Is this normal?

jgstreit · Monday at 9:16 AM

Does anyone know what this cloudy portion of the top fin is from? He is eating normally and has normal swimming patterns.

vetteguy53081 · Monday at 9:39 AM

MAY BE A FIN RAY ISSUE OR MARK FROM INJURY. kEEP AN EYE ON IT FOR HEALING

Jay Hemdal · Monday at 9:51 AM

jgstreit said:
Does anyone know what this cloudy portion of the top fin is from? He is eating normally and has normal swimming patterns.

I’ve seen injuries that caused that in this species, but in those cases, it only involved a few fin rays, and wasn’t at the base of them.

Has the fish been netted up recently? Any aggressive fish in the tank?

jgstreit · Monday at 10:23 AM

Jay Hemdal said:
I’ve seen injuries that caused that in this species, but in those cases, it only involved a few fin rays, and wasn’t at the base of them.

Has the fish been netted up recently? Any aggressive fish in the tank?

Hasn't been netted for the past 4 months. Only fish that is semi aggressive is my gem tang and foxface rabbitfish but they tend to ignore the trigger.

saltwaterfish.com · Monday at 11:19 AM

If you don't see any other physical abnormalities, or changes in behavior I would just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't spread. It will probably heal up over time and go back to normal, no need to further stress it out for no reason. If you do notice it's spreading or things like fin twitching for lethargy I would recommend setting up a QT tank for possible treatments.

jgstreit · 2026-10-29T23:23:52-0400

Here is a macro shot. There appears to be something raised on the spine in white…

Jay Hemdal · 2026-10-30T07:49:14-0400

jgstreit said:
Here is a macro shot. There appears to be something raised on the spine in white…

That white spot below the white fin rays, has that been there the whole time? If so, I wonder if that could be a result of a lucky spine strike by the gem? The white fin rays could be a localized reaction to that, or a mild bacterial infection.

jgstreit · 2026-10-30T18:25:20-0400

Jay Hemdal said:
That white spot below the white fin rays, has that been there the whole time? If so, I wonder if that could be a result of a lucky spine strike by the gem? The white fin rays could be a localized reaction to that, or a mild bacterial infection.

It has definitely been there the whole time

Jay Hemdal · 2026-10-30T18:49:22-0400

jgstreit said:
It has definitely been there the whole time

Well, this just doesn’t look serious enough for any treatment *yet*….you’d need to move it to a hospital tank and treat with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic, like kanamycin or neomycin. That’s a lot of work and can be risky, so don’t go that route unless the symptoms worsen