Orange Lined Fairy Wrasse bubble under scales?

[Tyler N]

Hey everyone! I had a question here about my recently purchased Orange Lined Fairy Wrasse. He is currently in my quarantine tank and is behaving in what seems to be a normal manner. Eating all of his food, seems to be grazing on Copopods all day, happy and energetic seeming, etc. He has this weird bubble on his face though. It seems to be just an air bubble, and it moves around under his "skin" with the flow of the water and what he is doing. It moves all around the top of his head and the left side of his face (as he is facing you). Is this somewhat normal for these? I have seen several threads on here saying it is normal for them to scuff themselves up darting into small places (his favorite hobby, he is in here with a Yellow Watchman Goby and loves pestering him). Anything you might be able to tell me to put my mind at rest would be greatly appreciated. I am super new to this and am learning my way along as best I can.

Thanks all,
Tyler

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone! I had a question here about my recently purchased Orange Lined Fairy Wrasse. He is currently in my quarantine tank and is behaving in what seems to be a normal manner. Eating all of his food, seems to be grazing on Copopods all day, happy and energetic seeming, etc. He has this weird bubble on his face though. It seems to be just an air bubble, and it moves around under his "skin" with the flow of the water and what he is doing. It moves all around the top of his head and the left side of his face (as he is facing you). Is this somewhat normal for these? I have seen several threads on here saying it is normal for them to scuff themselves up darting into small places (his favorite hobby, he is in here with a Yellow Watchman Goby and loves pestering him). Anything you might be able to tell me to put my mind at rest would be greatly appreciated. I am super new to this and am learning my way along as best I can.

Thanks all,
Tyler

My guess would be injury from rock within the QT is generally a QT tank has no rock or sand. May be an ulcer too but I believe injury. Give it another 24 hrs to see if that bump subsides or looks worse
If worse, you can treat with seachem neoplex OR Maracyn 2

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey everyone! I had a question here about my recently purchased Orange Lined Fairy Wrasse. He is currently in my quarantine tank and is behaving in what seems to be a normal manner. Eating all of his food, seems to be grazing on Copopods all day, happy and energetic seeming, etc. He has this weird bubble on his face though. It seems to be just an air bubble, and it moves around under his "skin" with the flow of the water and what he is doing. It moves all around the top of his head and the left side of his face (as he is facing you). Is this somewhat normal for these? I have seen several threads on here saying it is normal for them to scuff themselves up darting into small places (his favorite hobby, he is in here with a Yellow Watchman Goby and loves pestering him). Anything you might be able to tell me to put my mind at rest would be greatly appreciated. I am super new to this and am learning my way along as best I can.

Thanks all,
Tyler

That isn’t normal but I can’t tell you what it is. Moving around like that is confusing, no disease I know of does that. Could it be an air bubble or does it look like it is filled with fluid?
Jay

 

[Tyler N]

My guess would be injury from rock within the QT is generally a QT tank has no rock or sand. May be an ulcer too but I believe injury. Give it another 24 hrs to see if that bump subsides or looks worse
If worse, you can treat with seachem neoplex OR Maracyn 2

Yeah, I originally started with a barebottom, but one of my first fish passed away and the lady at my LFS basically scolded me for having an un-cycled QT tank for new comers and said that's what caused the fish to become stressed and sick, so I ended up cycling it.

I'll give it a day and see what happens. Thank you!

 

[Tyler N]

That isn’t normal but I can’t tell you what it is. Moving around like that is confusing, no disease I know of does that. Could it be an air bubble or does it look like it is filled with fluid?
Jay

It definitely appears to be an air bubble. Popped up out of nowhere, and does not seem to bother him in anyway. No flashing or any odd behavior at all.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It definitely appears to be an air bubble. Popped up out of nowhere, and does not seem to bother him in anyway. No flashing or any odd behavior at all.

Odd. SCUBA divers can develop an embolism under their skin that acts in this way. That is caused by a lung embolism that allows gas to get into the blood stream and then travel to capillaries under the skin, where it then develops as a bubble that moves around.

Fish can develop similar issues due to supersaturation of gas in the aquarium water. In the cases of that that I've seen though, the air bubbles show up in the gills first, and then in the fins (where they look like little silver streaks). I've never seen it cause a moving air bubble under the skin of the head. Supersaturation in aquariums is caused by an air leak on the suction side of a pump that injects excess nitrogen into the fish's blood stream. One way this happens is if you have a sump and don't top it up and it "catches air". Another cause is a bad seal on a line on the suction side of a pump.

Gas can also be created by some bacteria, so I suppose that a bacterial infection could create gas pockets under the skin, but I've not seen that myself.

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

Gas can also be created by some bacteria, so I suppose that a bacterial infection could create gas pockets under the skin, but I've not seen that myself.

+1

 

[albano]

The common name for that wrasse is ‘orange back’ fairy wrasse

 

[Tyler N]

Update: I think it was some slight damage from hitting the rock/sandbed. It seems to be a peeling scale, it has fallen down over his eye. Attached are pics, just in case someone can give any further insight, but it definitely seems like it is a healing scale or something like that.

 

[albano]

Not an expert, but looks like flukes to me

 

[Tyler N]

Update: He has Popeye today. Definitely seems bacterial. Started on Maracyn 2 this morning. Fingers crossed

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Update: He has Popeye today. Definitely seems bacterial. Started on Maracyn 2 this morning. Fingers crossed

You might also want to run Maracyn 1 concurrently, that helps with gram positive bacteria. Just monitor the ammonia level in the tank.
Jay

 

[Tyler N]

You might also want to run Maracyn 1 concurrently, that helps with gram positive bacteria. Just monitor the ammonia level in the tank.
Jay

Alright, I'm running both the Maracyn 1 and Maracyn 2, and I know the package indicated that it would make the water cloudy, but is this level of cloudy normal? Just want to make sure I'm not stressing out/harming him any more than necessary to treat the illness.

Thanks for all your help with this, Jay.
Tyler

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Alright, I'm running both the Maracyn 1 and Maracyn 2, and I know the package indicated that it would make the water cloudy, but is this level of cloudy normal? Just want to make sure I'm not stressing out/harming him any more than necessary to treat the illness.

Thanks for all your help with this, Jay.
Tyler

That shouldn’t have happened - did you calculate the dose correctly and double check it?
That looks like a bacterial bloom, which is counterintuitive given you are using antibiotics.
What is the ammonia testing at?
Does the tank have good aeration?

Jay

 

[Tyler N]

That shouldn’t have happened - did you calculate the dose correctly and double check it?
That looks like a bacterial bloom, which is counterintuitive given you are using antibiotics.
What is the ammonia testing at?
Does the tank have good aeration?

Jay

Yes sir, calculated and double checked. It is a 10 gal QT tank, so that made it pretty easy for dosing the Maracyn. Lots of surface agitation between the HOB filter and wave maker. Ammonia is still holding at 0. Nitrites at 0. Nitrates at just around 10ppm per the API kit (which I know isn't the best, I have some HANNA checkers on the way). He does seem to be improving, still has a voracious appetite and seems normal when he is out of his resting spot. The eye is improving a lot as well, I'll try to get a picture when he eats later.

Tyler

 

[brwaldbaum]

You might also want to run Maracyn 1 concurrently, that helps with gram positive bacteria. Just monitor the ammonia level in the tank.
Jay

Looking at posts #9 and #11, why are we not considering the possibility that this is Neobenedenia?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Looking at posts #9 and #11, why are we not considering the possibility that this is Neobenedenia?

I’ve never seen Neobenedenia hang off a fish like that unless it was loosened by a treatment. But I can’t rule it out 100%. The flap looks more like the eye sclera getting damaged, which would account for the massive infection the next day.
Jay

 

[brwaldbaum]

I’ve never seen Neobenedenia hang off a fish like that unless it was loosened by a treatment. But I can’t rule it out 100%. The flap looks more like the eye sclera getting damaged, which would account for the massive infection the next day.
Jay

Ok, but the series of images provided by the OP seem to show a fluke crawling from the head to the eye of the fish. Maybe I'm imagining it, but you can almost make out the testis of the fluke in the image where it is hanging off.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Ok, but the series of images provided by the OP seem to show a fluke crawling from the head to the eye of the fish. Maybe I'm imagining it, but you can almost make out the testis of the fluke in the image where it is hanging off.

Could be. I've never seen Neobenedenia crawl around though. You see them turn cloudy and flap in the water after a treatment. Prior to that they are clear, lay flat and are pretty difficult to observe directly. Maybe the wrasse went gonzo on trying to scrape it off and that caused it to dislocate the parasite, and then cause the eye damage to itself? In any event, the wrasse's acute issue is the eye infection and the cloudy water. It doesn't have any symptoms of a generalized Neo infection, so that can be dealt with later.

Jay

 

[Tyler N]

Update: Hard to get a good pic with the cloudy water, but he continues to improve, the eye appears almost entirely healed now, and he is acting pretty normal, still eating like a horse. Hopefully the improvements continue and his recovery is complete! Thank you all so much for your assistance and continued advice through this.

Tyler