Banggai cardinalfish has cyanobacteria growing on it? (SEMI-URGENT)

[ReefNewbie12]

I know, I know, the title sounds absolutely absurd, but I have context:
earlier today my female banggai cardinalfish was attacked by the male (they were a pair so I am quite confused as to why this occurred, any answers to that would be welcome in the “banggai cardinalfish divorce???” thread please.) and her fins were torn up, it seems like some of the fin ray was exposed or something and now is colonized by cyanobacteria? (It may seem fast but I’ve seen cyanobacteria grow back in less than a day before after cleaning it up so I don’t doubt this) I don’t think anyone has experience with this, but if anyone can tell me if this will cause issues with her healing or not I would like to hear about that. As far as I can tell it is fairly minor and the male didn’t inflict damage besides the tearing of the dorsals and potentially some pectoral damage (I’m working on getting the male into timeout).
Sorry for blue lights, I don’t really want to wait on something like this.


(If it’s too hard to see in the photo, the exposed fin ray, which is white, is covered with a purple film that looks identical to cyanobacteria.)

 

[ReefNewbie12]

Btw, just in general for today, I am sorry if I’ve been a bit insistent with posting and bumping, I just really don’t know what to do and have been unable to capture either fish to separate them, they were a happy pair for basically since the male was added up until today and I’m very confused and don’t really want him to eventually stress her to death.

 

[ReefRy]

I don' t think it's cyano. Again, I'm certainly no expert, but cyano is a bacteria that covers surfaces. What you have appears to be ich, probably brought on or exascerbated by the aggression and other stress. @jayhemdal

 

[ReefRy]

@Jay Hemdal (oops)

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I know, I know, the title sounds absolutely absurd, but I have context:
earlier today my female banggai cardinalfish was attacked by the male (they were a pair so I am quite confused as to why this occurred, any answers to that would be welcome in the “banggai cardinalfish divorce???” thread please.) and her fins were torn up, it seems like some of the fin ray was exposed or something and now is colonized by cyanobacteria? (It may seem fast but I’ve seen cyanobacteria grow back in less than a day before after cleaning it up so I don’t doubt this) I don’t think anyone has experience with this, but if anyone can tell me if this will cause issues with her healing or not I would like to hear about that. As far as I can tell it is fairly minor and the male didn’t inflict damage besides the tearing of the dorsals and potentially some pectoral damage (I’m working on getting the male into timeout).
Sorry for blue lights, I don’t really want to wait on something like this.


(If it’s too hard to see in the photo, the exposed fin ray, which is white, is covered with a purple film that looks identical to cyanobacteria.)

I've had cyanobacteria cover sedentary fish such as a stonefish. I've never seen it on a cardinalfish, but it isn't impossible - if the cardinal got chased, ran into some and the cyano got stuck to its mucus. Cyanobacteria is fairly motile, it doesn't grow in a day, but what it does is that the filaments move to new locations, making it look like it grew in a matter of hours.

Still, I can't tell from the blue pictures, you may be seeing erythema (blood) from the fin damage.

Jay

 

[ReefNewbie12]

…well I came to take a white picture this morning and it appears the damaged ray has completely come off...
…issue solved?
I feel pretty bad about this cuz I think the reason it came loose in the first place was because I had attempted to separate them via catching one of the two and giving a short timeout in a plastic breeder’s box. Thinking back on it…that was a horrible idea actually.

 

[ReefNewbie12]

I do doubt it was bleeding related primarily because it did seem to only cover the surface of the fin, but I guess I shouldn’t be saying that to an expert all things considered…

 

[Jay Hemdal]

…well I came to take a white picture this morning and it appears the damaged ray has completely come off...
…issue solved?
I feel pretty bad about this cuz I think the reason it came loose in the first place was because I had attempted to separate them via catching one of the two and giving a short timeout in a plastic breeder’s box. Thinking back on it…that was a horrible idea actually.

Fins on this species grow back pretty quickly as long as a secondary bacterial infection doesn't come into play.

Jay

 

[ReefNewbie12]

I don' t think it's cyano. Again, I'm certainly no expert, but cyano is a bacteria that covers surfaces. What you have appears to be ich, probably brought on or exascerbated by the aggression and other stress. @jayhemdal

Well, are you talking about the white spots? Banggai cardinalfish naturally have those white spots and the spot number and position hasn’t changed since either of the cardinals were bought so I’d imagine they don‘t have ich to be fair.