CrabbyCrabs Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 My possum wrasse has a few issues. It started last week with real bright red blotchyness in the normally darker red areas. He had a few white specs on fins and a small white patch by his tail. Noticed his tail was a bit torn up. I figured my tailspot blenny got him. The blenny attacks everyone, especially my watchman goby. The goby is always having his top fin tattered. I started adding seachem stress guard to the tank. All the small spots on the wrasse have gone away and blotchyness seems better. But today I noticed a large single white spot on his tail. When I first noticed the wrasse issues I also noticed my female clown had a circular wound, like a sucker fish bite and some scales missing. Now the circular bite is healed but not the missing scales. Any insight on the issues or what to do, if anything, about them. I've upped feeding from every other day to daily. They all approved of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabbyCrabs Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabbyCrabs Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabbyCrabs Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 The blenny and male clown are the only ones I've never seen with any type of ailments or injury. Beside the anemone stinging the clown. They have all been together a year or more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabbyCrabs Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 The little white spot on the wrasses tail was gone this morning. He didn't take many pellets last night, usually he takes a bunch. But I did add a bunch of Tigger pods and he swam around eating those and this morning he was out still hunting, which is unusual for him. He's usually buried in the rock work till lights start coming on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabbyCrabs Posted January 10, 2019 Author Share Posted January 10, 2019 Is there anyone with any ideas? No white spots tonight but his colors are not right. Anyone with fish disease experience that I could convince to take a look? All my other fish look good. I doubled the stress guard to see if it helps temporarily. Just sucks cause I can't run the skimmer much with this stuff, it just overflows and with the tank design it goes down the back of the tank. He moves too much to get a good still. I have a video but it's too big to post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 When it comes to fish disease/injury issues, I always defer to @IntoTheMystic who, literally, lives this stuff daily. Maybe he can take a look and weigh in? Holly @Gil&Fin has also done a lot of research for her QT work and often has good insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntoTheMystic Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 I can't weigh in on this one. Without getting eyes on this animal and examining a skin scrape under a microscope, there's no way to know what's going on. It would be speculation and supposition and that ain't science. Or helpful to Crabby and this community. I appreciate the mention but in most cases, I won't be able to provide an accurate diagnosis. Hope this resolves, Crabby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 I agree with Sid that it is impossible to give an accurate diagnosis. That said, if you are faced with doing something rather than nothing, here are some thoughts. Keep in mind that I am in no way an expert -- this is just one hobbiest to another throwing out some ideas. First, I would quarantine the fish for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is that you don't want whatever the ailment is to spread. Second, in my experience, stress is a big factor in disease manifestation. For example, ich. As you know, there is a lot of controversy about the disease, but my personal view is that many fish have it and simply don't manifest it (show visible signs or get sick) because they are not stressed. I hear a lot of hobbiest say they never quarantine their fish and have never had an ich breakout. I don't doubt that. They probably have a peaceful tank, that is not overstocked, with plenty of hiding places, and fed appropriately. Anyway, I digress. If you can get the little guys out of the tank to a nice, quiet quarantine tank where they can be observed, not under bright lights, and not chased by the other fish, that would be ideal. Then, once you can observe them carefully, I would do some research on reputable sites. For example, is there any heavy "breathing"? Swimming towards a powerhead? How do the eyes look? Is the fish gasping at the surface? Is he active or lethargic? At that point, if you can't find something that fits and the fish are not improving, you could try some gentle treatments. I would probably try a freshwater dip, Seachem Metroplex, PraziPro, or even API General Cure. Make sure you know what you're doing (that is, dose the appropriate amount, etc) before you try any of these. Note that there are no known cures for some diseases like lymphocytes so you probably won't want to treat the fish at all (other than put them in a stress-free environment) if that is what it is. All of the above is not going to be very helpful to you if you can't remove the fish. I've tried to catch a possum wrasse once or twice and those little buggers are wily. Plus, chasing them around the tank can be stressful in-and-of itself. Few of these treatments can be administered in a reef tank (even some that say they can), but there are some. I'm afraid the above is not really helpful. I suspect what you are looking for is a diagnosis. I can speculate, but it would be just that--speculation. Plus, many times there are multiple things going on, which makes diagnosis/treatment even that more complicated. Good luck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabbyCrabs Posted January 12, 2019 Author Share Posted January 12, 2019 Fish is eating like a pig, especially when I add Tigger pods. Breathing seems normal, no gasping at surface. Swims around hunting all the time. Stays away from power heads completely. Eyes are clear but the dark possum wrasse eyes. It is a pygmy possum wrasse I picked up from cuddle fish a year ago, from one of their frag tanks. I've had to get him out before, took days of chasing with two nets. Was the hardest I've delt with besides a falco hawkfish I had. Guess I can go buy a ton of saltwater to move rock into to get him out. How would you recommend I set up and maintain a qt? I have a 10 that's cycling a bunch of liferock. Or I can go buy a 20. I just put a sponge in my rear chamber a couple days ago to collect bacteria to seed a qt if I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabbyCrabs Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 Ok. I am thinking of catching all my fish and qt. Bought a 29 gallon kit from PetSmart today. I have these meds; metroplex, kanaplex, focus, furan 2, coppersafe, Ruby reef rally, prazipro, seachem stress guard, prime, pristine, stability, bio spira, microbacter7, vitamarin c, and pure sodium ascorbate vitamin C. Who has advice on how to go forward. What I am seeing is damaged tail fin on possum. Mostly healed now after a week of stress guard. The fish's skin was kinda mottled, bright and dull red, seems better now. There was a small patch of white on one side, less than the size of a thumb tack head, gone now. There was a single grain of sea salt looking ? On it's tail that was gone following day. Also happened on dorsal fin. Tonight, after a day of no white on fish, there is a white dot at one spot where the tail is healing. This morning it appeared the fish pooped a brown hair with a white chunk in it the size of a grain of my sand. Fish swims normal and eats like a pig. Hunting for whatever it can find in rockwork too. I've been adding Tigger and Apex pods from reef nutrition nightly since this started. I will setup tank tomorrow with fresh saltwater. I have some rock in a 10 that's been cycling for months, I will toss a piece in to help out. I have drtims ammonium chloride I can use to help out. Advice where to move to next would be appreciated. Thanks. I may join R2R and post there too, maybe humblefish will chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 It sounds to me like your fish is on the mend, with that being said I might just leave them alone and leave them where there at. You are the one that has eyes on and can see how your fish are acting. To set up your quarantine tank I would do a water change in your current tank and use that water to set it up and add some bacteria. I hate to see quarantine tanks set up so fast that they dont have a bacteria base, I think this does more harm than good (by causing stress) and this is just my opinion. I think if you want to have a successful qt tank it should be fully cycled and have a good way to export nitrates. Dont get me wrong I think it can be done with water changes and monitoring water conditions. Hope this helps just my 3 cents worth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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