Does my Midas Blenny have ich?

[magnificentNovice]

I've had this Blenny for 6 weeks or so and didn't noticed any spots until about a week ago. I noticed the belly was whiter than usual first, but thought it may have had something to do with my moving a bit of the rock-work that she(?) usually hides in--maybe that stressed her out or scraped her belly a little on the bottom of her cave.

A day later I noticed a white spec on her side toward the back. There's also a spec on the other side in a similar location. I've watched this closely for a few days now and it does seem like the spot has gotten a little bigger. Today I noticed a second white spot. It's not shown in the image or video, and it's hard for me to see myself, but I believe the spot on the other side is a little larger too. They didn't look raised, but I could be mistaken.

I grabbed a short video below and marked up a still frame where the spots are most visible.

She still darts around and eats very well. She goes into and out of her cave very frequently, but spends most of the day and night in there with her head poking out. When I feed pellet food she'll swim against the powerhead's current and wait for the food to come to her. No signs of lethargy or slowing down, unless it's a very gradual progression I can expect.

I saw a YouTube video on ich that suggested that any ich infection would be significantly faster, eg. you see 1 spot one day, then 5 the next, then 35 the next. It's been a much slower process, but I'm still worried because it's heading in the wrong direction.

Potentially relevant details:
- 40G display with a 15g sump.
- Protein skimmer
- refugium with a bunch of hair algae and some chaeto, miracle mud (not miraculous)
- carbon reactor
- apparently broken UV sterilizer
- bio brick stuff
- 1-2" sand bed

- Inverts: blue and red hermits, nassarius, cerith, Mexican turbo, trochus, bumblebee snails, vermitid snails :disappointed-face:, an emerald crab (that doesn't eat Coral! ...yet!), an annoying population of colonista snails, bristle worms,the occasional asterina star.

- Other fish all seem to look and behave normally so far: two mated clowns, a bristle toothed tank, and a coral beauty angel fish

I noticed a few days ago that my UV sterilizer has been off. Maybe a burned out bulb. Could have been off for up to a week, but I'd only just re-installed it on the tank ~2 weeks ago after having removed it for 8+ months when I added the sump-kit to my tank. So the first several weeks of the Blenny's stay in my tank would have been without the UV sterilizer.

I have been feeding more often lately.

- The tank magnesium got very high recently (>1650) probably a poorly done test. The level is down ~1450 now.

- I added a space-invader pectinia, a Nepthia Sp, a hammer, and a candy cane. They were all dipped with Bayer, then rinsed in tank water, then Seachem Reef Dipm, then rinsed again in tank water, then introduced to the tank.

I don't have a QT tank. Maybe that's stupid, I'm realizing in hindsight, but I'm a little over a year into the hobby and started out by inheriting a stocked tank. Trying my best. I've got a 10g tank with a lid that used to be a fresh-water tank if it makes sense to quarantine the Blenny.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

That may just be sand.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've had this Blenny for 6 weeks or so and didn't noticed any spots until about a week ago. I noticed the belly was whiter than usual first, but thought it may have had something to do with my moving a bit of the rock-work that she(?) usually hides in--maybe that stressed her out or scraped her belly a little on the bottom of her cave.

A day later I noticed a white spec on her side toward the back. There's also a spec on the other side in a similar location. I've watched this closely for a few days now and it does seem like the spot has gotten a little bigger. Today I noticed a second white spot. It's not shown in the image or video, and it's hard for me to see myself, but I believe the spot on the other side is a little larger too. They didn't look raised, but I could be mistaken.

I grabbed a short video below and marked up a still frame where the spots are most visible.

She still darts around and eats very well. She goes into and out of her cave very frequently, but spends most of the day and night in there with her head poking out. When I feed pellet food she'll swim against the powerhead's current and wait for the food to come to her. No signs of lethargy or slowing down, unless it's a very gradual progression I can expect.

I saw a YouTube video on ich that suggested that any ich infection would be significantly faster, eg. you see 1 spot one day, then 5 the next, then 35 the next. It's been a much slower process, but I'm still worried because it's heading in the wrong direction.

Potentially relevant details:
- 40G display with a 15g sump.
- Protein skimmer
- refugium with a bunch of hair algae and some chaeto, miracle mud (not miraculous)
- carbon reactor
- apparently broken UV sterilizer
- bio brick stuff
- 1-2" sand bed

- Inverts: blue and red hermits, nassarius, cerith, Mexican turbo, trochus, bumblebee snails, vermitid snails :disappointed-face:, an emerald crab (that doesn't eat Coral! ...yet!), an annoying population of colonista snails, bristle worms,the occasional asterina star.

- Other fish all seem to look and behave normally so far: two mated clowns, a bristle toothed tank, and a coral beauty angel fish

I noticed a few days ago that my UV sterilizer has been off. Maybe a burned out bulb. Could have been off for up to a week, but I'd only just re-installed it on the tank ~2 weeks ago after having removed it for 8+ months when I added the sump-kit to my tank. So the first several weeks of the Blenny's stay in my tank would have been without the UV sterilizer.

I have been feeding more often lately.

- The tank magnesium got very high recently (>1650) probably a poorly done test. The level is down ~1450 now.

- I added a space-invader pectinia, a Nepthia Sp, a hammer, and a candy cane. They were all dipped with Bayer, then rinsed in tank water, then Seachem Reef Dipm, then rinsed again in tank water, then introduced to the tank.

I don't have a QT tank. Maybe that's stupid, I'm realizing in hindsight, but I'm a little over a year into the hobby and started out by inheriting a stocked tank. Trying my best. I've got a 10g tank with a lid that used to be a fresh-water tank if it makes sense to quarantine the Blenny.

The spots look a bit too large to be ich, but I can't rule it out. I would just watch things for now, especially watch for white spots on the fins as well as white spots on the coral beauty (they get ich very easily). Since you don't have a treatment tank (the best way to go if this indeed ich) you might want to read up on "ich management":

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[magnificentNovice]

Thanks, Jay. A replacement bulb, or a beefier UV filter were first on my list either way. I was just reading through that exact post--thanks for being so thorough.

That Blenny is the star of the show and my kids will be heartbroken if 'Marigold' gets sick, especially after our previous Midas Blenny jumped out of the tank and met a cat :disappointed-face:

 

[magnificentNovice]

Looking at the Midas Blenny again today and doing a little more blind googling I'm beginning to wonder if this something else.

In this thread some folks thought a similar looking white spot was Lympho and expected that the fish would fight it off on its own. @Jay Hemdal, you weighed in there and thought that case wasn't serious and promoted better feeding in general. I've upped my feedings recently and will look into an auto-feeder for little bumps throughout the day when I start work again.

Here are some photos instead of video stills, color temp was as warm as possible to undo some of the blueness.

No new spots. The existing ones haven't gotten any smaller though, and might have gotten slightly larger, unless I'm just paranoid. Do the new images make it easier to discern?

Fish's right side (same as post above, but better resolution and focus)

Fish's left side (harder to capture, since fish only swims that way briefly, with the flow)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Looking at the Midas Blenny again today and doing a little more blind googling I'm beginning to wonder if this something else.

In this thread some folks thought a similar looking white spot was Lympho and expected that the fish would fight it off on its own. @Jay Hemdal, you weighed in there and thought that case wasn't serious and promoted better feeding in general. I've upped my feedings recently and will look into an auto-feeder for little bumps throughout the day when I start work again.

Here are some photos instead of video stills, color temp was as warm as possible to undo some of the blueness.

No new spots. The existing ones haven't gotten any smaller though, and might have gotten slightly larger, unless I'm just paranoid. Do the new images make it easier to discern?

Fish's right side (same as post above, but better resolution and focus)

Fish's left side (harder to capture, since fish only swims that way briefly, with the flow)

Lymphocystis is more commonly seen on the trailing edges of fins, not mid-body like that. The spots being unchanged overnight (and still looking large) is still pointing to this NOT being ich though.

 

[magnificentNovice]

@Jay Hemdal -- just following up. Thanks again for jumping in to help a stranger, by the way.

The Midas Blenny's spots on her right side have diminished to the point where they're hard to see unless you're looking for them. The spots on her left side got a bit larger and a line of white emerged between them--but that doesn't seem to be advancing any further, and may actually be receding too.

It's looking like the fish got some scrapes and is healing, but I'm no expert. For now I'm going to keep an eye on things but I don't think it makes sense to quarantine and stress the fish out at this point. The coral beauty is still healthy with no signs of ich.

Looks like this one may yet have a happy ending :)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@Jay Hemdal -- just following up. Thanks again for jumping in to help a stranger, by the way.

The Midas Blenny's spots on her right side have diminished to the point where they're hard to see unless you're looking for them. The spots on her left side got a bit larger and a line of white emerged between them--but that doesn't seem to be advancing any further, and may actually be receding too.

It's looking like the fish got some scrapes and is healing, but I'm no expert. For now I'm going to keep an eye on things but I don't think it makes sense to quarantine and stress the fish out at this point. The coral beauty is still healthy with no signs of ich.

Looks like this one may yet have a happy ending :)

So - ich spots will come and go and change location on the fish - while generally increasing in numbers. If you see the same spots in the same location for longer than three days, it typically isn’t ich.

 

[magnificentNovice]

So - ich spots will come and go and change location on the fish - while generally increasing in numbers. If you see the same spots in the same location for longer than three days, it typically isn’t ich.

Definitely good info. I've believed you that it's not ich, but I was worried that it was some other disease or parasite.

I'm hopeful at this point that it was just an injury and that she's healing up. Thanks again, you helped one man and his kids be a bit less stressed for a week, at a time in our lives when we needed it.