Sick Blue Spotted Watchman Goby / Lump to Open Wound

[Timbo3416]

A couple weeks back I thought I noticed a lump on the side of my Blue Spotted Watchman Goby. He does such a good job hiding that I thought maybe it was just my imagination. I woke up today to find him out of cover on the side of the tank seemingly struggling to breathe. Where I thought I saw the lump on him is now a huge open wound.

I pulled him from my DT and put him in a 2.5 gallon aquarium to use as a hospital tank. I haven't added anything recently so I am not sure what he has.

Can anyone shed light on what he has and what the recommnded treatment would be? Or is he going to die no matter what I do?

Is there some treatment I should do on the DT to keep this from spreading to anything else? I have lots of corals of all types in the DT so any treatment has to be safe for a reef tank.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Mike J.]

It looks like a bacterial infection. Fish usually die quickly from this. It also looks like the fish has some fin rot on its tail, which is a gram negative bacteria? A caution would be that a bacterial infection could be spread to people too. The best thing to do right now would be to treat it with neomycin sulfate or methylene blue.

 

[Timbo3416]

Thank you Mike J I appreciate the help.

What should I do in the display tank to lee this from spreading? Is there a reef safe treatment I can use to keep
This from spreading to the other fish? Is there a reef safe medicine?

Or am I better off adding UV or Ozone to the display tank?

 

[Mike J.]

There are in-tank treatment of antibiotics, but it will kill off your nitrifying bacteria and plant life. Get some neomycin sulfate and treat the fish in a QT every 24 hours for 10 days, changing 25% of the water before each treatment.

 

[Humblefish]

+1 to everything Mike J. said above. Methylene blue might be easier to find (Kordon makes a product with it, sometimes found at Petco/smart.) Alternatively, using "Bio-Bandage" topically as this poster did may help: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-diagnosis/193289-treating-fox-face-stung-carpet-anenome.html

Its whatever you can find ASAP.

 

[Timbo3416]

I have him segregated to a hospital tank and have given him one dose of an antibiotic. We'll see if I can nurse him back to health. I'll update the thread when there is some progress. I am really hoping he makes it as I've had him for a long long time.