Spots on Red Longnose Hawkfish

[BC15]

Hey everyone, I’ve recently noticed some black/brownish spots around the belly of my Longnose Hawkfish. He’s probably had them a little over a week now, but still acts normal and eats just fine. Every time I walk into the room he still swims up to the glass and is very personable. I’m still worried about what these might be and where they came from though, thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey everyone, I’ve recently noticed some black/brownish spots around the belly of my Longnose Hawkfish. He’s probably had them a little over a week now, but still acts normal and eats just fine. Every time I walk into the room he still swims up to the glass and is very personable. I’m still worried about what these might be and where they came from though, thanks!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

It isn't super clear, but it looks like this lesion is erupting from internally and breaking out through the skin. If so, that is a really serious issue and you may not be able to cure that. Internal infections cannot be treated by adding medications to the water, they can only be treated through injections or medicated food. This could be an internal fungal infection, for which there is no known cure....look up Ichthyophonus hoferi.

 

[BC15]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

It isn't super clear, but it looks like this lesion is erupting from internally and breaking out through the skin. If so, that is a really serious issue and you may not be able to cure that. Internal infections cannot be treated by adding medications to the water, they can only be treated through injections or medicated food. This could be an internal fungal infection, for which there is no known cure....look up Ichthyophonus hoferi.

Thanks, I looked it up and found that, like you said, there isn’t a ton I can do. I saw something about isolating it and feeding it non frozen foods for a bit, so I’m going to try that. I feed my tank with mostly frozen mysid so it’s definitely plausible that that could be the issue.