Purple firefish with large wound

[SLACkra]

Hello all,

I have a 4ft reef tank. Occupants are two ocellaris clowns, two purple firefish, one yellow coral goby and a mandarin dragnet. I purchased the purple firefish at the same time from the same shop. They were sharing a tank and appeared to be hanging out with each other. When i first introduced them they hid in two different caves on opposite sides of the tank for a few hours before finding each other and have shared a cave on the left hand side of my tank ever since. I have at times noticed white patches on their sides. In all cases these have resolved themselves on their own. I have only noticed very minor squabbling between them and minimal aggression between them and the other inhabitants of the tank.

This morning my partner messaged me while i was at work that one of them had a large wound. Thankfully it at during the lunchtime feeding (we feed pellets at lunch). It then spent the day hiding until this evenings feeding of frozen brine shrimp. I managed to get these rather poor quality photos. Current plan is to monitor and increasing feeding frequency to three times a day. If the wound starts to look infected then i am planning on setting up the 60-80 litre hospital tank I have. I am hesitant to do that right now as i am prioritising clean water and low stress. Is there anything else I should do and does this injury look like something that could happen from two firefish fighting in their cave?

I am also going to observe the tank after dark to see if I can see anything that could have caused the injury like a mantis (i have had zero reason to believe there is one in the tank but who knows).

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello all,

I have a 4ft reef tank. Occupants are two ocellaris clowns, two purple firefish, one yellow coral goby and a mandarin dragnet. I purchased the purple firefish at the same time from the same shop. They were sharing a tank and appeared to be hanging out with each other. When i first introduced them they hid in two different caves on opposite sides of the tank for a few hours before finding each other and have shared a cave on the left hand side of my tank ever since. I have at times noticed white patches on their sides. In all cases these have resolved themselves on their own. I have only noticed very minor squabbling between them and minimal aggression between them and the other inhabitants of the tank.

This morning my partner messaged me while i was at work that one of them had a large wound. Thankfully it at during the lunchtime feeding (we feed pellets at lunch). It then spent the day hiding until this evenings feeding of frozen brine shrimp. I managed to get these rather poor quality photos. Current plan is to monitor and increasing feeding frequency to three times a day. If the wound starts to look infected then i am planning on setting up the 60-80 litre hospital tank I have. I am hesitant to do that right now as i am prioritising clean water and low stress. Is there anything else I should do and does this injury look like something that could happen from two firefish fighting in their cave?

I am also going to observe the tank after dark to see if I can see anything that could have caused the injury like a mantis (i have had zero reason to believe there is one in the tank but who knows).

This is a scrape injury requiring immediate treatment in a separate tank using Seachem neoplex

 

[SLACkra]

This is a scrape injury requiring immediate treatment in a separate tank using Seachem neoplex

Are there any alternative products you would recommend? That one doesn't appear to be available readily in Australia.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Are there any alternative products you would recommend? That one doesn't appear to be available readily in Australia.

Waterlife myxazin

 

[Uncle99]

Hello all,

I have a 4ft reef tank. Occupants are two ocellaris clowns, two purple firefish, one yellow coral goby and a mandarin dragnet. I purchased the purple firefish at the same time from the same shop. They were sharing a tank and appeared to be hanging out with each other. When i first introduced them they hid in two different caves on opposite sides of the tank for a few hours before finding each other and have shared a cave on the left hand side of my tank ever since. I have at times noticed white patches on their sides. In all cases these have resolved themselves on their own. I have only noticed very minor squabbling between them and minimal aggression between them and the other inhabitants of the tank.

This morning my partner messaged me while i was at work that one of them had a large wound. Thankfully it at during the lunchtime feeding (we feed pellets at lunch). It then spent the day hiding until this evenings feeding of frozen brine shrimp. I managed to get these rather poor quality photos. Current plan is to monitor and increasing feeding frequency to three times a day. If the wound starts to look infected then i am planning on setting up the 60-80 litre hospital tank I have. I am hesitant to do that right now as i am prioritising clean water and low stress. Is there anything else I should do and does this injury look like something that could happen from two firefish fighting in their cave?

I am also going to observe the tank after dark to see if I can see anything that could have caused the injury like a mantis (i have had zero reason to believe there is one in the tank but who knows).

I like your thinking on next steps.
Looks like a nip to me.

 

[SLACkra]

Hey guys. So getting medication that has antibiotics in it seems to be a no go in australia without getting a vet and a prescription. I have good news and bad news. Good news, it's still eating and looks robust. The wound has healed significantly in the last 24 hours.

The bad news... there's a new wound.

Current planned course of action:
- will be placing a bit of raw salmon (its what i have handy) in the tank after lights out near their cave to see if i can coax anything out. I was unable to see anything last night.
- I will be setting up the hospital tank on saturday unless there isn't significant improvement tomorrow. I will need to go buy an extra net and plan it out to improve the chances of a successful capture.
- I'm going to purchase some aquaforest fish V to further help with general health and healing.

 

[SLACkra]

Small update. Baiting with raw salmon resulted in no sign of anything other than confirming my amphipod population is extremely healthy.

My partner saw a very large bristleworm while feeding the fish yesterday coming out of their cave. Last night I tried to grab it and failed to grab it but likely did some damage to it. I will be continuing to try to capture it. I'm not sure if its a bristle worm or a species of fireworm.

The injured firefish is eating like a pig and the rate of healing is fantastic.

Their partner however appears to have gotten into its own fight with a bristleworm as its gone from being happy to clearly having some irritation. Its flashing fairly regularly but looks okay.

The rock in my tank all sits on top of egg crate/light diffuser so I'm going to syphon out the sand from their cave to give them more space and hopefully reduce the chances of getting into conflict with bristleworms.

 

[Mebbid]

Everyone should develop a relationship with a vet. When you have an issue like this, call them with your issues and see if they would be willing to prescribe the recommended antibiotic if you supplied them pictures and a scientific article suggesting that this particular antibiotic would likely be effective. Do some research and see what you can find to suggest this antibiotic is appropriate. Peer reviewed articles are the gold standard of what to look for.

Thankfully, I married a woman that grew up with and was best friends with a person who is a vet now. Not saying that's why I married her, but dang it makes this stuff easier :D

 

[winxp_man]

Small update. Baiting with raw salmon resulted in no sign of anything other than confirming my amphipod population is extremely healthy.

My partner saw a very large bristleworm while feeding the fish yesterday coming out of their cave. Last night I tried to grab it and failed to grab it but likely did some damage to it. I will be continuing to try to capture it. I'm not sure if its a bristle worm or a species of fireworm.

The injured firefish is eating like a pig and the rate of healing is fantastic.

Their partner however appears to have gotten into its own fight with a bristleworm as its gone from being happy to clearly having some irritation. Its flashing fairly regularly but looks okay.

The rock in my tank all sits on top of egg crate/light diffuser so I'm going to syphon out the sand from their cave to give them more space and hopefully reduce the chances of getting into conflict with bristleworms.

Unless is dying and decaying a standard bristle worm or common bristle, will not eat creatures. A fireworm yes, but from my understanding they are rare in the reef tank world. If you can snap a picture of it and post it here.

I have a million of them in my tank. Have yet to ever see one eat something alive and healthy. They did eat a whole 3” powder brown that sadly passed about a year ago. And other fish that have passed and I didn’t find them.

My brother had two big 5-6” bristles in a cave with a goby and a pistol shrimp. Funniest thing ever! Have a video somewhere of it! Haha

 

[SLACkra]

Unless is dying and decay is starting a standard bristle worm or common brittle, and it will not do that. A fireworm yes, but from my understanding they are rare in the reef tank world. If you can snap a picture of it and post it here.

Completely agree, bristle worms shouldnt be a problem. The only thing I can think of is said bristleworm in its travels scares them/stabs them. That and confined space leads to scrapes.

I'll try to get a photo of it when/if I manage to catch it. Its definitely longer and fatter than the other bristleworms in the tank.

 

[SLACkra]

Everyone should develop a relationship with a vet. When you have an issue like this, call them with your issues and see if they would be willing to prescribe the recommended antibiotic if you supplied them pictures and a scientific article suggesting that this particular antibiotic would likely be effective. Do some research and see what you can find to suggest this antibiotic is appropriate. Peer reviewed articles are the gold standard of what to look for.

Thankfully, I married a woman that grew up with and was best friends with a person who is a vet now. Not saying that's why I married her, but dang it makes this stuff easier :D

We have a fish vet in our city. I would have likely ended up engaging him if the wound hadn't started healing or looked infected. In the end I'm quite happy that I went with a strategy that focused on low stress and good food. Trying to catch it would have been a nightmare and even if i was successful it would have been incredibly stressful for the fish. Now my goal is to reduce the chances of it happening again.