ID spots on fish?

[SoonerFan732]

Can anyone help me ID these patches that are appearing on my Clown Triggerfish? Sorry I can't get a better picture. Whatever it is it seems to grow in small patches. The scales in that area seem to be slightly discolored. There are about 5 patches total.

Thanks!

 

[djc1026]

It looks like rock dust, like he was trying to sqeeze between some rocks to get at something. My Niger frequently has this just above his eyes and the sides of his head. And any rate, I hope that's all it is.

Dave

 

[ReeferRyan]

I agree with Dave. My niger trigger had those spots in a different place everyday it seemed. Never affected it too much, it was always very healthy.

 

[SoonerFan732]

I don't think so. They have been in the same place for a week or so. Increasing in number. I wish I could get a better picture. I think it would be more clear then. When you see it in person you can tell its not free floating particles.

Thanks!

 

[dugg]

Not sure what it is, but his eye looks a little cloudy to me. A quick note though, if it turns out to be something like ick, DO NOT use hypo treatment. Clown triggers don't tolerate hypo well at all. I learned this the hard way. Most other triggers tolerate it fine, but the clowns don't. I treated one with hypo in a tank with several other triggers, and after one night it ate his skin off. All of the other triggers in the tank were fine except him.

 

[SoonerFan732]

Thanks for the tip Dugg! He did have ich a few months ago, but it didn't look like this.

Bob Fenner suggested it was is likely a trematode/fluke infestation, but also said it could be viral.

 

[scott0615]

Praziquantel is what I prefer for worms - trematods, nematodes, flukes,etc. I would certainly agree with Fenner and the cloudy eye would be further evidence [cloudy eye could be a secondary bacterial infection also]. Prazi can be used as a bath but I would prefer to treat the tank. For a bath to treat worms I mix a 5 gallon freshwater solution buffered at pH 8.2 and 1 oz. of 37% formaldyhyde and dip for a varied amount of time depending on the fish [triggers should not have issue with a 3 minute dip]. Prazi can also be used in conjunction with copper. As far as Hypo - our non reef safe fish system always has clown triggers at a salinity of 1.014-1.018 without issues. Have a medium large in right now and tiny's to be dripped in tomorrow.