Blue-spot jawfish keepers, please post

[Angel*Fish]

Ken, I noticed that your jawfish's head seems smaller in relation to hi body than mine's ever did...I'm wondering if maybe mine had something going on in the gills from the very beginning...
I know I've thought about this enough to make my head blow up!... anyway your fish has a look to him that neither of the 2 at my LFS ever had...like you said..can't quite put my finger on it, either -- he just looks better

 

[Ken Hahn]

Take a look at this site:
http://www.aquarium.net/0497/0497_6.shtml

It describes a parasite called Brooklynella about half way down the page that seems to fit the description as I understand it exactly.

Symptoms include heavy breathing due to the parasite populating the gills. White blotches form on the skin and general skin discoloratoin and then evenually skin sloughing occurs as the disease progresses. Usually brought on by stress caused by elevated ammonia levels which occur during shipment.

Also includes suggestions for treatment.

 

[billsreef]

There are two common things I see routinely that could cause the symptoms being described and what appears in those pictures. One is protozoan parasites such as amyloodinium, since this seems to linger for a while instead of rapidly killing I would think it's not actually amyloodinium, but rather a simular type protozoan. The other possibility is flukes which often are hard to see by eye and also will cause discoloration, rapid breathing and fin deteriation. Often many wholesalers use crushed coral in thier holding tanks, for fish that prefer soft sand substrates this course substrate often scratches thier skin and opens it to infection by protozoans and other things.

For flukes, a 1-15 minute fresh water dip will either confirm thier presence and eliminate them, or at least eliminate that possibility and therefore confirming the diagnosis of protozoan infection. Most protoazoans are best treated with either copper or formalin dips. Some such as Brooklynella (not likely based on the pictures in this case) are resistant to copper and therefore best treated with formalin dips.

 

[Angel*Fish]

Ken, I looked at that site and it sure does sound like what he had...but there were never high NH3 or NO2 levels... and Billsreef, I read about flukes and it sounds similar to that also with a secondary fungal infection

Thanks guys, I guess I should have saved the fish and taken him somewhere for examination...I thought of it , put him in the freezer.... but I didn't really know of anyone who does this, and my daughter wanted to have a funeral...so I just said ok. At the time I was just "bummed" about that particular fish & nothing was going to bring him back

It was after he ate the yellow clown goby that he first started showing clear symptoms of decline - those little gobiodons(sp?) are supposed to have a toxic slime, I'm wondering if that didn't play some part in this..

I hope anyone else who has a similar experience will get an autopsy - I would help pay for it if they are expensive...but maybe these several situations were just coincidental "flukes" -- (no pun) -

-:idea: Could it be as simple as all these fish came from the same supplier who just happened to for whatever reason have a "bad batch"? Maybe the next batch will be healthy? The fish are not written up as being sensitive in the literature I have found.

 

[Ken Hahn]

Marie,
Keep in mind that all these fish were recently transported and spent a day or two in a small bag with their own waste, so I am sure they were exposed to some type of elevated levels of ammonia, etc. shortly prior to your purchase. I don't have much experience treating fish disease such as protozoans, so I don't know how long it may take for the disease to progress if that is in fact what killed your fish.

Bill, I am curious what makes you think that it's not likely to be Brooklynella. It seems to fit the description, but I do not have any first hand experience with it.

--- Ken

 

[billsreef]

Marie,
It can be as simple as a bad batch, figure all coming in from the same exporter and shipped together. So they would have been through the same experiences. Another possibility is something that is resident in an exporters, wholesalers or retailers tanks. Best thing to do of course is set up a QT suitable to house the jawfish and do a proper quarantine on them. This will also leave you in a much better position to treat them if necessary.

Ken,
Brooklynella typically causes visible opaqueness and thickening of the slime coat. I didn't notice of that in those pics, that's what led me to think brook is not likely the culprit here. As to the other symptoms, quite a few different protozoan infections will cause them. It's kind of like illness in people, there are numerous ones that will cause fever, nausea, headaches etc. The trick comes down to looking for more specific symptoms that less likely to be common other things.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Indyreefer, how's your bluespot doing?

TheJ, if you think that fish looks phallic with all those blue spots on it, then I'm afraid you'd better get to the free-clinic ASAP! :lmao:

 

[IndyReefer]

The Jawfish is still hanging in there. Still eating well with garlic and Selcon added. Breathing is ok. I tried to catch him while he was "hovering" to give a freshwater dip. No go. A mad dash and a distinct "thud" as he hit the top of the acrylic. A jumper indeed.
Decided to not try that again as after he acted like he had just swam a marathon. Hooked up the UV steriler in hopes it would help.
The pic shows the white areas. The green scurge on the rocks has come about by my excess feeding. I'll deal with that later if the jawfish does alright by cutting back on the nutrients.

 

[MtnDewMan]

AWESOME picture ... AWESOME !!!!!!!!!

 

[saltwaterfishlover]

is this it too

is this it too

does this seem to be what everyone seems to have experienced?
I got this beauty in an dafter 48 hrs in qt was dead... was fine initially after 24 started breathing hard then noticed spots and 24 later...

 

[Angel*Fish]

Sorry for being so slow in posting...been out of town, computer disconnected & started helping up at the office...

Indy, that photo is exactly what mine looked like - it was only on one side and he rarely turned that side to the camera for some reason

Saltwater, close to the end mine had flakes all over, but it looked more like sloughed skin than your photo - his head had tiny sandpaper bumps all over it, but it was as if something was pushing up under the skin. That said, I can't be certain that it was not the same thing...Did yours have the patchy areas like Indy's?

Would be interested in updates on everybody's bluespots

 

[squeezix]

^ I Bumped This To The Top Because Of My Post ^

 

[squeezix]

Is there any possibility that this was an abrasion? What substrate were those of you with the spotting problem using?
OR
Could there be something in the tank inhibiting the fish's production of mucous to prevent abrasions from the substrate?

You guys seem like knowledgeable aquarists, and I'm sure if it were a common pathogen you'd have agreed on what it was at this point.

 

[Angel*Fish]

I do think it is abrasion related....one thing I had wondered was if it would have helped to use some of that stuff that's supposed to coat them with something or other to protect them - don't know what the stuff is called

 

[IndyReefer]

Another sad ending. The second Blue Spot I had died. Same symptoms as the other a few months back.
2 gold stripped maroons, wrasse and blue assessor are all fine. Params are great.
He got the white patches same as before. Ran UV, direct fed with selcon. White patches were clearing. Thought he was gonna make it and then noticed he became lethargic and was having trouble breathing. Tried a fresh water bath. About a month from the first white patches until he was gone. Whatever this is seems to only effect the jawfish. No more of these for me.

 

[Angel*Fish]

So sorry to hear about your loss. Thanks for posting a record of it. They are such pretty fish with personalities that captivate you from the very start.
Hope everybody else continues to give updates

 

[MtnDewMan]

My blue spot has been MIA for about 2 weeks now ... I fear the worst

 

[Periclimenes Lover]

MtnDewMan: Sorry to hear he's disappeared. I think I posted this a couple weeks back.... my first blue spot died. Really stupid mistake.. he jumped out of my main tank through a hole. The hole was small, about the size of a dime by the return head so I thought he'd never jump out of that... wrong. We just got a second one last week (a gift). I'm going to make a post asking what methods have been used on these fish and whether there were any positive or negative results. I've searched everywhere and I can't find any specific info about what the spots/flaky skin they often get could be.

 

[squeezix]

So far so good. Although it's been less than a week. This fish requires so much rubble it's not even funny. He eats a lot and seems fine so far.

 

[saltwaterfishlover]

I have 2 of these lovely beauties now they have a 5lb a week rubble habbit.......... they build a burrow live a bit then move on.... instead of a 4"dsb I gonna have a 8" drb (deep rubble bed)