Talbot Damsel with eye infection

[Zer0]

I’ve only had this fish for about a week. Yesterday morning I noticed it looked like he had a mucus coating around his eye and it is cloudy. He both swims and eats as per normal, no behavioral changes. I have him in a 10G mixed reef with no other fish.

My question is, if he isn’t showing any behavior changes or acting strange or lethargic, should I wait it out and see what happens, or should I start treating him now? I bought KanaPlex yesterday because I don’t have any other fish medication, as this tank was fishless for many months prior to getting the Talbot a week ago.

He’s small, only about an inch long, so I believe he’s still young.

If anyone needs any more information, please just let me know. I’m trying to get some decent pictures but it’s a bit difficult because he’s never still for more than a millisecond.

Thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I’ve only had this fish for about a week. Yesterday morning I noticed it looked like he had a mucus coating around his eye and it is cloudy. He both swims and eats as per normal, no behavioral changes. I have him in a 10G mixed reef with no other fish.

My question is, if he isn’t showing any behavior changes or acting strange or lethargic, should I wait it out and see what happens, or should I start treating him now? I bought KanaPlex yesterday because I don’t have any other fish medication, as this tank was fishless for many months prior to getting the Talbot a week ago.

He’s small, only about an inch long, so I believe he’s still young.

If anyone needs any more information, please just let me know. I’m trying to get some decent pictures but it’s a bit difficult because he’s never still for more than a millisecond.

Thanks

Sometimes, a short video is easier to get than a still photo.

It helps to have more complete information about the fish and tank. Take a look at this post:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Erythromycin (Maracyn 1) often works well for simple eye injuries.

Jay Hemdal

 

[Zer0]

Sometimes, a short video is easier to get than a still photo.

It helps to have more complete information about the fish and tank. Take a look at this post:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Erythromycin (Maracyn 1) often works well for simple eye injuries.

Jay Hemdal

Okay yeah I’m sorry, I honestly just forgot about that other information. It slipped my mind because I’ve never had this problem before, and because everything else in the tank is doing great. Sorry about that, I’ll run some water tests and post back here after completion. I also did break out the dslr to get photos so I have a few decent ones, I just need to upload them.

Thank you

 

[Zer0]

@Jay Hemdal

Okay so I ran some tests, did the whole rundown.

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium Type: Reef w/ single fish(talbot damsel)
Water Volume: 9ish gallons
Filtration Type: Live Rock with an 11w UV filter, as well as some LR rubble in 2nd chamber
Lighting: AI Prime16 HD
Aquarium Age: It turned a year old about a week ago
Digital Image:

Image above was taken Feb26, so it's recent.

Water Quality:
Temp: 79F
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 8ppm
Phosphate: .04

In-depth Information:
Never lost a fish to this problem before. I have a cleaner shrimp, spotted porcelain crab, 4 scarlet reef hermit crabs, 2 money cowries, 2 astrea snails, a ton of nassarius snails, and one penny-sized limpet. As well as a mix of coral, soft/lps/sps. Respiration is a bit hard to tell on a fish this small, I think it's 540. I have not tried any remedies as of yet since the issue arose yesterday morning.

Images provided below:

So with my dslr I was able to see that one of his fins has some damage as well. I don't know if that's fin rot, or if perhaps he was grabbed by a hermit crab when he was sleeping. Either way, I hadn't noticed it yesterday. I noticed that he is now staying in a relatively low flow area of the tank, the back right corner, instead of swimming out in the open like he was up until yesterday. I don't know if the eye infection and the fin damage are connected in any way, or if they are just coincidental.

I just want to point out that yesterday his eye looked much worse, and I wasn't even sure he was going to be alive this morning. However, it looks better than it did yesterday, and I can actually see him moving that eye around when using the macro lens.

Please, any advice would be welcome. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Zer0]

So, I’ve been watching over him all day and it really looks like his eye is clearing up a lot. It’s not really cloudy anymore, just has a faint ring of white around the eye socket. I’ll keep an eye on him, but if he keeps getting better like this, I might hold off on treatment.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@Jay Hemdal

Okay so I ran some tests, did the whole rundown.

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium Type: Reef w/ single fish(talbot damsel)
Water Volume: 9ish gallons
Filtration Type: Live Rock with an 11w UV filter, as well as some LR rubble in 2nd chamber
Lighting: AI Prime16 HD
Aquarium Age: It turned a year old about a week ago
Digital Image:

Image above was taken Feb26, so it's recent.

Water Quality:
Temp: 79F
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 8ppm
Phosphate: .04

In-depth Information:
Never lost a fish to this problem before. I have a cleaner shrimp, spotted porcelain crab, 4 scarlet reef hermit crabs, 2 money cowries, 2 astrea snails, a ton of nassarius snails, and one penny-sized limpet. As well as a mix of coral, soft/lps/sps. Respiration is a bit hard to tell on a fish this small, I think it's 540. I have not tried any remedies as of yet since the issue arose yesterday morning.

Images provided below:

So with my dslr I was able to see that one of his fins has some damage as well. I don't know if that's fin rot, or if perhaps he was grabbed by a hermit crab when he was sleeping. Either way, I hadn't noticed it yesterday. I noticed that he is now staying in a relatively low flow area of the tank, the back right corner, instead of swimming out in the open like he was up until yesterday. I don't know if the eye infection and the fin damage are connected in any way, or if they are just coincidental.

I just want to point out that yesterday his eye looked much worse, and I wasn't even sure he was going to be alive this morning. However, it looks better than it did yesterday, and I can actually see him moving that eye around when using the macro lens.

Please, any advice would be welcome. Thanks for the help everyone.

Looking at your readings, while Not impossible, your number seem unusually low. Are you by chance using API test kits ?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So, I’ve been watching over him all day and it really looks like his eye is clearing up a lot. It’s not really cloudy anymore, just has a faint ring of white around the eye socket. I’ll keep an eye on him, but if he keeps getting better like this, I might hold off on treatment.

It sure does look like an injury involving the eye and the left pectoral fin. That the eye has improved so quickly is a good sign. I think this will heal on its own with no medication, but the lingering doubt of what caused this and can it happen again will be there......

Jay

 

[Zer0]

Looking at your readings, while Not impossible, your number seem unusually low. Are you by chance using API test kits ?

What’s wrong with my readings? I use digital Hanna meters for everything except pH, which I use a Salifert kit for.

It sure does look like an injury involving the eye and the left pectoral fin. That the eye has improved so quickly is a good sign. I think this will heal on its own with no medication, but the lingering doubt of what caused this and can it happen again will be there......

Jay

I know, I’m worried that it was trauma and not bacteria or something. I don’t really know what it could be though… I’ve never seen the hermit crabs pay him any attention. The only thing I could think of, is a particularly large bristleworm that I have lurking around in the tank. The thing is, maybe the worm is hungry? Because prior to getting this fish, I only fed the porcelain crab, because there was nothing else to feed. So maybe the worm attacked the fish? Idk.

What should I do? Any suggestions? I think the damselfish will heal, but I’m worried he might not get the chance if he really was attacked by something.

I attached a picture of the worm in question. I see it every now and then, mostly at night. But I’ve never seen it attack anything.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What’s wrong with my readings? I use digital Hanna meters for everything except pH, which I use a Salifert kit for.

I know, I’m worried that it was trauma and not bacteria or something. I don’t really know what it could be though… I’ve never seen the hermit crabs pay him any attention. The only thing I could think of, is a particularly large bristleworm that I have lurking around in the tank. The thing is, maybe the worm is hungry? Because prior to getting this fish, I only fed the porcelain crab, because there was nothing else to feed. So maybe the worm attacked the fish? Idk.

What should I do? Any suggestions? I think the damselfish will heal, but I’m worried he might not get the chance if he really was attacked by something.

I attached a picture of the worm in question. I see it every now and then, mostly at night. But I’ve never seen it attack anything.

Worm is dorvillidae ( cousin to bristleworm)
Nothing wrong with readings. Assuring your numbers are not false. I trust Hanna

 

[Jay Hemdal]

What’s wrong with my readings? I use digital Hanna meters for everything except pH, which I use a Salifert kit for.

I know, I’m worried that it was trauma and not bacteria or something. I don’t really know what it could be though… I’ve never seen the hermit crabs pay him any attention. The only thing I could think of, is a particularly large bristleworm that I have lurking around in the tank. The thing is, maybe the worm is hungry? Because prior to getting this fish, I only fed the porcelain crab, because there was nothing else to feed. So maybe the worm attacked the fish? Idk.

What should I do? Any suggestions? I think the damselfish will heal, but I’m worried he might not get the chance if he really was attacked by something.

I attached a picture of the worm in question. I see it every now and then, mostly at night. But I’ve never seen it attack anything.

I'd pull the worm, just to be safe.....but I'm not sure that was the culprit.

Jay

 

[Zer0]

I'd pull the worm, just to be safe.....but I'm not sure that was the culprit.

Jay

If I see him again, I’m going to remove it. Just to be safe. Will the fish be able to regrow his fins? He’s out and about like normal and his eye is looking much better, but his damaged fin just looks like a stalk now. It has no webbing or tissue around it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

If I see him again, I’m going to remove it. Just to be safe. Will the fish be able to regrow his fins? He’s out and about like normal and his eye is looking much better, but his damaged fin just looks like a stalk now. It has no webbing or tissue around it.

Fins can regrow pretty quickly, as long as the "germ cells" are not damaged. That is, as long as the fin is not eroded back into the fish's body.

Jay

 

[Zer0]

Fins can regrow pretty quickly, as long as the "germ cells" are not damaged. That is, as long as the fin is not eroded back into the fish's body.

Jay

Okay so currently, he still has the entire fin sticking out. It just has lost its webbing. But my question is, at what point should I intervene to attempt to halt any further/continued erosion of the fin? And would there be anything I can do? Would using KanaPlex stop erosion, or do I need a different medication?

Thanks for all the help by the way, I appreciate it.

 

[Zer0]

Here he is, swimming out in the open like normal. He is looking much better, but I still worry.

 

[Zer0]

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Sorry, this wouldn’t play for me, just a black square….
Jay

 

[Zer0]

Does this work?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Does this work?

Yes, but the damsel is too far away to see clearly. Is the back behind its head thin though? It sure looks like that in the vidoe.

Jay

 

[Zer0]

Yes, but the damsel is too far away to see clearly. Is the back behind its head thin though? It sure looks like that in the vidoe.

Jay

Yeah he’s pretty thin, which is why I’ve been feeding him twice a day since I got him. He eats every time though. I’ve only had him for a week.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yeah he’s pretty thin, which is why I’ve been feeding him twice a day since I got him. He eats every time though. I’ve only had him for a week.

Make sure he isn't spitting the food back out. Also, feeding a small fish 4x day, as much as they will consume is a good idea.

Jay