New Purple firefish lesion

sbankston · Feb 23, 2023

Picked up a couple fish 2 days ago that are hanging in QT and have noticed this something on one side of the fish.

This seems very similar to another thread I found when searching. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/id-please.314152/

Given this last post in that thread,
"I realize that this is an old thread, but it got referenced in another thread today. These are not worms. They are egg cases from a parasitic copepod. Here is an excerpt from my fish disease book about them: The purple firefish, Nemateleotris magnifica has a copepod parasite specific to that species – Serpentisaccus magnificae. Described by George Blasiola in 1979, this parasite is seen on newly imported firefish. The body of the parasite is buried in the flank of the fish, behind the gills, either on one or both sides. When the female copepod develops its egg sacs, these emerge from the fish’s skin as tiny coiled strands. Treatment should not be attempted for this parasite, as the adults are buried too deeply into the body of the fish for physical removal to be done safely, and no known chemotherapeutic will eliminate internal crustacean parasites without also harming the host fish. This copepod is thought to have indirect development with a series of planktonic larval stages, so there is no real concern of the eggs hatching and then fully developing and causing reinfection of the host."

Do I just let this be? Will it go away on its on? Any danger to his new buddy watchman while they qt together (does not seem like it)? Only thing I have done so far is give a dose of stress guard when I first put them in a couple days ago. He is eating fine for the moment and not acting erratic at all. Fairly new at this so any advice is welcome. Should I do any meds?

thanks

Sharkbait19 · Feb 23, 2023

#fishmedic

MnFish1 · Feb 23, 2023

sbankston said:
Picked up a couple fish 2 days ago that are hanging in QT and have noticed this something on one side of the fish.

This seems very similar to another thread I found when searching. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/id-please.314152/

Given this last post in that thread,
"I realize that this is an old thread, but it got referenced in another thread today. These are not worms. They are egg cases from a parasitic copepod. Here is an excerpt from my fish disease book about them: The purple firefish, Nemateleotris magnifica has a copepod parasite specific to that species – Serpentisaccus magnificae. Described by George Blasiola in 1979, this parasite is seen on newly imported firefish. The body of the parasite is buried in the flank of the fish, behind the gills, either on one or both sides. When the female copepod develops its egg sacs, these emerge from the fish’s skin as tiny coiled strands. Treatment should not be attempted for this parasite, as the adults are buried too deeply into the body of the fish for physical removal to be done safely, and no known chemotherapeutic will eliminate internal crustacean parasites without also harming the host fish. This copepod is thought to have indirect development with a series of planktonic larval stages, so there is no real concern of the eggs hatching and then fully developing and causing reinfection of the host."

Do I just let this be? Will it go away on its on? Any danger to his new buddy watchman while they qt together (does not seem like it)? Only thing I have done so far is give a dose of stress guard when I first put them in a couple days ago. He is eating fine for the moment and not acting erratic at all. Fairly new at this so any advice is welcome. Should I do any meds?

thanks

Im not sure there is an immediate answer to this. For example - it could be a scar from an injury. How is the fish doing - eating, breathing, etc? How long have you had it, etc. My answer let it be. One problem is that the 2 pictures are diametrically opposed to each other. One looks like one thing - the other looks like wait

vetteguy53081 · Feb 23, 2023

sbankston said:
Picked up a couple fish 2 days ago that are hanging in QT and have noticed this something on one side of the fish.

This seems very similar to another thread I found when searching. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/id-please.314152/

Given this last post in that thread,
"I realize that this is an old thread, but it got referenced in another thread today. These are not worms. They are egg cases from a parasitic copepod. Here is an excerpt from my fish disease book about them: The purple firefish, Nemateleotris magnifica has a copepod parasite specific to that species – Serpentisaccus magnificae. Described by George Blasiola in 1979, this parasite is seen on newly imported firefish. The body of the parasite is buried in the flank of the fish, behind the gills, either on one or both sides. When the female copepod develops its egg sacs, these emerge from the fish’s skin as tiny coiled strands. Treatment should not be attempted for this parasite, as the adults are buried too deeply into the body of the fish for physical removal to be done safely, and no known chemotherapeutic will eliminate internal crustacean parasites without also harming the host fish. This copepod is thought to have indirect development with a series of planktonic larval stages, so there is no real concern of the eggs hatching and then fully developing and causing reinfection of the host."

Do I just let this be? Will it go away on its on? Any danger to his new buddy watchman while they qt together (does not seem like it)? Only thing I have done so far is give a dose of stress guard when I first put them in a couple days ago. He is eating fine for the moment and not acting erratic at all. Fairly new at this so any advice is welcome. Should I do any meds?

thanks

These guys startle very easily and tend to dive-bomb into rocks and cave like structure and set themselves up for injury
This should heal on its own but do keep an eye on it for any development of infection. Would not be bad to have seachem Kanaplex on hand in case.

sbankston · Feb 23, 2023

picked up this last weekend and they have been hanging in the dark mostly until yesterday when I put the white light on to get a good look at them. Pics are challenging, but it something that is definitely "hanging off" and not flat or stuck to the side like a fluke might be. the red dot seems to be connecting spot and does not exist on the other side. they are in the qt tank (just observing atm) nothing in the tank except for my empty frag rack, pvc and couple plastic plants. he wedged in between the glass and the pvc for the first couple days, so I was thinking maybe just an injury but I do see those spirals as shown in that old thread. thanks so much I think I will just keep an eye on them for now.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 23, 2023

sbankston said:
Picked up a couple fish 2 days ago that are hanging in QT and have noticed this something on one side of the fish.

This seems very similar to another thread I found when searching. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/id-please.314152/

Given this last post in that thread,
"I realize that this is an old thread, but it got referenced in another thread today. These are not worms. They are egg cases from a parasitic copepod. Here is an excerpt from my fish disease book about them: The purple firefish, Nemateleotris magnifica has a copepod parasite specific to that species – Serpentisaccus magnificae. Described by George Blasiola in 1979, this parasite is seen on newly imported firefish. The body of the parasite is buried in the flank of the fish, behind the gills, either on one or both sides. When the female copepod develops its egg sacs, these emerge from the fish’s skin as tiny coiled strands. Treatment should not be attempted for this parasite, as the adults are buried too deeply into the body of the fish for physical removal to be done safely, and no known chemotherapeutic will eliminate internal crustacean parasites without also harming the host fish. This copepod is thought to have indirect development with a series of planktonic larval stages, so there is no real concern of the eggs hatching and then fully developing and causing reinfection of the host."

Do I just let this be? Will it go away on its on? Any danger to his new buddy watchman while they qt together (does not seem like it)? Only thing I have done so far is give a dose of stress guard when I first put them in a couple days ago. He is eating fine for the moment and not acting erratic at all. Fairly new at this so any advice is welcome. Should I do any meds?

thanks

I was the person who made that last post your referenced. This issue is easy to identify when the females develop egg sacs, but prior to that time, this disease isn’t easily identified.
I cannot say for sure if your fish has this copepod, but it is in the correct location on the fish.
Because the copepods are pretty tough, and since they live below the skin level, treatment would most likely harm the fish also.
Can you update us as time goes on?
Jay