Midas Blenny white dots.

[myles4miles]

So, the backstory to this is, about a month ago I came home to my 2 cleaner Gobies which I had got about 2 weeks , had little white dots all over them with a dusty background around the dots, as well as a lot of twitching, I threw both the gobies in a panic, I had talked to some people(lfs,reef2reef posts) who told me it was likely marine velvet and my tank was screwed, I was told my clowns would be the first to die, following with my gobies then wrasses, well since then I haven't noticed anything on the fish besides some white marks popping up then going away on the clowns quickly after, and all of them are eating, it been about a month since the gobie incident, and this past week I started noticing these white dots on my midas blenny slowly getting more visible. Is this itch, or is this marine velvet taking its course, I was told my fish would be dead but now if it was velvet, so should I assume the gobies were infected with itch and not velvet, or? help would be very appreciated. also the marks are going down his body to, i did a fresh water dip on him about a week ago because he was scratching.
PS, I DON'T have a hospital tank and probably won't get one, i was about to during the velvet assumption but was told the fish would likely die of stress from the hospital tank.
any treatment that's reef and fish/invert safe, i have a lot of coral.

 

[BristleWormHater]

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal #fishmedics

 

[RockRash]

So, the backstory to this is, about a month ago I came home to my 2 cleaner Gobies which I had got about 2 weeks , had little white dots all over them with a dusty background around the dots, as well as a lot of twitching, I threw both the gobies in a panic, I had talked to some people(lfs,reef2reef posts) who told me it was likely marine velvet and my tank was screwed, I was told my clowns would be the first to die, following with my gobies then wrasses, well since then I haven't noticed anything on the fish besides some white marks popping up then going away on the clowns quickly after, and all of them are eating, it been about a month since the gobie incident, and this past week I started noticing these white dots on my midas blenny slowly getting more visible. Is this itch, or is this marine velvet taking its course, I was told my fish would be dead but now if it was velvet, so should I assume the gobies were infected with itch and not velvet, or? help would be very appreciated. also the marks are going down his body to, i did a fresh water dip on him about a week ago because he was scratching.
PS, I DON'T have a hospital tank and probably won't get one, i was about to during the velvet assumption but was told the fish would likely die of stress from the hospital tank.
any treatment that's reef and fish/invert safe, i have a lot of coral.

I cant help with what's wrong with the fish. However I will say a 10 gallon hospital tank can be set up for under 50 bucks and a specimen container and a net ( use the net to persuade the fish into the container) is very easy on the fish. I didn't qt anything my first go around 10 years ago, this time I'm doing every fish.

 

[MnFish1]

So, the backstory to this is, about a month ago I came home to my 2 cleaner Gobies which I had got about 2 weeks , had little white dots all over them with a dusty background around the dots, as well as a lot of twitching, I threw both the gobies in a panic, I had talked to some people(lfs,reef2reef posts) who told me it was likely marine velvet and my tank was screwed, I was told my clowns would be the first to die, following with my gobies then wrasses, well since then I haven't noticed anything on the fish besides some white marks popping up then going away on the clowns quickly after, and all of them are eating, it been about a month since the gobie incident, and this past week I started noticing these white dots on my midas blenny slowly getting more visible. Is this itch, or is this marine velvet taking its course, I was told my fish would be dead but now if it was velvet, so should I assume the gobies were infected with itch and not velvet, or? help would be very appreciated. also the marks are going down his body to, i did a fresh water dip on him about a week ago because he was scratching.
PS, I DON'T have a hospital tank and probably won't get one, i was about to during the velvet assumption but was told the fish would likely die of stress from the hospital tank.
any treatment that's reef and fish/invert safe, i have a lot of coral.

I think I remember your initial post. And - I believe that it was explained that velvet does not appear the same in freshwater vs saltwater - velvet in saltwater is often breathing difficulties - and you dont see the 'dusty' appearance until the end.

It is extremely hard to diagnose anything with blue-lit pictures - can you post a picture of your whole tank as it is today?.

The coming and going of white spots suggest there is ich in your tank - which is probably the disease your fish have/had. As to the predictions of death of clowns first, etc - that you describe above - I don't recall the reason - I would not have expected that.

Freshwater dips are sometimes helpful to diagnose flukes (as they can fall off - some flukes do not) and the dip is more stressful than leaving the fish alone - This is especially true since FW dips do not 'cure' flukes.

Note - scratching can keep happening as the fish are gaining and having spots fall off. (kind of like how a cut itches for a while before it heals). If the scratching becomes a bigger problem, you could use Prazipro in your display as directed - with increased oxygenation (using 85% of your tank 'volume' to decide how much to use - in case flukes are present.

I feel a little painted into an corner - because - a hospital tank is cheap and by far the easiest route to do - but you don't want to do that.

Since you don't want to do a hospital tank (and you cant use hypo salinity or copper in your display due to corals) - I don't have any good recommendations on how to proceed - except with 'ich management' (there is also a stickie for that) and prazipro in case the fish have flukes. You can use prazipro with increased oxygenation in your display

Note that you may have recurrent disease when you add new fish - and risk their illness when added to your tank. Use a low-stocking density - and I would hold off on any new fish until there is at least significant improvement in the spots you're seeing of and on.

Note - I can't see spots in the pictures you posted - so - all of what I said above is based on the history you gave - which suggests ich - with perhaps a low possibility of flukes.

I'm sure others will weigh in.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I agree that ich is the likely diagnosis based on what I can see in the pictures and the symptoms you described. Both ich and velvet can be treated the same way (copper in a qt tank), though velvet is much faster acting.
Velvet generally does not show any spots - if it does it is only in a fish that is already near death.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So, the backstory to this is, about a month ago I came home to my 2 cleaner Gobies which I had got about 2 weeks , had little white dots all over them with a dusty background around the dots, as well as a lot of twitching, I threw both the gobies in a panic, I had talked to some people(lfs,reef2reef posts) who told me it was likely marine velvet and my tank was screwed, I was told my clowns would be the first to die, following with my gobies then wrasses, well since then I haven't noticed anything on the fish besides some white marks popping up then going away on the clowns quickly after, and all of them are eating, it been about a month since the gobie incident, and this past week I started noticing these white dots on my midas blenny slowly getting more visible. Is this itch, or is this marine velvet taking its course, I was told my fish would be dead but now if it was velvet, so should I assume the gobies were infected with itch and not velvet, or? help would be very appreciated. also the marks are going down his body to, i did a fresh water dip on him about a week ago because he was scratching.
PS, I DON'T have a hospital tank and probably won't get one, i was about to during the velvet assumption but was told the fish would likely die of stress from the hospital tank.
any treatment that's reef and fish/invert safe, i have a lot of coral.

Midas will occasionally scratch but fish does appear to have ich and a hospital tank, at least one always on standby is a must. Saying you wont get one , , , , Be prepared for a potential tank wipeout
Likely the spots are not popping up and going away and returning, but rather is part of a protozoan reproduction cycle and I urge you to treat the fish in a separate tank with coppersafe to tackle the potential issue and allow the display tank to be Fallow (fishless) for 6-8 weeks to assure any protozoans/issues die off without a host fish for reproduction.
As for reef safe treatments, they simply Dont work and are alternatives and not solutions and very costly (Polyp Lab Medic is $40 as example and is simply peroxide salts)

 

[myles4miles]

I think I remember your initial post. And - I believe that it was explained that velvet does not appear the same in freshwater vs saltwater - velvet in saltwater is often breathing difficulties - and you dont see the 'dusty' appearance until the end.

It is extremely hard to diagnose anything with blue-lit pictures - can you post a picture of your whole tank as it is today?.

The coming and going of white spots suggest there is ich in your tank - which is probably the disease your fish have/had. As to the predictions of death of clowns first, etc - that you describe above - I don't recall the reason - I would not have expected that.

Freshwater dips are sometimes helpful to diagnose flukes (as they can fall off - some flukes do not) and the dip is more stressful than leaving the fish alone - This is especially true since FW dips do not 'cure' flukes.

Note - scratching can keep happening as the fish are gaining and having spots fall off. (kind of like how a cut itches for a while before it heals). If the scratching becomes a bigger problem, you could use Prazipro in your display as directed - with increased oxygenation (using 85% of your tank 'volume' to decide how much to use - in case flukes are present.

I feel a little painted into an corner - because - a hospital tank is cheap and by far the easiest route to do - but you don't want to do that.

Since you don't want to do a hospital tank (and you cant use hypo salinity or copper in your display due to corals) - I don't have any good recommendations on how to proceed - except with 'ich management' (there is also a stickie for that) and prazipro in case the fish have flukes. You can use prazipro with increased oxygenation in your display

Note that you may have recurrent disease when you add new fish - and risk their illness when added to your tank. Use a low-stocking density - and I would hold off on any new fish until there is at least significant improvement in the spots you're seeing of and on.

Note - I can't see spots in the pictures you posted - so - all of what I said above is based on the history you gave - which suggests ich - with perhaps a low possibility of flukes.

I'm sure others will weigh in.

Thank you very much for this response I will send a full pic of the tank and try to get a better pic of the Midas when I get back from school. I had was about to get a hospital tank but a lfs owner told me most of the fish that go into a hospital tank die from stress, I haven’t added any fish since the gobies were discovered with dots. I currently have a Midas blenny diamond gobie, coral beauty, 2 clowns, tail spot wrasse, possum wrasse,watchman gobie pistol shrimp(haven’t seen in a month), small snowflake eel(very friendly with tank mates, some inverts. So would I have to get a big hospital tank

 

[myles4miles]

Not against getting a hospital in fact I bought one but on the way to the fish store was told by a salt water fish guid if it’s marine velvet should just wait it out

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not against getting a hospital in fact I bought one but on the way to the fish store was told by a salt water fish guid if it’s marine velvet should just wait it out

Find a different store - Velvet is perhaps the fastest killer when it comes to disease and will wipe out a tank in no time

 

[MnFish1]

Not against getting a hospital in fact I bought one but on the way to the fish store was told by a salt water fish guid if it’s marine velvet should just wait it out

Are you sure it wasn't Ich - some people wait that out. If you try to wait out velvet, you're likely to have no fish left.

 

[myles4miles]

Are you sure it wasn't Ich - some people wait that out. If you try to wait out velvet, you're likely to have no fish left.

now i assume it was/is itch because its been about a month since the initial discovery of the Gobies and no deaths, actually you had responded to my post a couple weeks ago about it and i didnt see your response, sorry.

 

[myles4miles]

Are you sure it wasn't Ich - some people wait that out. If you try to wait out velvet, you're likely to have no fish left.

and you asked for a pic of my whole tank as it is today, i turned on 100% white light for the pic, i norm have a mid-high blue with low white. also my sand level is screwed because of the diamond gobie not me. ive tried flattening it over and over again but he grabs sand from the left side of the tank and brings it to the right.

 

[MnFish1]

and you asked for a pic of my whole tank as it is today, i turned on 100% white light for the pic, i norm have a mid-high blue with low white. also my sand level is screwed because of the diamond gobie not me. ive tried flattening it over and over again but he grabs sand from the left side of the tank and brings it to the right.

Very nice