Can anyone ID what disease our fish have?

[myshealapapist]

Hi guys so I’m new to the hobby and about a week ago our 4 fish started to get small white dots on their bodies. All the fish had been at least 2 weeks in our tank so it wasn’t all of a sudden. We instantly worried it was ich so we tried hydrogen peroxide since we didn’t have a qt tank set up. After about 5 days we were able to move our corals and inverts out of the 10 gallon into our new 25 gallon and the fish had most of their spots gone at this point. For 4 days we had the copper treatment going but we noticed that one of our fish (clown goby) was considerably worse off then the rest with an inverted looking stomach and weird white splotches on her. Do we have ich as well as something else? Any advice? We started today a dose of prazipro but don’t know how long our clown goby can hold on while we try to figure out what’s going on. I attached what our clown goby looks like compared to the helfrichi since he’s the second worst off in the tank right now.

 

[ying yang]

@Jay Hemdal our expert also @vetteguy53081 and #reefsquad lets call all ^_^

 

[malacoda]

Maybe there's more my eyes aren't seeing ... but the only white 'blotch' I see on the clown goby is on its cheek. And pretty normal AFAIK. (Both of mine have white cheeks ... which are particularly noticeable when they're perched up against the glass.)

Here's are a couple examples...

Again, maybe just my eyes, but I'm not seeing ich spots in either pic.

 

[myshealapapist]

Maybe there's more my eyes aren't seeing ... but the only white 'blotch' I see on the clown goby is on its cheek. And pretty normal AFAIK. (Both of mine have white cheeks ... which are particularly noticeable when they're perched up against the glass.)

Here's are a couple examples...

Again, maybe just my eyes, but I'm not seeing ich spots in either pic.

Hi. The pictures are pretty bad quality so let me try to send a few more to show how it’s progressed since we first noticed it to today. The first pic was about a week ago and each picture is a few days between to the last one being today. She has weird splotchiness that isn’t showing up well. An inverted stomach that the pictures don’t show too well. She also started breathing heavy today/ hasn’t moved much since the copper treatment which we stopped. Hope this helps you see what I see

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The thin belly is a systemic problem - the problem is this; these little gobies are low value to the collectors, but they hide in coral and are tough to catch. What they do is squirt cyanide into the coral to drive the little fish out. A certain number of these fish die later on, there isn’t anything to be done for them. It sucks, but has been going on since the 1960’s.
Why did you stop the copper treatment? Im worried there is also a disease issue going on.
What is the ammonia level in the tank?
Jay

 

[myshealapapist]

The thin belly is a systemic problem - the problem is this; these little gobies are low value to the collectors, but they hide in coral and are tough to catch. What they do is squirt cyanide into the coral to drive the little fish out. A certain number of these fish die later on, there isn’t anything to be done for them. It sucks, but has been going on since the 1960’s.
Why did you stop the copper treatment? Im worried there is also a disease issue going on.
What is the ammonia level in the tank?
Jay

Hi! I really hope that isn’t what’s happening but I’m pretty sure she is wild caught so that would be sad. We stopped the copper treatment since we were told it’s more likely to be a parasite so we’re dosing prazipro instead. The last time we checked the ammonia was less then a week ago and it was 0 then

 

[DrZoidburg]

I can honestly say I see the tiny white dots. Could be ich, velvet, or sand grains. If becoming more numerous definitely not sand. Never had to deal with cyanide poisoning but you could do methylene blue baths. The other infections would need other methods than prazipro.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agree with @Jay Hemdal . These fish are very finicky and generally eat food that slowly passes by their hangout/hiding spot. As stated, this poor guy is skinny. Instead of being labeled as a difficult fish species to care for, the clown goby has a unique requirement and behavior. The yellow clown goby is a tiny goby species which reaches a maximum length of about around 1". These little fish are named for their bright yellow color and they are different from other gobies as they tend to live among corals rather than dwelling on the bottom of the tank.
Set the water flow to a slow and steady pace for them as well as stable water. Set the ph range to 8.1 to 8.4 Salinity, 1.023 -1.025 salinity. Water temperature, 76-78 degrees.
There is also a spot on its gill that suggests possible bacteria. Not sure what foods you are offering it, but it definitely needs a few meals/intake of food.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi! I really hope that isn’t what’s happening but I’m pretty sure she is wild caught so that would be sad. We stopped the copper treatment since we were told it’s more likely to be a parasite so we’re dosing prazipro instead. The last time we checked the ammonia was less then a week ago and it was 0 then

What test kit(s) are you using and what is age of the tank ?

 

[myshealapapist]

I can honestly say I see the tiny white dots. Could be ich, velvet, or sand grains. If becoming more numerous definitely not sand. Never had to deal with cyanide poisoning but you could do methylene blue baths. The other infections would need other methods than prazipro.

Agree with @Jay Hemdal . These fish are very finicky and generally eat food that slowly passes by their hangout/hiding spot. As stated, this poor guy is skinny. Instead of being labeled as a difficult fish species to care for, the clown goby has a unique requirement and behavior. The yellow clown goby is a tiny goby species which reaches a maximum length of about around 1". These little fish are named for their bright yellow color and they are different from other gobies as they tend to live among corals rather than dwelling on the bottom of the tank.
Set the water flow to a slow and steady pace for them as well as stable water. Set the ph range to 8.1 to 8.4 Salinity, 1.023 -1.025 salinity. Water temperature, 76-78 degrees.
There is also a spot on its gill that suggests possible bacteria. Not sure what foods you are offering it, but it definitely needs a few meals/intake of food.

We’ve noticed how finicky she is about eating so we turn everything off when feeding. We had her first on a mix of frozen brine, arctipods, and another frozen mix which she wouldn’t eat. So we bought frozen mysis and she instantly loved it. However since yesterday she’s stopped eating completely and even when she was eating she didn’t seem to be gaining weight. If the prazipro doesn’t seem to help we might switch to something that should help with bacterial. Thanks!

 

[sfin52]

My gcg and ycg are great eaters smaller food try some fish eggs or very small pellets. Once the ycg is eating it will eat a variety of food. Its out front and center and will get right in the mix with all my fish.

 

[myshealapapist]

What test kit(s) are you using and what is age of the tank ?

We actually go to our local fish store once a week to test it. It’s a 10 gallon tank that we’ve had for about 2 months now (we’re hoping to move them to the 25 gallon once they’re healthy).

 

[myshealapapist]

My gcg and ycg are great eaters smaller food try some fish eggs or very small pellets. Once the ycg is eating it will eat a variety of food. Its out front and center and will get right in the mix with all my fish.

We’ve tried the copepods but we could definitely go pick up some fish eggs to see how she reacts

 

[sfin52]

We’ve tried the copepods but we could definitely go pick up some fish eggs to see how she reacts

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/omega-one-color-slow-sinking-mini-pellets

This is the pellet I used for the little guy. Mine eats it. Very tiny pieces

 

[Jay Hemdal]

We’ve noticed how finicky she is about eating so we turn everything off when feeding. We had her first on a mix of frozen brine, arctipods, and another frozen mix which she wouldn’t eat. So we bought frozen mysis and she instantly loved it. However since yesterday she’s stopped eating completely and even when she was eating she didn’t seem to be gaining weight. If the prazipro doesn’t seem to help we might switch to something that should help with bacterial. Thanks!

The cessation of feeding is the real issue, changing diet isn’t going to help a fish that has stopped feeding on a food it once was eating well. It is either cyanide poisoning or a disease issue, or possibly both.
Jay

 

[DrZoidburg]

I experience the same with wild caught fish. Nine times out of ten they will eat live brine shrimp or copepod. Then I gradually mix in other foods. Some of the worst cases I had to syringe feed them.

 

[myshealapapist]

The cessation of feeding is the real issue, changing diet isn’t going to help a fish that has stopped feeding on a food it once was eating well. It is either cyanide poisoning or a disease issue, or possibly both.
Jay

Would there be any treatment options?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Would there be any treatment options?

Trouble is, I can’t identify a disease, if any, going on here. Copper is the common anti-protozoan medication and prazi works on flukes, I just can’t say which direction to go here.
Jay

 

[myshealapapist]

Trouble is, I can’t identify a disease, if any, going on here. Copper is the common anti-protozoan medication and prazi works on flukes, I just can’t say which direction to go here.
Jay

Since the rest of the fish are doing fairly well should we go ahead and move them and keep her in the small tank to supervise her? Also would putting bare rocks in the tank help her calm down?

 

[DrZoidburg]

It could be a case of the prazipro itself. Some fish get suppressed appetites from that med.