Urgent! Square Anthias Not Doing Well!

[cafernico]

I have a 3" male Square Anthias in my quarantine tank for 2 weeks. He had been doing great, not sign of external parasites, very active, and eating well ( I feed him 3 times daily).
I feed him last night and he ate everything. This morning he was not out as usual, but instead inside one of the PVC pipes. I added some food but he did not come out. Since this was not his normal behavior I checked the water parameters and seems like the ammonia was around 0.25 so I did a 40% water change. Other than the ammonia issue I noticed last night some white string looking stuff hanging from him, which it could be a sign for internal parasites. I have Metronidazole at hand, by since he did not eat I am not sure if this will help. I am thinking about starting prazipro (praziquantel) treatment. I will appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,

 

[MrTuskfish]

Metronidazole is an antibiotic, no reason to use it for anything now. IMO, all fish should be wormed with PP. But I think your problem is ammonia, Pink Squares are difficult to acclimate and any ammonia is too much. Are you using any sort of seeded filter media to handle ammonia? How are you handling ammonia, outside of WCs? You can also use WCs and an ammonia neutralizer, like Prime or amquel. Also, these are deep water fish and should only have ambient light during acclimation, gradually bring lighting up to the DT level.

Some sources seem to think ammonia at .25ppm is OK; but I think any measurable ammonia is always a problem.

 

[cafernico]

Thank very much for your reply. I also think the ammonia is the culprit here. I did a 40% water change last Friday and was planning to do another one today (which I already did before heading to work) I am using an AquaClear filter with carbon and chemipure, I seeded the quarantine tank with a filter sponge from my display tank. I am going to stop by the LFS after work and buy some praziquantel to dewormed and se if he gets better.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Seeding AC filter media in the DT usually works well, but takes about a month to have enough bacteria. here are a lot of variables and this time varies considerably. FWIW: The carbon that comes with filters isn't very good, and that's probably an overstatement. Use some good GAC in a media bag. I used ChemiPure for years until I read what The RC water Chemistry expert, Randy Holmes--Farly had to say. He explained why it doesn't work in SW and I stopped using it. Carbon and ChemuPure are designed to due the same thing and CP can get pricey. Now, I just use good carbon in all of my DTs. . Purigen is a similar product that also works well. But, for a QT; I don't see any to use any carbon. Unless you're using tap water. Never use carbon with any med.