White hair like growth on Royal Gramma (need I.D.)

[MickOrioles1]

Hey there, new to Reef Central and first post. My fish are always pretty healthy looking, but just today I realized that my royal gramma had a white hair like growth around his head. Not too sure what it may be, I did some prior research to try and find the answer myself but was unsuccessful. Hopefully you guys and girls that have more experience than I do will be able to help me out on i.d.

Ill try to attach photos of my fish.

Thank you to everyone for your responses!

 

[HumbleFish]

Can't tell much from the pic. Does it look worm-like?

 

[MickOrioles1]

It's most similar to fiberglass strands. They appear to be almost perfectly straight and clear. Some seem to be on the eye and around the head area. Doesn't look like they are in his gills or anything, but almost like hair growth or something. So I don't think it's normal for fish to have hair lol, so I assume it parasitic or something possibly hazardous. He seems to be acting normal and he doesn't try to scrap the rock to remove it.

 

[HumbleFish]

It's most similar to fiberglass strands. They appear to be almost perfectly straight and clear. Some seem to be on the eye and around the head area. Doesn't look like they are in his gills or anything, but almost like hair growth or something. So I don't think it's normal for fish to have hair lol, so I assume it parasitic or something possibly hazardous. He seems to be acting normal and he doesn't try to scrap the rock to remove it.

Is this a new fish? If so, is he in QT?

I'm not going to lie to you... I don't know for sure what you're dealing with. But I can think of a couple of minimally invasive things you can try. First, would be to treat w/Prazipro - a dewormer. It's a good idea to treat all new fish with Prazi anyway. A f/w dip (or even a formalin dip) might also prove useful. See if whatever this is falls off during the dip.

 

[downbeach]

Is it possible he had an altercation with a bristleworm, and worms setae broke off in the fish?

 

[MickOrioles1]

downbeach I think your right, I looked at some images on google and there is a humans finger with the bristle worms needle like hairs on his finger. Do you know if the fish will suffer any ill affects from the bristles or they might just fall out?