Is Something Wrong With My Starry Blenny?

[Mister_Palmer]

Out of the blue my Starry has this weird white pattern on his side...
He was fine yesterday, out and about, eating, etc.

Today, I go to feed the tank, and he's just sitting on the bottom, not eating and looks like this.

I know they change their colors and stuff, but this looks odd. Right?

 

[EllieSuz]

Yeah, that doesn't look good. I've never seen anything like that on mine and I've had him for years. I'm sorry that I can't tell you what it is, but at least I can assure you you're not imagining things.

 

[Mister_Palmer]

Yeah, it didn't seem good.
It's really listless looking.

But like I said, I know they kind of change colors from time to time at night and stuff.
This was just on the one side though... Not good

 

[Mister_Palmer]

Anyone else?

 

[Squared]

He looks emaciated. Try feeding him food soaked in garlic guard or garlic xtreme.

I had something similar happened to a midas blenny i had, he was also quite skinny and had discolored patches on his skin.

I put him in QT, i tried some anti fungal medicine and metro. I'm not sure the medicine helped, but i made sure he got more than one feeding a day.

How long have you had him? How often do you feed?

 

[sacalaitman]

Looks like he got sucked up against something. He looks in very bad shape

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[Mister_Palmer]

Well, it passed away...
I fed him daily, either Mysis or Rod's Food.

It literally happened in like 12 hours. I saw him eat a bunch just the day before.
I got him I think in February this year, but he was an adult. Possibly even a trade in, i forget

 

[Mister_Palmer]

I'm seeing now that it maybe could've used some "greens", but there's some seaweed in the Rods.
And he seemed to enjoy anything I put in the tank, either flakes or meaty...

Not sure, everything else looks fine and the water parameters are fine as well.
Maybe it was it's time to go.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Looks like he got sucked up against something. He looks in very bad shape

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I think this is possible too. Just a few seconds on a PH can kill a fish, it really messes up their insides. Its very unusual for a healthy fish to have a fight with a PH, but it happens. This is just a guess; but diet problems wouldn't affect the fish this way and this fast. I think something caused internal bleeding ; but you'll never know for sure. You can cut the dead fish, red meat in the area of discoloration = internal bleeding.

 

[Mister_Palmer]

Well this fish slept every night against the overflow slit, almost sucked up against it.
He'd wedge his tail between the slits and just float up there.

The first time I saw it, I thought he was dead, and was sucked up against. But thats how he slept...
Every night for 6 months; maybe it finally got him?

It's a 38 nuvo, with the little all in one sump in back, both sides have the overflows where it goes into sponge and whatnot.
1 other tiny fish has been sucked through and rescued.

He just liked laying up there

 

[agruetz]

This to a T just happened to my Starry Blenny... Anyway able to come up with any idea's what may have happened?

 

[Deinonych]

I had a similar problem with a Bicolor Blenny. It looked like something had eaten away part of his caudal peduncle. He lasted about 5 days in QT before he died. Tagging along to see if someone knows what this might be.

 

[agruetz]

So I have done ALOT of research today. I believe the infection was a parasitic one called Uronema. It is not particularly common which is why there does not seem to be a plethora of information on it. Here are the symptoms though:

Discolored patches of skin
Pale Coloration
De-pigmentation (Complete loss of color).
Weight Loss
Red Open Lesions (Late stages)
Heavy Breathing
Rubbing on sand and rocks

While some of these seem to be common with most diseases and bacterial infections the smoking gun seems to be extreme and fast de-pigmentation,pale coloration and discoloration.

It is also stated many times this is disease is mistaken for bacterial infections and mistreated. Advanced cases (Once open sores are present) of Uronema are usually fatal. The only treatment I could find was hypo salinity when this infection was in advanced stages. Other treatments include Formalin or Paraguard baths as well as fresh water dips.

Much of this information was found by surfing the web, then I was able to corroborate it with Mr Saltwater Tank's Disease and QT guide. If you do not have it get it, I was not using it but I can bet you after this scare I will NEVER not follow it to a T again. I got lucky I feel and my other fish appear unaffected.

 

[Mrscribbled]

Urenema is present in more systems than a person would think. To my knowledge only formalin and chloroquine phosphate are effective treatments. IME its not as quick of a killer as velvet or brook.

 

[agruetz]

Urenema is present in more systems than a person would think. To my knowledge only formalin and chloroquine phosphate are effective treatments. IME its not as quick of a killer as velvet or brook.

This is true, what seemed to be the key factors in getting it are

1) Stressed fish (Shipping, relocation etc...)
2) Bad water parameters (Which often happen in shipping and relocation).
3) Weakened fish due to stress or other infections.

Paraguard is also supposed to work and so is hypo salinity (some success limited research/attempts) however I have never done the testing or research myself, I am simply taking that information form trusted sources.

It is my belief the fish in this thread as well as my fish both caught a case of Uronema thus causing their death as the symptoms seem to fix exactly. I would make the assertion that once this Parasite sets in that it is a very quick killer as it reproduces thru binary fission and does not ever leave the host to reproduce like Ich or Velvet do. It also attacks the fish from both internally and externally.

However I would agree that it is present in many systems and usually does not affect most fish, where as ick and velvet tend to have a much higher infection rate etc... causing more damage most of the time.

Anyway that is my 2 cents from the research I did on it all.