Mucus-like coating on wrasse

Jdmonealp · Apr 22, 2016

I know it may not be the right area, but with so many experts in the area, this seems to be the best place.

Got a new rhomboid yesterday. Fat and happy, ate within an hour of being out of the bag. Only issue I'm having with it, it has something odd on its side. Appears to be some of his cocoon or something. I can't tell.

One side

Other side

saltyhog · Apr 22, 2016

That looks like the mucous that fairy wrasses excrete when they sleep?

Greenstreet.1 · Apr 22, 2016

Did you see more of it or just what's in the pic ?

Jdmonealp · Apr 22, 2016

Those are the only pics I have. Isn't the easiest to take a pic of. but it looks a lot like the mucous, it just won't come off.

Greenstreet.1 · Apr 22, 2016

If it's the mucus I would not worry about it the lack of flow in the box may be the reason it's taking long to come off.

Jdmonealp · Apr 27, 2016

eurobeaner said:
I know it may not be the right area, but with so many experts in the area, this seems to be the best place.

Got a new rhomboid yesterday. Fat and happy, ate within an hour of being out of the bag. Only issue I'm having with it, it has something odd on its side. Appears to be some of his cocoon or something. I can't tell.

One side

Update. This wrasse did not make it. Now my female flame I've had for 6 months has the same thing. One side. It was there yesterday, now it's worse. I'm assuming I have some sort of parasite, but I've not been able to find anything similar, and to make things better, my wife broke my fish trap on Monday. I'd like to at least freshwater dip it but I can't catch it. Any wrasse expert have any ideas? @evolved

Flashy Fins · Apr 27, 2016

eurobeaner said:
Update. This wrasse did not make it. Now my female flame I've had for 6 months has the same thing. One side. It was there yesterday, now it's worse. I'm assuming I have some sort of parasite, but I've not been able to find anything similar, and to make things better, my wife broke my fish trap on Monday. I'd like to at least freshwater dip it but I can't catch it.

I would make a post in the disease forum for a quicker response, and in the meantime, research brooklynella to see if it fits. I've been through that before, and cloudy white patches/skin peeling were the start of it. Other possibilities exist, though, so definitely ask for help in the disease forum.

evolved · May 2, 2016

So life happened and I've been away from the forums for a bit. And I agree with the above post, and have moved your posts into a new thread in the disease forum. Looks like brook to me as well, and I wish I had seen this sooner to offer some timely assistance; sorry.

Humblefish · May 2, 2016

I can't tell for sure from the pics, but it does sound like brook (see below).

Brooklynella:

Symptoms – This is most often seen in clownfish, but it can afflict any fish. The fish’s skin will appear to be peeling or sloughing off, oftentimes causing excessive white mucous to form around the affected area(s).

Treatment options - Formalin bath, followed by additional formalin baths (as needed - but give the fish a day to recuperate in-between baths). You can use formalin in a QT (at a much lower concentration than the bath), but great care must be taken to provide plenty of gas exchange as formalin will quickly deplete the water of oxygen. For this reason, doing baths is the safer option as the fish can be pulled from the formalin if showing signs of distress. Formalin-MS is preferred, as that contains 37% formaldehyde. However, in a bind, any medication containing formalin (ex. Quick Cure) is better than nothing. Alternative treatments for brook include metronidazole (ex. Seachem MetroPlex) and acriflavine (ex. Acriflavine-MS). A freshwater dip may provide temporary relief if you are unable to locate any of the aforementioned medications right away.

Jdmonealp · May 2, 2016

Thank you mr evolved and humblefish. I also had a flame wrasse that did not make it. I did a freshwater dip on it and it looked better the next day, but it did not eat. Next day it had passed. I'm closely monitoring the other fish for any signs. I'm going to pickup some formalin-ms and hopefully none of the other fish get it. If they do, I'll be ready.