My purple firefish has been in my tank for about 2 weeks now and I noticed this rather large protruding cystlike spot on him yesterday. It was not noticeable when I picked him up. The tank is about 2 months old now and the only other inhabitants are a few scarlet hermits and astrae snails. He is feeding great and very active. No labored breathing, mucous buildup, or odd activity either. Any ideas?
Need help. ID and treatment
- Thread starter Dalarin
- Start date
snowflake_clown
New member
Ok, this is strange. My tank is about 2 months old, and the purple firefish has been in my tank for just over a week now and is having the exact same issue yours is having. I did not notice it at the LFS when I picked him up.
You can see my current livestock at the linked thread as well.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2458211
snowflake_clown
New member
I got mine from FJW Aquarium here in Houston. It's a high quality little shop, and most of his fish are SA or ORA (he's also where I got my ORA snowflake pair). Not sure where this Firefish is from. I'll check in the morning.
Got mine at Aquaphoria in Gainesville FL. Everything out of there has been of high quality and disease free. Definitely some sort of parasite on the firefish though. Did a FW dip and into a QT tank. He looked free of parasites for about a week after and theyve come on full force today. Im noticing about 10-15 now all 0.5 to 1mm in size. Ive heard good things about Paraguard. Should I give it a try?
snowflake_clown
New member
The parasite on my firefish disappeared a few days after I posted on this thread. I fed mine some medicated food (Dr. G's Anti Parasitic Rx) for about a week, and it hasn't shown back up since then. I had another guy on nano-reef tell me that he had two purple firefish that had this same thing and his just ended up going away as well.
He's back to eating NLS pellet food now and is parasite free. Hate to hear yours got worse, wish I could help more.
He's back to eating NLS pellet food now and is parasite free. Hate to hear yours got worse, wish I could help more.
Triton_Z
Member
The picture provided looks like a fluke. A FW dip would provide an effective way to rid the attached flukes, but it's likely infested the tank now.
Hikari's Prazipro is another effective treatment option and tends to be relatively reef safe. This would let you treat the entire tank.
Hikari's Prazipro is another effective treatment option and tends to be relatively reef safe. This would let you treat the entire tank.
Now the purple firefish is free of all noticeable parasites for 2 weeks and has returned to my display. Very active and eats everything in sight. A friend of mine recommended just to keep him in quarantine without medication unless the parasite spread more than it has and to not stress about it. He also agreed on the flukes diagnosis. How is your firefish doing Snowflake?
snowflake_clown
New member
He's doing great. The parasite on mine disappeared a while back after just feeding some Dr. G's medicated food (although I doubt that had anything to do with it's disappearance). He's been active and healthy ever since.
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