Injured Lawnmower Blenny

[patrck17]

I have a lawnmower blenny that was sitting in the corner of the tank getting nipped at by other fish. I can't tell if it has illness or if one of the fish bit him. Can anyone tell by the images? My wife is saying that he looks skinny, which makes me think disease.

I tried to take pictures. I can't tell if it is ICH he has some spots, but what seems very strange to me is that his gills are pulsing about 3 times a second, and they appear inflamed, also their are spots that look like very large grains of sand.

My wife says he looks thin. It looks to me like he got a bite taken out of him around the gills, but again I dunno. My primary concern is if I need to start working on quarantining this tank for ICH.

 

[KQuillan]

#fishmedic
@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a lawnmower blenny that was sitting in the corner of the tank getting nipped at by other fish. I can't tell if it has illness or if one of the fish bit him. Can anyone tell by the images? My wife is saying that he looks skinny, which makes me think disease.

I tried to take pictures. I can't tell if it is ICH he has some spots, but what seems very strange to me is that his gills are pulsing about 3 times a second, and they appear inflamed, also their are spots that look like very large grains of sand.

My wife says he looks thin. It looks to me like he got a bite taken out of him around the gills, but again I dunno. My primary concern is if I need to start working on quarantining this tank for ICH.

Hard to tell if disease in an acclimation box. As for injury, does look like result from aggression and possible bite. Yers fish is thin and in part, many owners are misled on diet. Its a misconception that these guys are algae eaters and the trickiest part about keeping a blenny is making sure it gets enough to eat which you can tell by looking at the abdomen, which should be ball shaped. A thin blenny with a pinched in belly isn’t getting enough food.
Although this blenny needs algae to survive, its a belief that it can survive on algae alone and actually need to pound and gnaw on coral, ingest detritus and waste from the coral which includes coral skeleton, sand, gravel, and for meats - fish eggs, chopped krill, mysis shrimp and tiny chopped foods.
If a blenny is not getting enough calcium carbonate in its diet, it will rapidly deteriorate. To supplement, offer an occasional helping of algae-based wafers or pellets.

 

[patrck17]

Thanks for the quick response. Maybe he is just malnourished. I moved him into the fuge for the night he was getting a lot of attention from the Clown trigger and puffer, and angelfish.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have a lawnmower blenny that was sitting in the corner of the tank getting nipped at by other fish. I can't tell if it has illness or if one of the fish bit him. Can anyone tell by the images? My wife is saying that he looks skinny, which makes me think disease.

I tried to take pictures. I can't tell if it is ICH he has some spots, but what seems very strange to me is that his gills are pulsing about 3 times a second, and they appear inflamed, also their are spots that look like very large grains of sand.

My wife says he looks thin. It looks to me like he got a bite taken out of him around the gills, but again I dunno. My primary concern is if I need to start working on quarantining this tank for ICH.

It looks to me to be extremely thin and may not last long without proper nutrition.

Before I knew better I lost a one as I thought they just needed algae, but they need a much more rounded wholesome diet than that. Try to hand feed it some frozen food away from other fish who will steal it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

#fishmedic
@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

This is a pretty common issue with this species - it is severely emaciated. I’m not sure the exact cause for this, but once it reaches a certain point, the fish uses its liver for food energy, then becomes weakened (other fish may attack it at that point) and then the fish dies.

Skinny Blenny issue

Skinny blennies: Midas blennies are much more difficult to maintain than their common presence in the pet trade would have you believe. They are very prone to starvation. It is unknown if this is due to not feeding them often enough, not feeding enough, feeding the wrong foods, or if internal...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[patrck17]

This is a pretty common issue with this species - it is severely emaciated. I’m not sure the exact cause for this, but once it reaches a certain point, the fish uses its liver for food energy, then becomes weakened (other fish may attack it at that point) and then the fish dies.

Skinny Blenny issue

Skinny blennies: Midas blennies are much more difficult to maintain than their common presence in the pet trade would have you believe. They are very prone to starvation. It is unknown if this is due to not feeding them often enough, not feeding enough, feeding the wrong foods, or if internal...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks again Jay, and sorry for not noticing the Stickied post that covers this exact topic. I found him dead today and the cause appears to be in alignment with malnourishment.

To add some anecdotal information for anyone to take as they care to...

* I have two tanks, each with a lawnmower. (150g display / 21g nano)
* I bought these at different times and likely from different local stores.
* The one that died was a bigger blenny, and he was in the larger tank.
* I feed both tanks daily, but I am new to this and a I was trying to get numbers down, so I may have been feeding lightly.

My smaller tank has a few small fish ( 2 clowns, file fish, 6 line wrasse, blenny and goby). When I feed this tank it is relatively calm. The clowns are darting at the food but as I shake it in they sorta just scramble for it. The blenny is right up with the rest grabbing food.

In the case of the larger tank it is much more chaotic. And usually the larger fish move faster and get much of the food.

I am guessing that the blenny in the smaller tank is getting food easily and the blenny in the large tank wasn't able to. Because of the number of fish and that many of them are more aggressive. Plus there not being enough food put into the tank for any to get to the blenny.