"Hunchback" Anthias: ever seen this?

[LobsterOfJustice]

Hello,

I've had a problem with some of my lyretail anthias developing this "hunchback" - I'm not sure if it's due to genetics or something I'm doing wrong.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1453288

I got the fish from LA about a year ago - I dont believe they had it when I got them (I think I would have noticed they looked funny). I would like to get a few more but want to make sure it wont happen again.

Have you ever seen anything like this come in from the wholesaler or develop while at your facility?

[dfs/la2]

LobsterOfJustice,

Thank you for your post. We are checking into this and we will post back as soon as we have a response. We apologize for the delay.

Dallas R.
LiveAquaria (http://www.liveaquaria.com/default.cfm?siteid=20)
Drs. Foster & Smith (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/)

[DFS]

LobsterOfJustice,

I apologize for the delay in responding. Both Marine and Freshwater Fish that have very high metabolisms and are normally active fish which can exhibit this kind of symptom.

With Anthias this is especially common and can be directly attributed to nutrient deficiency. Anthias do best when they are fed very small quantities of food up to six times per day. I would recommend switching their diet and try feeding smaller quantities of food throughout the day until the fish recovers. If there is a problem with one or two individuals being constantly harassed by a more dominant male or larger female, I would remove the aggressor from the aquarium until the fish in question recovers.

I have very good luck feeding enriched PM Mysis. Adding Vitamin-C and Selcon allowing the food to absorb the Vitamins for 15-20 minutes prior to feeding is ideal.

PE Mysis Shrimp (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+7927+8038+19763&pcatid=19763)

Selcon (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4245+5009&pcatid=5009)

Vitamin-C (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4245+19682&pcatid=19682)

Best of luck and I apologize again for the delay.

Regards,
Kevin Kohen
Director of LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith

[LobsterOfJustice]

Thanks for the reply, it at least helps give me some direction. However, I personally feel I have the diet aspect pretty well covered.

Until recently I was feeding twice daily (frozen food), about a month ago I started feeding 6x daily (4x dry food on a timer in addition to my twice frozen). As far as variety... I give almost everything. Basically I buy every type of frozen food and cycle through them. I use Sally's San Francisco Bay Brand (SFB) Emerald Entree, SFB Plankton, SFB Spirulina Enriched Brine Shrimp, SFB Marine Cuisine, SFB Mysis, Hikari Bloodworms, Hikari Daphnia, Hikari Krill, Cyclope-eze, Roe (from an asian grocery), Ocean Nutrition (ON) Prime Reef, ON Formula Two, ON Angel Formula, and ON Special Formula VHP. I have them all in a stack in the freezer and work my way through the pile.

I soak in selcon once a week, garlic once a week, and zoe once a week (soaked for a few hrs). The dry foods I'm using in the autofeeder have a similar diversity. I am looking at expanding my vitamins though - vitamin C is something I hadn't thought of.

There is some aggression, but it isn't bad. It's just the standard male doing his thing, and it's spread out over four females currently.

[DFS]

LobsterOfJustice,

It surely does sound like you have a diverse offering of foods at your disposal. Anthias are Planktonivores, and require a high protein diet rich in Omega-3's and fatty acids. Enriched PE-Mysis is an ideal food to feed Anthias spp., as their primary diet in the home aquarium and I would recommend tying to utilize this food as their primary source of nutrition.

Anthias are inherently very active fish that will create a hierarchy in the home aquarium with a distinct pecking order. It is not uncommon when maintaining one species of Anthias in a small harem or group for one or two of these fish at the bottom of the hierarchy to have difficulties getting their fare share of the food during feeding time.

One technique is to try and feed your fish over a longer duration during each feeding session. Over the course of 3-5 minutes during each feeding session, it is ideal to slowly add food in small quantities at a time to different sides of the aquarium to ensure all of your inhabitants are getting their fare share.

During this time when conditioning weaker fish, it is very important to monitor and test water chemistry more frequently, and increase the water change schedule to limit the buildup of organics that can accumulate from uneaten food and increased waste products. It is also very important to keep a close eye on mechanical filtration media such as overflow sponges or mechanical filter pads that can trap uneaten food. By increasing the frequency of rinsing mechanical media will also help to reduce the accumulation of organic pollutants.

Regards,
Kevin Kohen
Director of LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith

[LobsterOfJustice]

Thanks for all the information :)