Please help ID

[FortyFour]

I’ve answered these questions below. Can anyone help me ID; and point me in the right direction for treatment? Also interested to know if I should be treating the other 2 fish (melenarus wrasse, hawkfish) although they aren’t showing symptoms. All 3 are in QT. Thank you.

1. How old is this aquarium? QT has been set up for 2 months

2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level? Undetectable

3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured? 1.026 using Milwaukee digital

4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium? 2 weeks ago

5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How? Formalin bath and separate meth blue bath prior to QT tank. Halfway through 2nd dose of prazipro

6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When? N/A

7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer? N/A

8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color? 1 out of 3 fish are showing symptoms. The fins look affected with white substance. Pics below.

9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish? Fish is active and behaving normally. Maybe breathing a bit faster than normal.

10. Is the fish eating? What? Fish is eating freeze dried mysis soaked in selcon.

Thanks in advance. I was going to bring this guy back to the LFS anyways but want to make sure the other 2 fish (melenarus wrasse and hawk fish) don’t bring this into my display tank.

 

[HumbleFish]

It sorta looks like Lymphocystis: https://humble.fish/lymphocystis/


But I think I also see white "smudges" on the body. Is that a correct observation?

 

[FortyFour]

It sorta looks like Lymphocystis: https://humble.fish/lymphocystis/


But I think I also see white "smudges" on the body. Is that a correct observation?

Thanks. No white smudges, I think that's the camera.

 

[HumbleFish]

Probably just Lympho then. Although with the frayed looking fins I can't completely rule out a bacterial infection: https://humble.fish/bacterial-infections/

 

[FortyFour]

Probably just Lympho then. Although with the frayed looking fins I can't completely rule out a bacterial infection: https://humble.fish/bacterial-infections/

Found the fish dead today. Was eating yesterday. Here’s the final pic. Should I be doing anything to treat the other 2 fish? My wrasse is swimming with its mouth open and I’m not sure if it has a jaw injury or if it is related.

 

[HumbleFish]

Found the fish dead today. Was eating yesterday. Here's the final pic. Should I be doing anything to treat the other 2 fish? My wrasse is swimming with its mouth open and I'm not sure if it has a jaw injury or if it is related.

I would probably start dosing Metroplex + Kanaplex for good measure. Kana is a good wide spectrum antibiotic, and Metro treats brook + uronema.


Something is going on here (like an infection). Fish don't usually die from Lympho.

 

[FortyFour]

I would probably start dosing Metroplex + Kanaplex for good measure. Kana is a good wide spectrum antibiotic, and Metro treats brook + uronema.


Something is going on here (like an infection). Fish don't usually die from Lympho.

I'll look into that right away thank you. I really appreciate your help, and the site looks great.

Being that the hawkfish is showing no signs, should I consider adding him to the display? Or is that a recipe for disaster?

Not sure if this is a case of my QT causing problems, or saving my tail.

 

[HumbleFish]

I would dose Metroplex + Kanaplex for at least a week before adding the hawkfish to the DT. Just in case he is an asymptomatic carrier of whatever took down the dottyback.

 

[FortyFour]

I would dose Metroplex + Kanaplex for at least a week before adding the hawkfish to the DT. Just in case he is an asymptomatic carrier of whatever took down the dottyback.

The wrasse is also dead. Wow, this has escalated quickly. Pic attached. See anything?

I have no way of getting metro/kana until tomorrow when the LFS opens. Nowhere else has it, and the metro I have on hand is long expired.

To recap, each fish initially got a dip in meth blue and malachite green, as directed on the bottle. Then, a 1-2 day break, then prazipro for 7 days. Water change (source water from display tank), 3-4 days off, then 2nd round of prazipro. I cut that one short yesterday and did a water change.

The hawkfish is showing zero signs and is eating and behaving normally. Mysis plus selcon. Going to keep feeding him and treat him with the metro/kana in observation.

Again, not sure if the QT saved my tail or if my QT process weakened them into submission.

 

[FortyFour]

Duplicate post

 

[HumbleFish]

I don't see anything obviously wrong with the Melanurus. Did you notice any scratching or heavy breathing before he died? White stringy poo? Have you tested for ammonia to be sure this is not due to an environmental problem in QT??

 

[FortyFour]

I don't see anything obviously wrong with the Melanurus. Did you notice any scratching or heavy breathing before he died? White stringy poo? Have you tested for ammonia to be sure this is not due to an environmental problem in QT??

Ammonia tested around .2 (RedSea). I’ve added more cycled marinepure to the QT. Nitrites undetectable.

No scratching. Yes heavy breathing (wrasse). Did not notice white stringy poop. No flukes after postmortem RODI dip.

Thanks again for your attention.

 

[HumbleFish]

Ammonia tested around .2 (RedSea). I've added more cycled marinepure to the QT. Nitrites undetectable.

No scratching. Yes heavy breathing (wrasse). Did not notice white stringy poop. No flukes after postmortem RODI dip.

Thanks again for your attention.

ANY ammonia can kill a fish. It needs to be zero at all times. I think slight traces of ammonia in QT kill fish more often than most people realize.

 

[FortyFour]

ANY ammonia can kill a fish. It needs to be zero at all times. I think slight traces of ammonia in QT kill fish more often than most people realize.

Agreed, but I mistyped that. Ammonia tested at .02, not .2. Enough for a water change, but is it enough for the deaths? Ammonia never registered on the ammonia guard meter.

Going to continue down the metro/hanaplex route and monitor.

 

[HumbleFish]

Agreed, but I mistyped that. Ammonia tested at .02, not .2. Enough for a water change, but is it enough for the deaths? Ammonia never registered on the ammonia guard meter.

Going to continue down the metro/hanaplex route and monitor.

.02 shouldn't cause any deaths, but it's hard to say if it ever spiked above that.

I would definitely dose Metro + Kana every 48 hours for 10-14 days as a precaution.

 

[FortyFour]

.02 shouldn't cause any deaths, but it's hard to say if it ever spiked above that.

I would definitely dose Metro + Kana every 48 hours for 10-14 days as a precaution.

To close the loop here, I dosed metro/kana and it all went well. The hawkfish got more of his color back and has been released into the DT as of a few days ago.

I dealt with a bacterial bloom when dosing metro/kana simultaneously and added an air stone to compensate for the lack of oxygen. Do I need to clean the tank before adding new fish to the QT?

Thanks for you're help here. Between this thread and some of your others I was able to get some very useful information.

 

[HumbleFish]

I dealt with a bacterial bloom when dosing metro/kana simultaneously and added an air stone to compensate for the lack of oxygen. Do I need to clean the tank before adding new fish to the QT?

How long has the QT been setup? I like to sterilise my QTs every few months, because bacteria starts to build up and that will degrade medications that you dose.