosting sites, it seems Reefcentral doesn't like some others.

Do you guys think he could still be acclimating or could it be something more sinister?

 

[jbvdhp]

It looks to be just hiding out and casing the joint. I wouldn't be too worried. I once had some type of pink anthias, I forgot the name, but it took almost a week for it to even eat. All it did was swim out for a moment and then returned to a hole like yours is. Don't worry at the moment.

 

[Josh40996]

Just wanted to update the situation. Unfortunately, I think he has passed on. He continued with his strange behaviour but it appeared like he was loosing the ability to swim properly and his back became slightly arched. He continued to eat everyday but for the past two days he has not been seen and hasn't come out for feedi g, and he is not in any of his usualy hiding places.

 

[reefsnfish]

It's weird same thing happen to my anthias. My bartlett's anthias was perching for about a month, I think it was from a bacteria infection. I first treated the tank with prazipro thinking it might have been flukes, which he developed popeye during prazipro treatment. Then one week later he got pop eye in both eyes. So I treated him with Maracyn 2, didn't make it past two days of treatment in the hospital tank. I remember when he was still in the DT he would hide for a day or two in the rocks without seeing him, so your fish might still be in there. GL, keep an eye out for pop-eye or any other bacteria related signs.

 

[Josh40996]

It's weird same thing happen to my anthias. My bartlett's anthias was perching for about a month, I think it was from a bacteria infection. I first treated the tank with prazipro thinking it might have been flukes, which he developed popeye during prazipro treatment. Then one week later he got pop eye in both eyes. So I treated him with Maracyn 2, didn't make it past two days of treatment in the hospital tank. I remember when he was still in the DT he would hide for a day or two in the rocks without seeing him, so your fish might still be in there. GL, keep an eye out for pop-eye or any other bacteria related signs.

I believe that he has truely gone, as I am now batteling an algae bloom.

Thanks for the input. Its definatly strange and I will be keeping an eye out for any signs of infection, which is what I would like to ask about now. My other two anthias have had trouble swallowing their food over the last couple days and seems to be steadily getting worse. They are both very active and go crazy at feeding time, but they don't seem to be swallowing it, instead they keep it all in their mouths for a minute or two and then spit it all out at once. They have both lost some weight, but one in particular has lost significantly more than the other. The fish which has lost the most weight has also been seen perching on the rocks recently... I am beginning to get worried for them. Does anybody have any idea where to look next?