Help! Is this bjd?!

CrashTestBennie · Nov 22, 2024

My octospawn hasn't extended for a few days and upon further investigation I found a greenish mark down the outside of it's flesh. Please take a look at these terrible pictures and let me know what you think. My camera sucks, sorry for the quality...

VintageReefer · Nov 23, 2024

That white band at the top. Is there flesh there or is it just that everything below the white is discoloration

What it appears to me is there used to be a flesh band covering that area and over time the trunk naturally discolored

Then the flesh band receded and reveals the original color of the trunk. And as it recedes to the top of the trunk, skeleton becomes exposed, and that exposed skeleton now is growing green algae on it

KrisReef · Nov 23, 2024

I think the clownfish are using it for their anemone and they are likely going to kill it

CrashTestBennie · Nov 23, 2024

VintageReefer said:
That white band at the top. Is there flesh there or is it just that everything below the white is discoloration

What it appears to me is there used to be a flesh band covering that area and over time the trunk naturally discolored

Then the flesh band receded and reveals the original color of the trunk. And as it recedes to the top of the trunk, skeleton becomes exposed, and that exposed skeleton now is growing green algae on it

It did recede, until I realized I needed phosphates and pulled out the gfo. There's still a 1mm band of purple flesh, and yes the skeleton is very exposed. Ok, thank you. I believe I can work with algae. Would you happen to have any suggestions? Thank you for your insight. You've always had an amazing eye for diagnosis!

CrashTestBennie · Nov 23, 2024

KrisReef said:
I think the clownfish are using it for their anemone and they are likely going to kill it

They have been nipping the hell out of it constantly!

VintageReefer · Nov 23, 2024

The clownfish need to be stopped.
They get territorial over a small area of the tank. You could try relocating the torch to another area. Low flow for now if possible. It needs to heal

Also the exposed skeleton that has algae - flesh won’t grow over the algae. Take the torch out of the water and lightly brush the algae spot with a small paintbrush and hydrogen peroxide. Try and just get the algae on the bone. Leave out of the water for a few min then return to the new low flow spot. You may see fizzing bubbles from the algae. This is good and means it’s dying.

You may have to repeat this a few days in a row until the algae killed off.

Target feed the torch if you can because if you can get it to eat your chances of recovery will increase

CrashTestBennie · Nov 23, 2024

VintageReefer said:
The clownfish need to be stopped.
They get territorial over a small area of the tank. You could try relocating the torch to another area. Low flow for now if possible. It needs to heal

Also the exposed skeleton that has algae - flesh won’t grow over the algae. Take the torch out of the water and lightly brush the algae spot with a small paintbrush and hydrogen peroxide. Try and just get the algae on the bone. Leave out of the water for a few min then return to the new low flow spot. You may see fizzing bubbles from the algae. This is good and means it’s dying.

You may have to repeat this a few days in a row until the algae killed off.

Target feed the torch if you can because if you can get it to eat your chances of recovery will increase

Great advice, once again. I just happened to have purchased some h2o2 last week for a clown I thought had brook. It was a bruise from the larger dominant clown. Poor thing gets whooped all day and night. Not as much the past 2 weeks since I added a third feeding time. I'll get right on that in the morning. Thanks again!

CrashTestBennie · Nov 23, 2024

VintageReefer said:
The clownfish need to be stopped.
They get territorial over a small area of the tank. You could try relocating the torch to another area. Low flow for now if possible. It needs to heal

Also the exposed skeleton that has algae - flesh won’t grow over the algae. Take the torch out of the water and lightly brush the algae spot with a small paintbrush and hydrogen peroxide. Try and just get the algae on the bone. Leave out of the water for a few min then return to the new low flow spot. You may see fizzing bubbles from the algae. This is good and means it’s dying.

You may have to repeat this a few days in a row until the algae killed off.

Target feed the torch if you can because if you can get it to eat your chances of recovery will increase

So, I did brush the octospawn with h2o2 and may have touched it the tip of one branch with the brush head that h2o2 on it. Also, I was wrong. The thing purple edge of flesh was not present anymore. LFS guy said to be patient, nurse and feed it and it will come back slowly over time. Finally, I ordered a bunch of egg crate and zip ties, had it them priority shipped and will build a protection encasement for both the octospawn and frogspawn. If you can think of anything else I can do to help them out, besides feeding of course, please let me know. I can't tell you how much your assistance means to me. Thanks you so very much!