Weird spot on fish

[SaltedAgave]

Last night i noticed this pinch on my wrasse, it very much looked like a pinch into a raised bump. Now today, the white spot has expanded to a larger area and looks smooth. Im also missing 2 anthias. I cant tell if i have a crab biting then at night or if it is a disease/infection. Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Last night i noticed this pinch on my wrasse, it very much looked like a pinch into a raised bump. Now today, the white spot has expanded to a larger area and looks smooth. Im also missing 2 anthias. I cant tell if i have a crab biting then at night or if it is a disease/infection. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Welcome to Reef2Reef

You’d have to have a big crab or mantis shrimp to be taking out anthias like that.

What animals do you have in the tank?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Last night i noticed this pinch on my wrasse, it very much looked like a pinch into a raised bump. Now today, the white spot has expanded to a larger area and looks smooth. Im also missing 2 anthias. I cant tell if i have a crab biting then at night or if it is a disease/infection. Any ideas would be appreciated!

This is a physical injury and one to keep an eye on for healing and not becoming red or sore which would require treatment using seachem Neoplex in a separate treatment tank. These guys startle easily and are subject to scrape injury

 

[SaltedAgave]

Welcome to Reef2Reef

You’d have to have a big crab or mantis shrimp to be taking out anthias like that.

What animals do you have in the tank?

 

[SaltedAgave]

I have 2 clowns, 3 wrasse, 1 royal gramma, 1 starry blenny, I originally had 3 lyretail anthias (now down to 1), and i added a few hermit crabs.
I did start the tank with Bali live rock, though. I inspected all of the rock pretty thoroughly and didn’t see any obvious bad hitchhikers. I agree that whatever took out the fish would probably have to be fairly large, and I feel like I would’ve noticed something that big when inspecting the rock. So at this point I’m wondering if it could be some kind of disease instead.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

2 clowns, 3 wrasse, 1 royal gramma, 1 starry blenny, 3 lyretail anthias (now 1). I only added a few hermit crabs. But, I did start the tank with Bali live rock.

I’m just worried that there might be something else cooking in the tank - it just doesn’t sound like you have any super predators in there, even in hiding.

 

[SaltedAgave]

I’m just worried that there might be something else cooking in the tank - it just doesn’t sound like you have any super predators in there, even in hiding.

That’s my worry too. I ran a full set of tests today. Ammonia is 0, and nitrate stays pretty consistently between 2–5 ppm (2 today). The only thing that’s really elevated is my calcium is 526 ppm, magnesium is 1,525 ppm, and alkalinity is 10.3 dKH. I haven’t dosed anything, so I’m assuming the elevated Ca/Mg are from a bad batch of Reef Crystals. Salinity is 35 ppt. I know the Ca and Mg are higher than ideal, but I wouldn’t think those levels would be enough to cause the kind of issues I’m seeing with the fish.
The tank has been set up for 2 months and everyone has been eating.