Bicolor Blenny, is this hole in head? Maybe Ich?

[CoreyT355]

I have a new nano reef, about 3 months old overall. Got everything cycled, and have had a bicolor blenny in the tank for 3 weeks now. A few days ago I noticed he looked like he was scratching on a rock once or twice, but that was it. Yesterday he did it a lot more, and now I noticed a spot on one side of his head. It's tough to see in the pic I know, but I haven't been able to get a better one yet. The first pic you can see the "clean" side of him, and the others show the mark or whatever on his face. The white spots on his head are just him flashing the white because turning the light to white stresses him out. They are not there typically.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

So - you are talking about the oval shaped lesion on its left side, behind the jaw? Tough to see clearly, it is in the shadow.

It isn't ich. While blennies do get hole-in-the-head, that isn't the location for that issue. The scratching is also something else. Could be an injury. It could also be flukes (external worm like parasites) and it is injuring itself by scratching.

You could try a product called Prazipro. It is mostly reef safe. You need to increase aeration when you use it, and dose it twice, 7 to 10 days apart. You will need to know the exact volume of your tank (minus displacement of the rocks) and that can be tricky in nano tanks.

Jay

 

[CoreyT355]

Thanks for the info. It's been a few days, and that lesion on the face is actually getting better it seems. The person at my LFS recommended Seachem Metroplex and Focus, so I have been dosing that with food. Now however that side of his face is much paler than the rest of him, and the best I can describe that side of his face is swelling, and bumpy.

Still not sure what to do with this. I have not tried to get the Prazipro yet, will that help with this situation still, or does this latest mean something else?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for the info. It's been a few days, and that lesion on the face is actually getting better it seems. The person at my LFS recommended Seachem Metroplex and Focus, so I have been dosing that with food. Now however that side of his face is much paler than the rest of him, and the best I can describe that side of his face is swelling, and bumpy.

Still not sure what to do with this. I have not tried to get the Prazipro yet, will that help with this situation still, or does this latest mean something else?

I would try the Prazipro, it won’t hurt the fish or other tank inhabitants.

Metroplex and Focus is almost impossible to dose correctly - oral medications are dosed as mg of drug per kg of fish body mass fed daily….so unless you know the weight of the medication and the weight of the fish, there is no real chance of getting it right. The are files in the sticky section above that describe how to do it, but it’s complicated.

Jay