Holes appearing in yellow watchman gobies fins

[TharrisonReef]

Hi all, I'm a pretty new reefer and I'm looking for some help and advice.

A month or so back I got a yellow watchman goby. Its come from a well respected shop and it was eating well in the shop and looked in good condition.

It's took to my tank well (170l redsea reefer) and paired up with my tiger pistol shrimp almost instantly. They have been living happily ever since. Similarly I've not witnessed any aggression from the other tank mates:

Clown fish pair
1x royal gramma
1x tail spot blenny
1x cleaner shrimp
1x tiger pistol shrimp
4x red hermit crabs
Some turbo and nassarius snails
Corals- 3x leather finger coral 1x mushroom 1× duncan

Last water tests from a couple of days ago:

Temp - 25 degrees C
Salinity - 1.026
Ph - 8.0
Alk- 6.7dkh
Ammonia + nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0 (salifert test kit)
Phosphate- < 0.25
Calcium - 480

A couple of days ago I noticed that holes had started appearing in the gobies fins and are gradually getting bigger day by day. Attached a photo taken just before posting.

I suspect this is fin rot in some form rather than it being caused by aggression, especially as I've not witnesses any towards this fish.

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to treat it? I have the ability to set up a hospital tank if need be but I don't know how I'll be able to catch the fish really, so if I can treat the display without losing any inverts or corals that's would be ideal.

Thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi all, I'm a pretty new reefer and I'm looking for some help and advice.

A month or so back I got a yellow watchman goby. Its come from a well respected shop and it was eating well in the shop and looked in good condition.

It's took to my tank well (170l redsea reefer) and paired up with my tiger pistol shrimp almost instantly. They have been living happily ever since. Similarly I've not witnessed any aggression from the other tank mates:

Clown fish pair
1x royal gramma
1x tail spot blenny
1x cleaner shrimp
1x tiger pistol shrimp
4x red hermit crabs
Some turbo and nassarius snails
Corals- 3x leather finger coral 1x mushroom 1× duncan

Last water tests from a couple of days ago:

Temp - 25 degrees C
Salinity - 1.026
Ph - 8.0
Alk- 6.7dkh
Ammonia + nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0 (salifert test kit)
Phosphate- < 0.25
Calcium - 480

A couple of days ago I noticed that holes had started appearing in the gobies fins and are gradually getting bigger day by day. Attached a photo taken just before posting.

I suspect this is fin rot in some form rather than it being caused by aggression, especially as I've not witnesses any towards this fish.

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to treat it? I have the ability to set up a hospital tank if need be but I don't know how I'll be able to catch the fish really, so if I can treat the display without losing any inverts or corals that's would be ideal.

Thanks

Yes, that is likely primary bacterial erosion as opposed to something from an injury - due to the location on the fin of the one hole. The question, will it spread and require treatment, or will it be self-limiting and stop on its own?
As you said, catching the fish is gong to be difficult, and there isn't any in-tank treatment for this that will work.

If you do decide to catch it, you should treat it with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic like Neoplex.

Jay

 

[TharrisonReef]

Hi Jay, thanks for the advice. Certainly the hole in the first dorsal fin is the worst but there are signs of holes opening up on all other fins.

I think I'll try and quarantine and treat. Do you think this is a fish specific thing or is there danger of it spreading to my other stock?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Jay, thanks for the advice. Certainly the hole in the first dorsal fin is the worst but there are signs of holes opening up on all other fins.

I think I'll try and quarantine and treat. Do you think this is a fish specific thing or is there danger of it spreading to my other stock?

It would be fish-only, and may be specific JUST to this fish individually. The bacteria that causes infections are found naturally in all aquariums, so it is some issue with the fish itself (like an injury or lower resistance) that allows the bacteria to invade the tissues.

jay

 

[fromie]

Hi all, I'm a pretty new reefer and I'm looking for some help and advice.

A month or so back I got a yellow watchman goby. Its come from a well respected shop and it was eating well in the shop and looked in good condition.

It's took to my tank well (170l redsea reefer) and paired up with my tiger pistol shrimp almost instantly. They have been living happily ever since. Similarly I've not witnessed any aggression from the other tank mates:

Clown fish pair
1x royal gramma
1x tail spot blenny
1x cleaner shrimp
1x tiger pistol shrimp
4x red hermit crabs
Some turbo and nassarius snails
Corals- 3x leather finger coral 1x mushroom 1× duncan

Last water tests from a couple of days ago:

Temp - 25 degrees C
Salinity - 1.026
Ph - 8.0
Alk- 6.7dkh
Ammonia + nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0 (salifert test kit)
Phosphate- < 0.25
Calcium - 480

A couple of days ago I noticed that holes had started appearing in the gobies fins and are gradually getting bigger day by day. Attached a photo taken just before posting.

I suspect this is fin rot in some form rather than it being caused by aggression, especially as I've not witnesses any towards this fish.

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to treat it? I have the ability to set up a hospital tank if need be but I don't know how I'll be able to catch the fish really, so if I can treat the display without losing any inverts or corals that's would be ideal.

Thanks

Hi!
It seems like I am having an identical problem with my Yellow Watchman right now. Can you tell me what you ended up doing and the result? Did it end up affecting any of your other fish? I'm in a bit of a panic over what is happening, so I'm hoping you will have some insight. This picture is from a few days ago.... it has gotten worse since then.
Thank you!

 

[TharrisonReef]

Hi!
It seems like I am having an identical problem with my Yellow Watchman right now. Can you tell me what you ended up doing and the result? Did it end up affecting any of your other fish? I'm in a bit of a panic over what is happening, so I'm hoping you will have some insight. This picture is from a few days ago.... it has gotten worse since then.
Thank you!

Yeah certainly,

So I managed to speak to the owner of my LFS shortly after. When I went to buy treatment actually. He's got a lot of experience and he didn't think it was an infection. In fact he determined it was most likely the pistol shrimp causing the damage when it snaps. He had seen it before as they paired up. Most likely them just finding out the do's and don'ts of living together.

As the fish wasnt acting unwell and was eating fine i decided to give it a bit longer before treatment. After a couple of weeks the holes cleared up and I've not noticed anything since. The fish has been absolutely fine.

If you have a pistol shrimp I suspect it's the same thing as those holes look identical. Looks alarming but ultimately it seems harmless.

I hope this helps

 

[fromie]

Yeah certainly,

So I managed to speak to the owner of my LFS shortly after. When I went to buy treatment actually. He's got a lot of experience and he didn't think it was an infection. In fact he determined it was most likely the pistol shrimp causing the damage when it snaps. He had seen it before as they paired up. Most likely them just finding out the do's and don'ts of living together.

As the fish wasnt acting unwell and was eating fine i decided to give it a bit longer before treatment. After a couple of weeks the holes cleared up and I've not noticed anything since. The fish has been absolutely fine.

If you have a pistol shrimp I suspect it's the same thing as those holes look identical. Looks alarming but ultimately it seems harmless.

I hope this helps

 

[fromie]

Thank you. At this point, his dorsal fin holes are still expanding, but he is eating and acting mostly normal. I will keep an eye on him and hope to have the same outcome.
Thanks for the quick reply!