Firefish Tail Split

[ashtoreth]

Hi,

We got a firefish and YWG (first two tank inhabitants) about a month ago. The firefish hid for a week and then was out all the time, but we noticed a tail split when he first came back out regularly (about 3.5 weeks ago). We figured this was because he fled through the YWG's hole a few times in the beginning and maybe had a fight with the goby. There is a very large cavern at the bottom of one of our rocks and the firefish lives in the backside of the hole and the YWG took up a tiny opening to the front side of the rock work (but we think it's all connected underneath). The firefish hasn't used the goby's hole since but his tail split doesn't seem to be getting better and the split is potentially more prominent than before, so wanted to check if folks think this is just a normal mechanical injury? Not sure how much time to heal is normal or if there is any other disease we should worry about?

The firefish continues to be out and about at various points of the day (he's eating and doesn't seem to be afraid) whereas the goby only shows his head once every other day and seems not to be eating so we don't think there is bullying or continued aggression (unless the firefish is only out and about because he's getting kicked out of the hole?).

We sourced all our fish from a LFS that follows the humblefish protocol so these were all pre-QT-ed. The firefish and YWG are the only inhabitants in the tank when this happened.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi,

We got a firefish and YWG (first two tank inhabitants) about a month ago. The firefish hid for a week and then was out all the time, but we noticed a tail split when he first came back out regularly (about 3.5 weeks ago). We figured this was because he fled through the YWG's hole a few times in the beginning and maybe had a fight with the goby. There is a very large cavern at the bottom of one of our rocks and the firefish lives in the backside of the hole and the YWG took up a tiny opening to the front side of the rock work (but we think it's all connected underneath). The firefish hasn't used the goby's hole since but his tail split doesn't seem to be getting better and the split is potentially more prominent than before, so wanted to check if folks think this is just a normal mechanical injury? Not sure how much time to heal is normal or if there is any other disease we should worry about?

The firefish continues to be out and about at various points of the day (he's eating and doesn't seem to be afraid) whereas the goby only shows his head once every other day and seems not to be eating so we don't think there is bullying or continued aggression (unless the firefish is only out and about because he's getting kicked out of the hole?).

We sourced all our fish from a LFS that follows the humblefish protocol so these were all pre-QT-ed. The firefish and YWG are the only inhabitants in the tank when this happened.

That looks like a minor injury to me. Hopefully, it was a one-time thing and whatever aggression caused it, has stopped. It should heal with no treatment.

 

[ashtoreth]

That looks like a minor injury to me. Hopefully, it was a one-time thing and whatever aggression caused it, has stopped. It should heal with no treatment.

Got it, thank you for the confirmation!

Given the YWG has stopped coming out as much and as a result we aren't sure if he's getting enough food, we were thinking of getting a pistol shrimp to encourage him to come out and guard the hole. However, if the bottom of the YWG's hole and the firefish's cave are connected, would that be a bad idea? Not sure if the pistol shrimp will stun / injure the firefish further.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Got it, thank you for the confirmation!

Given the YWG has stopped coming out as much and as a result we aren't sure if he's getting enough food, we were thinking of getting a pistol shrimp to encourage him to come out and guard the hole. However, if the bottom of the YWG's hole and the firefish's cave are connected, would that be a bad idea? Not sure if the pistol shrimp will stun / injure the firefish further.

IDK, but the shrimp, depending on the species and size, can also cause damage.

I've never paired a shrimp and goby up, you might want to ask around in the other forums here to see if there are any potential risks with doing that.

 

[ashtoreth]

IDK, but the shrimp, depending on the species and size, can also cause damage.

I've never paired a shrimp and goby up, you might want to ask around in the other forums here to see if there are any potential risks with doing that.

Got it - thank you. Just to check, how long is a normal amount of time for the tail to heal? I'm mostly asking since the aggression may be continuing in the cave where we can't see (the firefish and YWG are still using the same cave as far as I can tell) but the tear has not been getting better for the last 3.5 weeks so not sure if that's normal.

And the firefish is now sometimes swimming in the flow underneath our powerhead (not directly in front of the powerhead, but pretty close to it and just below the flow). This is different from the part of the flow he used to swim in for the last few weeks for food but it is behind a mini rock wall and we thought this may be to stay inconspicuous given we just added a midas blenny a day or two ago. (Over the course of a day, especially when we haven't fed in a while, the firefish will start swimming to where he used to go for food in the more open tank areas.) However, I did notice one potential white spot on him (see circled in blue) and a weird pointy/bumpy stomach shape (in green) so I'm not sure if there is any risk of ich or velvet given he's swimming much closer to the powerhead these days? Sorry, I can't seem to get a better definition picture given where he's swimming now and how fast he is, and may be just overly paranoid, but wanted to check. Our LFS has a 14 day copper protocol per humblefish but not certain if it's possible for some ich or velvet to still survive / what else I should look out for. (The diet is some pellets (nyos goji and TDO chromaboost), frozen brine shrimp, frozen spirulina mysis shrimp, and avast reef jerky. We've also checked footage and the midas blenny mostly leaves the firefish alone--maybe swims close to him to chase 1-2x a day but no nipping and often the firefish is in his vision and he does nothing.)

 

[carri10]

Mine had a similar tail injury. Within 2 months it had healed.
Hope yours pulls through.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Got it - thank you. Just to check, how long is a normal amount of time for the tail to heal? I'm mostly asking since the aggression may be continuing in the cave where we can't see (the firefish and YWG are still using the same cave as far as I can tell) but the tear has not been getting better for the last 3.5 weeks so not sure if that's normal.

And the firefish is now sometimes swimming in the flow underneath our powerhead (not directly in front of the powerhead, but pretty close to it and just below the flow). This is different from the part of the flow he used to swim in for the last few weeks for food but it is behind a mini rock wall and we thought this may be to stay inconspicuous given we just added a midas blenny a day or two ago. (Over the course of a day, especially when we haven't fed in a while, the firefish will start swimming to where he used to go for food in the more open tank areas.) However, I did notice one potential white spot on him (see circled in blue) and a weird pointy/bumpy stomach shape (in green) so I'm not sure if there is any risk of ich or velvet given he's swimming much closer to the powerhead these days? Sorry, I can't seem to get a better definition picture given where he's swimming now and how fast he is, and may be just overly paranoid, but wanted to check. Our LFS has a 14 day copper protocol per humblefish but not certain if it's possible for some ich or velvet to still survive / what else I should look out for. (The diet is some pellets (nyos goji and TDO chromaboost), frozen brine shrimp, frozen spirulina mysis shrimp, and avast reef jerky. We've also checked footage and the midas blenny mostly leaves the firefish alone--maybe swims close to him to chase 1-2x a day but no nipping and often the firefish is in his vision and he does nothing.)

The tail fin isn’t serious, the other spots may or may not be an issue.
I’m more concerned about the change in behavior and the Midas blenny. You haven’t seen full aggression, but you’ve seen some antagonistic moves. You may have more issues when you aren’t in the room watching the fish (and they in turn are watching you!)

Is the fire fish still eating normally?

 

[ashtoreth]

The tail fin isn’t serious, the other spots may or may not be an issue.
I’m more concerned about the change in behavior and the Midas blenny. You haven’t seen full aggression, but you’ve seen some antagonistic moves. You may have more issues when you aren’t in the room watching the fish (and they in turn are watching you!)

Is the fire fish still eating normally?

Yes, he is still eating, just not in the normal spot and not out as often as before. The way I have my flow set up in the tank, the smaller / lighter food particles breeze past the front of the tank then wrap around the side and get blown by the powerhead along the back wall. The firefish used to just coast in the front of the tank to pick up the bits. Now he mostly swims along the back wall near the powerhead and seems to pick up pieces that get blown along the back by the powerhead. I'm not sure if he's getting as much food as he used to, since he used to be out all the time picking up whatever was in the water column. However, the entrance to his hole is also directly under our autofeeder so I think he may be able to eat without really exiting his cave/us seeing if he wanted to.

We've look at video footage for a whole day while we were away from the house and the midas blenny seems to be doing the same thing -- mostly ignoring the firefish including multiple times when the firefish floated / swam into his area. However, whenever the midas gets curious and starts swimming around the tank, the firefish starts floating towards more "out of the way places" and sometimes the midas's path gets close to the firefish and the firefish would freak out and dart back to his hole. That said, most of those times, it didn't look like the midas was intentionally heading for the firefish, more just exploring and happened to get too close to the firefish. However, our midas is also new and afraid of the tank (mostly just nestled or perched in his hole on the mid-tier rock) so I'm not sure if this will get worse once he gets comfortable and is swimming out more.

Do you think I need to do something to prevent escalating aggression or can afford to wait and see if this gets worse? If the former, would adding taller corals to block vision between different parts of the tank help divide up the space more / reduce aggression? Or do I need to add more rock/dart holes for the firefish in other parts of the tank / create alternate caves he can use that is farther from both the midas and the YWG?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes, he is still eating, just not in the normal spot and not out as often as before. The way I have my flow set up in the tank, the smaller / lighter food particles breeze past the front of the tank then wrap around the side and get blown by the powerhead along the back wall. The firefish used to just coast in the front of the tank to pick up the bits. Now he mostly swims along the back wall near the powerhead and seems to pick up pieces that get blown along the back by the powerhead. I'm not sure if he's getting as much food as he used to, since he used to be out all the time picking up whatever was in the water column. However, the entrance to his hole is also directly under our autofeeder so I think he may be able to eat without really exiting his cave/us seeing if he wanted to.

We've look at video footage for a whole day while we were away from the house and the midas blenny seems to be doing the same thing -- mostly ignoring the firefish including multiple times when the firefish floated / swam into his area. However, whenever the midas gets curious and starts swimming around the tank, the firefish starts floating towards more "out of the way places" and sometimes the midas's path gets close to the firefish and the firefish would freak out and dart back to his hole. That said, most of those times, it didn't look like the midas was intentionally heading for the firefish, more just exploring and happened to get too close to the firefish. However, our midas is also new and afraid of the tank (mostly just nestled or perched in his hole on the mid-tier rock) so I'm not sure if this will get worse once he gets comfortable and is swimming out more.

Do you think I need to do something to prevent escalating aggression or can afford to wait and see if this gets worse? If the former, would adding taller corals to block vision between different parts of the tank help divide up the space more / reduce aggression? Or do I need to add more rock/dart holes for the firefish in other parts of the tank / create alternate caves he can use that is farther from both the midas and the YWG?

Mitigating aggression by rearranging tank decorations rarely works in the long term, but there is not much else to try, short of a tank divider. I wonder if the midas will settle down? I wouldn't normally see them as being a problem for firefish....

 

[ashtoreth]

Got it, thank you! Our midas blenny unfortunately carpet surfed through our 1/3 inch mesh top so he is no longer a problem for the firefish, who started swimming everywhere in the tank immediately after he jumped. The firefish is very actively eating and swimming but now has these new recessions on the bottom fin. Are these likely still just from aggression? Or is the empty space between filaments indicative of something worse like fin rot? (We've also added some more rocks / holes to the aquascape in an effort to provide more cave and hiding options to relieve any stress in case he is still secretly fighting the YWG.)

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Got it, thank you! Our midas blenny unfortunately carpet surfed through our 1/3 inch mesh top so he is no longer a problem for the firefish, who started swimming everywhere in the tank immediately after he jumped. The firefish is very actively eating and swimming but now has these new recessions on the bottom fin. Are these likely still just from aggression? Or is the empty space between filaments indicative of something worse like fin rot? (We've also added some more rocks / holes to the aquascape in an effort to provide more cave and hiding options to relieve any stress in case he is still secretly fighting the YWG.)

Sorry - the photos are too blue for me to see anything. Can you take some under white light?