Dark spot on Anthias

[minus9]

One of my female Ignitus anthias has developed a dark spot underneath its jaws. It started as a small speck and has grown bigger over the last few days. She’s still eating and overall looks healthy. These are the only semi clear pics that I can get. Would a bath in anything help? The trio were fully QT’d and no other fish show similar signs. My sharknose goby cleans any willing participant and actively cleans most of my fish that come to its station.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

One of my female Ignitus anthias has developed a dark spot underneath its jaws. It started as a small speck and has grown bigger over the last few days. She’s still eating and overall looks healthy. These are the only semi clear pics that I can get. Would a bath in anything help? The trio were fully QT’d and no other fish show similar signs. My sharknose goby cleans any willing participant and actively cleans most of my fish that come to its station.

Those darker lesions, that look kind of rough show up from time to time and can be very serious. Recently, a couple here have turned out to be true fungal infections (rare in marine fish). I had one case years ago where the biopsy showed it was a true fungus. We saved that fish with daily 75 ppm formalin dips, 30 minutes each I think, for five days. However, that is one case and we don’t know for sure that’s what’s going on here.

Jay

 

[minus9]

Thanks! I initially thought it was a minor scrape from hitting one of my stags when eating (I noticed a couple loose scales after the first day), I keep the flow on when I first feed, then turn it down after a minute. I can try a formalin dip and see if that helps? Catching her may be the trickiest part though.

 

[minus9]

No luck catching her yet and I don’t have formalin, but have an assortment of other meds. I noticed the male has a slightly puffy eye now, so this is going to be fun. The good news is they are eating like pigs, so I’ll keep them fat and happy until I can catch them. I might have to set up a 10g qt to treat with antibiotics for a week?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

No luck catching her yet and I don’t have formalin, but have an assortment of other meds. I noticed the male has a slightly puffy eye now, so this is going to be fun. The good news is they are eating like pigs, so I’ll keep them fat and happy until I can catch them. I might have to set up a 10g qt to treat with antibiotics for a week?

Anthias often get puffy eyes on one side due to impact injury. Catching them up for treatment tends to increase the chances of that happening, and if it involved both eyes, the fish may stop feeding.

You may be in an instance where doing nothing is the safer option, especially since you don't have formalin....

Jay

 

[minus9]

Honestly, whenever these things have happened in the past, I usually let it ride out unless the fish stops eating or shows signs of stress. As much as I want to catch them, I know that in the process, more damage can be done (and often does). I might try a fish trap and see if they go in there on their own, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[minus9]

Just wanted to report that both anthias are doing great. The male’s eye cleared up after a couple days and the dark spot is all but cleared up. I was a little worried about the spot on the female, as it grew rather large, but with a never ending supply of food (variety is key here) and stable parameters, she fought off whatever it was.

 

[minus9]