Does anyone know what this brown hairy spot is?

[Allanon]

Hello.

We got this goby for about 2.5 months.
We bought it with a pistol shrimp and kept them together in our quarantine tank for some time.
They got along well and became a pair in there almost instantly.

We moved them to the display tank and they had trouble finding each other back., in this time she was like a lost puppy and ended up in the sump somehow. (we still have no idea how that happened)

After her trip to the sump, she had this spot on her face and we have no idea what it is.
It has come and gone from time to time but there always remains a little dark point.

Does anyone know what this is and if it's bad or not?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R! looks like a green hair algae growth

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello.

We got this goby for about 2.5 months.
We bought it with a pistol shrimp and kept them together in our quarantine tank for some time.
They got along well and became a pair in there almost instantly.

We moved them to the display tank and they had trouble finding each other back., in this time she was like a lost puppy and ended up in the sump somehow. (we still have no idea how that happened)

After her trip to the sump, she had this spot on her face and we have no idea what it is.
It has come and gone from time to time but there always remains a little dark point.

Does anyone know what this is and if it's bad or not?

Thank goodness, not a sea spider (first thought) but can be algae or possible aptasia which hitched during the night. Best would be to give the fish a 4-5 minute freshwater dip and see if this falls off

 

[Allanon]

Thank goodness, not a sea spider (first thought) but can be algae or possible aptasia which hitched during the night. Best would be to give the fish a 4-5 minute freshwater dip and see if this falls off

He does indeed look more like some sort of hair algae than aptasia so gonna keep an eye and if getting bigger that spot gonna give it a freshwater dip .

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello.

We got this goby for about 2.5 months.
We bought it with a pistol shrimp and kept them together in our quarantine tank for some time.
They got along well and became a pair in there almost instantly.

We moved them to the display tank and they had trouble finding each other back., in this time she was like a lost puppy and ended up in the sump somehow. (we still have no idea how that happened)

After her trip to the sump, she had this spot on her face and we have no idea what it is.
It has come and gone from time to time but there always remains a little dark point.

Does anyone know what this is and if it's bad or not?

I've not see anything like this before - it sure looks like hair algae, but a fish's skin should have protection against algae growing on it.

I've often seen scorpionfish develop coating/overgrowth of blue green algae. They slough their skin every few weeks to keep the growth in check. I once found a weird sea anemone hitchhiking on a flashlight fish.