Large translucent bubbles/blisters on lionfish face and gills

[reefkeeping]

I picked up a juvenile Red Volitan (approximately 4-5") a few days ago. It looked healthy and was behaviorally normal. However, tonight I noticed many large and pronounced translucent bubbles or blisters under and around the face and gills, in addition to cloudiness in the right eye and some sort of irritation in the form of a pea-sized cluster of small holes (hello, trypophobia) that's located in to the right of the right eye.

I've been researching this for an hour now and haven't been able to find anything like it. There's been no mechanism that would induce GBD, and these appear to be fluid filled in any case.

I've moved the lionfish into QT and started treatment with metronidazole/praziquantel (API General Cure) and erythromycin to do something until I could hopefully find clearer answers and a better treatment protocol for what the heck it is I'm actually dealing with here.

Any help is very much appreciated.

Water parameters are stable and normal for my tank, all other corals and fish are (currently) fine. No detectable NH3. NO3/PO4 are 0/0 or close to it. Salinity @ ~36ppt, temp @ 80F.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks to be goiter and often associated with bacterial issues. These fish are messy housekeepers and may contribute to water quality issues. Treat in a separate tank with small additions of iodine, but do not allow iodine to be overdosed at high level and assure Nitrates are in safe range which likely triggered this

 

[reefkeeping]

Looks to be goiter and often associated with bacterial issues. These fish are messy housekeepers and may contribute to water quality issues. Treat in a separate tank with small additions of iodine, but do not allow iodine to be overdosed at high level and assure Nitrates are in safe range which likely triggered this

Thanks for the response. Question though, wouldn't goiter classically present as an enlargement of the thyroid (i.e. a bulge under the skin) rather than multiple distinct external bubbles?

While I can't say anything for the water quality of the supplier the fish came from, nitrates are not an issue here.

I'm wondering if this might be some sort of reaction to a sting from one of my other critters (BTAs, foxface, longspine urchin)?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for the response. Question though, wouldn't goiter classically present as an enlargement of the thyroid (i.e. a bulge under the skin) rather than multiple distinct external bubbles?

While I can't say anything for the water quality of the supplier the fish came from, nitrates are not an issue here.

I'm wondering if this might be some sort of reaction to a sting from one of my other critters (BTAs, foxface, longspine urchin)?

Reaction is a likelihood. Goiter is generally an enlargement and often starts with pockets and as stated more of a reaction from water . Shipping water definitely a culprit. Urchin often leaves little rings on skin

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I picked up a juvenile Red Volitan (approximately 4-5") a few days ago. It looked healthy and was behaviorally normal. However, tonight I noticed many large and pronounced translucent bubbles or blisters under and around the face and gills, in addition to cloudiness in the right eye and some sort of irritation in the form of a pea-sized cluster of small holes (hello, trypophobia) that's located in to the right of the right eye.

I've been researching this for an hour now and haven't been able to find anything like it. There's been no mechanism that would induce GBD, and these appear to be fluid filled in any case.

I've moved the lionfish into QT and started treatment with metronidazole/praziquantel (API General Cure) and erythromycin to do something until I could hopefully find clearer answers and a better treatment protocol for what the heck it is I'm actually dealing with here.

Any help is very much appreciated.

Water parameters are stable and normal for my tank, all other corals and fish are (currently) fine. No detectable NH3. NO3/PO4 are 0/0 or close to it. Salinity @ ~36ppt, temp @ 80F.

That is what I have been calling UVD, Unknown Vesicle Disease. I've never seen it in a lionfish before. Here is a write up I just did for a public aquarium journal on this:

Unknown Vesicle Disease (UVD)

This rare syndrome seen in aquarium fish has an unknown cause. Currently termed the “Unknown Vesicle Disease” (UVD), it is characterized by one or more clear to translucent fluid-filled “bubbles” under the skin of certain species of fish. The cause of these vesicles is unknown. The outcome of infected fish varies; in some cases, the vesicles resolve on their own, while in other cases, they become more severe, and the fish perishes.
Diagnosis of this syndrome lays in the visual symptoms of the vesicles; gas filled vesicles are different, they are caused by either gas supersaturation of the aquarium water, or gas produced by bacteria under the fish’s skin. These UVD are clearly fluid-filled and this fluid is typically clear or translucent. The location of the vesicle(s) is often on or near the fins, next to the eye, or on the head.

The variety of fish species affected by UVD is not completely known. Clownfish develop this syndrome most commonly, but that may reflect how frequently they are seen in aquariums. Other species reported to develop this syndrome include mollies, cardinalfish, blennies, gobies and mandarin fish. A case in a fancy goldfish, seen on the Internet, was apparently related to a severe case of dropsy in the affected fish.

UVD does not appear to be highly, if at all contagious. It could caused either by a virus or bacteria that in turn causes some localized defect in the fish's ability to osmoregulate. It is also possible that not all cases have related causes.

Since the exact cause is still unknown, treatment is primarily supportive. Maintaining a peaceful aquarium environment with good water quality and ensuring the fish is well-fed are the best steps for care.

 

[reefkeeping]

Thank you, @Jay Hemdal , for the detailed response. It's probably a safe bet that the he'll bite the dust sooner than later. Is there any way I can be of use in helping with the research into UVD? Happy to help document and do what I can. Also willing to freeze and ship you tissue samples or the whole lionfish if it comes to that and would be of value.

Here's a couple more photos and short video I just took. The opacity of the bubble around the eye has increased considerably since this morning. I've also noticed a white abscess forming under jaw, hard to photograph well but I will keep trying. You can see it reasonably well in the video.

He'll get the best supportive care I can give him (though my hospital tank is way too small for a fish this size, and I'll try to source something larger in the next day or so assuming he doesn't perish). Zero interest in live food so far (ghost shrimp, mollies) and same for frozen. I wasn't expecting interest in frozen, but I figured I'd double check anyway.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you, @Jay Hemdal , for the detailed response. It's probably a safe bet that the he'll bite the dust sooner than later. Is there any way I can be of use in helping with the research into UVD? Happy to help document and do what I can. Also willing to freeze and ship you tissue samples or the whole lionfish if it comes to that and would be of value.

Here's a couple more photos and short video I just took. The opacity of the bubble around the eye has increased considerably since this morning. I've also noticed a white abscess forming under jaw, hard to photograph well but I will keep trying. You can see it reasonably well in the video.

He'll get the best supportive care I can give him (though my hospital tank is way too small for a fish this size, and I'll try to source something larger in the next day or so assuming he doesn't perish). Zero interest in live food so far (ghost shrimp, mollies) and same for frozen. I wasn't expecting interest in frozen, but I figured I'd double check anyway.

Thanks - but freezing ruins a fish for histopathology. I've never had a case of my own, so I've not been able to send fresh samples out myself. I'm now retired as an aquarium curator, so I'm hoping that my public aquarium article will get other public aquariums to send tissues out themselves, and so we'll hopefully learn more about this issue. Of course, that won't help your case.

I did add "lionfish" to the list of fish that have been seen with this issue - thanks for that!

Is the lionfish still eating?

 

[reefkeeping]

Thanks - but freezing ruins a fish for histopathology. I've never had a case of my own, so I've not been able to send fresh samples out myself. I'm now retired as an aquarium curator, so I'm hoping that my public aquarium article will get other public aquariums to send tissues out themselves, and so we'll hopefully learn more about this issue. Of course, that won't help your case.

I did add "lionfish" to the list of fish that have been seen with this issue - thanks for that!

Is the lionfish still eating?

So far it's disinterested in live ghost shrimp and frozen (defrosted) krill, unfortunately. Going to try some silversides later tonight with appropriate "wiggling" for movement.

 

[reefkeeping]

I wanted to post a follow-up because so often these kinds of threads never get an update and folks with sick fish are stuck worrying about the outcome: the Unkown Vesicle Disease (UVD) on my lionfish resolved after a week or so of treatment and he is now fat and happy and has been for a month or more.

I have no idea of course if my treatment regimen actually did anything or if this resolved spontaneously on its own, but I gave two back-to-back courses of two antibiotics: metronidazole and erythromycin. This was done in the form of treating all of the water in a quarantine tank with "API General Cure" and API "E.M. Erythromycin."

Within a couple of days of starting treatment the cloudiness around his eye began to visibly clear. With the eye clear he finally seemed interested in going after ghost shrimp, which was a good sign. A reduction of the size of the "bubbles" was visible as well, with them getting progressively smaller each day until they were mostly or entirely gone by ~Day 10. I reintegrated him back into the main tank afterwards.

I've fully transitioned him off of live feeding and onto frozen (Silversides and Mysis), as active as Lionfish ever are, and a very beautiful specimen.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I wanted to post a follow-up because so often these kinds of threads never get an update and folks with sick fish are stuck worrying about the outcome: the Unkown Vesicle Disease (UVD) on my lionfish resolved after a week or so of treatment and he is now fat and happy and has been for a month or more.

I have no idea of course if my treatment regimen actually did anything or if this resolved spontaneously on its own, but I gave two back-to-back courses of two antibiotics: metronidazole and erythromycin. This was done in the form of treating all of the water in a quarantine tank with "API General Cure" and API "E.M. Erythromycin."

Within a couple of days of starting treatment the cloudiness around his eye began to visibly clear. With the eye clear he finally seemed interested in going after ghost shrimp, which was a good sign. A reduction of the size of the "bubbles" was visible as well, with them getting progressively smaller each day until they were mostly or entirely gone by ~Day 10. I reintegrated him back into the main tank afterwards.

I've fully transitioned him off of live feeding and onto frozen (Silversides and Mysis), as active as Lionfish ever are, and a very beautiful specimen.

Good news!

While this syndrome does sometimes resolve on its own, I've never heard of a severe case like this doing that so quickly, so I do suspect one of the treatments helped - but which one?