Ill firefish - looks like black bulge in mid section

[pbrown]

I have great news. I feed our tank when we eat dinner, as the tank is visible from our dining area. Lo and behold firefish came out and began to eat. He had a massive dinner making up for the three days in his burrow.
&&&& my pajama cardinal chased him and my wrasse for no reason. I overfed the tank to entice ff to come out of burrow. I think the theory of bruising may be right on. This is the first I have seen this behavior
and it’s odd as they all moved up from 24-40 gallons back in July…. So everyone has more space.

now the new question I will put in a new thread. How to put a bully fish in time out???
I have rearranged my rock a few times based on my Midas blenny getting a bit territorial- he will fill his mouth with sand and spray it on his tank mates. He found the behavior didn’t work and stopped. Hoping PJ pokadot( my 8 year olds name for the cardinal) will stop bullying too before he hurts somebody.
I have better pictures of the firefish’s bruise like spot.

Look forward to hearing your timeout options.
my sump is too full. Have large protein skimmer in there. Don’t want to have to pull him out and qt
a timeout. I like him but may trade him in if he keeps this up.
he should be good in a 40 gal but maybe this particular dude needs to be the smallest fish in a tank.

thanks everyone…. This gal is so relieved the firefish ate!!!
Going to have a margarita with my husband to celebrate.

Note: when you look at the pics… I am going through a mini cycle in the new tank. Previous tank cracked one night. Saved all fish and corals but lost most water and sand and back of tank refugium full of biological goodness. Tank was a JDL biocube. So working through some algae at the moment. New Red Sea reefer 40 gal tank is going on about 8 weeks and starting to stabilize.

 

[pbrown]

Picture of the tank… will be building out the reef more… with the upgrade I have almost double the space.

 

[Just John]

Picture of the tank… will be building out the reef more… with the upgrade I have almost double the space.

Beautiful tank! You should post some close-ups sometime.

 

[pbrown]

Beautiful tank! You should post some close-ups sometime.

Thank you. I will. Focused on stabilizing still…

 

[pbrown]

Update: firefish has fully recovered and bruise has healed.

thank you for the amazing wisdom of this forum.

 

[Isopod80]

Update: firefish has fully recovered and bruise has healed.

thank you for the amazing wisdom of this forum.

Glad to hear it was just a bruise after all

 

[pbrown]

Update: I am sad to report that what we thought was a bruise was actually internal parasite bundle. I parallel pathed treating the tank and moving the PJ Cardinal to a separate hospital tank for a few weeks, but the fire fish didn't survive. The bruise that looked like it was healing came back 10X larger with a large bulge and the ff quickly succumb. She has been in the tank for a long time with no new fish additions? I did have my tank break in May - lots of tank drama....new tank...lots of change. The disruption might have caused weakened immune system in the ff who then became more susceptible to the parasites? Bummer....she was a beauty.

 

[Isopod80]

I'm sorry to hear this. I'm assuming you went ahead with the disection?

 

[pbrown]

I'm sorry to hear this. I'm assuming you went ahead with the disection?

yes, a mass of worms were in the belly.

 

[pbrown]

yes, a mass of worms were in the belly.

Main tank has undergone full treatment...no other fish showing signs. PJ Cardinal is back in main tank.

 

[Miami Reef]

yes, a mass of worms were in the belly.

Thank you for reporting back. This will definitely help future firefish on this forum!

 

[pbrown]

Thank you for reporting back. This will definitely help future firefish on this forum!

When I look back at the original pictures and read my thread my first gut instinct was that the bruise looked like parasites in the belly. I wish I had treated with Prazipro then. That would be my recommendation to immediately start treatment and parallel path the bully cardinal treatment to rule out all possibilities.

I have treated the main tank now with prazipro and my new clowns and royal gramma that arrived today are in a separate hospital tank and going to go through 4 weeks of seclusion/treatment. Prazipro, Metroplex with focus, Kanaplex. I will start treatment in 2 days once they have settled in from their cross country adventure. I have always used a hospital tank, but I didn't keep the fish in the hospital tank long enough---typically fresh water dip and a week for observation and copper treatment. My bet is that is how the firefish carried the parasites in, and unfortunately was living with them for years.

I now have a hospital tank in my home office... ....makes having a 4 week treatment cycle kind of fun for me...

4 week from now....the clowns will move to their new tank and hopefully take to the rainbow bubble that is awaiting.

 

[Isopod80]

Agreed, this is good information. Thank you for taking the steps to find out. I realize it isn't always pleasant. I'm still thinking that the likelihood of the parasites being introduced on something is greater than laying dormant for 3+ years though.