What is this?!

[Anemonee]

Ok. So this is Watchman (very original name), I've had him for almost two years and he has this white patch on his back. I don't know what it is. He didn't have it when we got him. I catch my cleaner shrimp cleaning him every once and a while and it doesn't seem to hurt him. What the heck is it? He's my hardiest and he was the sole survivor a fish disease, my guess ick, a year ago in my old tank.. I've heard it might be a burn from one of my coral but I don't know if that's accurate.

Any ideas?

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[Anemonee]

Grabbed a closer shot

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[Crooked Reef]

Unfortunately I have some bad news on this front. This is some sort of infection that yellow watchmen gobies get sometimes. I have had one that had it and currently my LFS has one that has it. The white patch will turn into a hole that will go all the way to the spine. You will be able to see into the fish and see flesh and a spine where the tissue has been deteriorated. You can try selcon, quarantine and maybe some antibiotics, but I don't know if anything that works. If you google yellow watchmen goby with hole in the side you will come up with some pics. It's always in the same place and always starts as a white patch. The only good thing I can say is that I haven't seen any cases of other fish catching it. Also, doesn't seem to matter if it is paired with a pistol shrimp or not. I am attaching a pic of the one at my lfs, but I don't have any pics of mine anymore as they are on an old phone.

 

[Crooked Reef]

Best guess is that it is caused by something in the sand in our tanks. Maybe a bacterial infection. I also haven’t found it on any other shrimp gobies but to be honest, having this happen to mine kind of soured me on keeping them so I stopped looking into it when mine passed. It is nearly always fatal. I also have no idea why it is always at the top fin. Maybe it is a parasite eating its way out. The problem is that the fish seems completely unaffected by it. It doesn’t stop eating or swim irregularly.

 

[Anemonee]

****. I had a feeling it was gonna turn into a hole, it kinda has a "œcentre" to it. This sucks but I really appreciate you guys helping me ID it.


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