PLEASE HELP! Anthias mouth sore

[LittleReefgeek]

I recently purchased a trio of lyretail anthias from a VERY reputable site, that I will not name on here at the moment because I don't want to discuss the issue with the site. I am posting this because the male lyretail came with what I originally thought to be a "sore" on the front tip of his lower jaw. It was clearly NOT a fresh sore. All three of the fish are eatting well from day one. Over the passed few days, I have been feeding vitamin and garlic saturdated food (as I always do to keep my fishs' immune systems up) three times a day in hopes that the "sore" would begin to look better. It has gotten worse, it seems, and is now beginning to look more to me like a fungus. He is unable to close his mouth completely, and the inside of his bottom jaw has a mass that seems to be increasing in size. I attempted to take some pictures today, but it is difficult to see the mass. Could anyone offer any advice as to what I can do to help the fish, and avoid my other fish getting sick (i'm really hoping this isn't something contagious because I do not have a QT tank)? I will try to attach the pictures(sorry about the micro bubbles). Thank you.

 

[Gwynhidwy]

How fast is the mass growing? In the second photo it looks like there might be some white growths on the fish's right pectoral fin. Just bubbles or are there, or anywhere else for that matter, growths there as well?

The sore could be from rubbing on the bag during transport or while becoming accustomed to aquarium life, I have seen similar sores in the same location on other fish from that. Never an anthias though.

The growth could be lymphocystis, but that is a guess as I've never seen lymphocystis manifest in the mouth like that. If there are growths elsewhere on his body that would make lymphocystis more likely.

Just throwing some ideas out as I've not seen anything exactly like that before.

 

[LittleReefgeek]

Thanks so much for the quick response. It's difficult to tell how fast/if the mass is growing now because it's INSIDE his lower jaw, and it's now started to turn the color of the inside of the rest if his lower jaw...So now whatever it is on the inside is blending in. But it does look "fleshy".

I'll try to describe that better...When he exhales, a bit of whatever this "growth" is, is pushed out a bit by the force of the water running across it. He does not seem to have any other growths on his body. I took those pictures right after I had fed my fish, and for a reason I still have not been able to put my finger on, when I feed my fish the frozen mysis/plankton/cyclopeze that I prepare with garlic/vitamins/omega-3s, I get a sudden MASSIVE amount of microbubbles from my returns. Maybe that's something to bring up in another thred, because I've NEVER, in all my years of reef keeping, seen that happen. And it's only since I replumbed my tank to replace the mag 24 I had as my return with my blueline 70...Weird...

anyway, back the the fish issue, so those things in the picture are microbubbles. So every now and again the fish get them stuck to their fins...Plus I have VERY fine substrate in my tank, and the male anthias has been doing a lot of hiding in the rocks, so sometimes a bit of the substrate sticks to him.

Your theory about his mouth rubbing against the bag is something that did run across my mind. When I received the trio, the male's bag had less air in it that the two other bags, so it's possible. But the sore seemed older. Now that I'm seeing it each day though, I'm thinking the part on the front of his jaw, on the outside, is most likely from rubbing against the bag. But that fleshy mass wasn't really apparent until the next day. So I'm starting to wonder that maybe because of poor packaging, his jaw rubbed itself raw on the bag, and now it is maybe infected THROUGH to the inside. The fact that the area seems to be turning more of the color of the surrounding tissue leads me to believe that it is becoming less irritated (therefore, less blood flow causing discoloration), and maybe it is beginning to just scar over. If that's the case, I will be much less worried as far as the health of my other fish, but I am still QUITE dissatisfied with my experience as far as the online site I ordered these fish from...But I will have to deal with customer service as far as that is concerned. I just don't want my tank to be infected with anything.

 

[Gwynhidwy]

I would be surprised if it were contagious, but it is certainly possible. I would guess it to be either a tumor or possibly an opportunistic infection, though I think the former is more likely. Since it doesn't seem to be bothering him much I would keep an eye on it and wait and see. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in here too.

 

[LittleReefgeek]

I agree with that it's most likely an infection that just resulted from his damaged jaw in shipping. he seems to attept to spit it out, but other than that, he is still eating well. i guess i'll just wait and see. so you're into virology, huh? what type? marine? or are you a doctor?

 

[Gwynhidwy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15474722#post15474722 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LittleReefgeek
so you're into virology, huh? what type? marine? or are you a doctor?

Yep, viruses are cool! I have particular interest in viruses from two families, Filoviridae and Orthomyxoviridae. No, I'm not a doctor. My interest in virology is actually a hobby of sorts. I studied micro in college for my B.S. and I've always found viruses to be fascinating.