Foxface face injury

[EliteGrove]

My foxface recently got a mouth injury (within the past hour or so). It looks like it scraped its face along a rock while turning its head since the wound is worse on one side compared to the other. I want to say that just the outer skin got scraped off since it still has the same face shape just with none of the black scales it normally has. It behaves like normal, and it shows no signs of heavy breathing, but it seems to have some difficulty eating. It eats smallthings just fine, but it can't rip apart an algae sheet like it normally does. Is there anything I should look to do to treat this or should I just leave this alone and let it heal over time?

 

[threebuoys]

That appears to be more damage than what I would expect from an encounter with a rock. What other fish are in the tank? Observe carefully in case an infection requiring antibiotics ensues. Should that happen, are you able to QT?

 

[Rmckoy]

I’ve never seen a scrape quite like that before.


@vetteguy53081

 

[EliteGrove]

That appears to be more damage than what I would expect from an encounter with a rock. What other fish are in the tank? Observe carefully in case an infection requiring antibiotics ensues. Should that happen, are you able to QT?

I have 2 clowns, a juvenile red coris wrasse, adorned wrasse, bluehead wrasse, 2 damsels, royal gramma, jawfish, and a pajama cardinal. I also have a coral banded shrimp. The foxface is the biggest thing in the system by about 2 in. The closest fish in size are the female clown at about 3 1/2 to 4in, same with the bluehead wrasse. Not sure which of these would do it though since this is the first time I've had this issue in the 5 years I've had this foxface and I've had every fish listed here for at least a year or more minus the juvenile red coris who I added back in july.

 

[RedReefer]

Looks like he stuck his mouth in the powerhead? Maybe grazing and got a little too close?

 

[RedReefer]

One spot Foxface?

 

[EliteGrove]

One spot Foxface?

yes

 

[EliteGrove]

That appears to be more damage than what I would expect from an encounter with a rock. What other fish are in the tank? Observe carefully in case an infection requiring antibiotics ensues. Should that happen, are you able to QT?

what would signs of infection look like for a wound like this?

 

[RedReefer]

yes

My next fish.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This looks an injury that has accelarated into a bacterial infection.
Has this fish been fighting with any occupants?
Has it gone after food particles suck at inlet of power heads?
Is it currently eating ?

It is wasting away and needs to be treated in Quarantine. Treatment would be either Seachem neoplex or Maracyn 2 for at least 5 days. Other cause can be injury and environment bearing poor water quality, high ammonia level, low oxygen and fungal issues.

 

[EliteGrove]

This looks an injury that has accelarated into a bacterial infection.
Has this fish been fighting with any occupants?
Has it gone after food particles suck at inlet of power heads?
Is it currently eating ?

It is wasting away and needs to be treated in Quarantine. Treatment would be either Seachem neoplex or Maracyn 2 for at least 5 days. Other cause can be injury and environment bearing poor water quality, high ammonia level, low oxygen and fungal issues.

This injury happened today and it doesn't fight with anything in the system. Is it possible to treat without qt? if not I can set up a 20 gal system for qt. Any recommendations to remove it without stressing it out?

 

[vetteguy53081]

This injury happened today and it doesn't fight with anything in the system. Is it possible to treat without qt? if not I can set up a 20 gal system for qt. Any recommendations to remove it without stressing it out?

Quarantine is best as you dont want to expose others to medication/treatment they dont need.
Ruby raly Pro would work in the tank but take longer and direct treatment most effective

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

This injury happened today and it doesn't fight with anything in the system. Is it possible to treat without qt? if not I can set up a 20 gal system for qt. Any recommendations to remove it without stressing it out?

There seems to be some other issue with this fish - it is pretty thin at its nape. The mouth issue is probably an injury, but the underlying thinness of the fish may affect the healing process.
Jay

 

[Saltwater_Reefing]

My foxface recently got a mouth injury (within the past hour or so). It looks like it scraped its face along a rock while turning its head since the wound is worse on one side compared to the other. I want to say that just the outer skin got scraped off since it still has the same face shape just with none of the black scales it normally has. It behaves like normal, and it shows no signs of heavy breathing, but it seems to have some difficulty eating. It eats smallthings just fine, but it can't rip apart an algae sheet like it normally does. Is there anything I should look to do to treat this or should I just leave this alone and let it heal over time?

my

Did he ever push through and survive?
My foxface just appeared to have something very similar to the left side of the mouth, but smaller than that. He isn't able to eat the mysis that are larger.