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.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

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.

Water quality issues bad enough to kill fish would have first caused problems with the invertebrates since they are much more sensitive to water issues than fish are.

In case this might help, here is an article on how to diagnose fish diseases:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/self-diagnosis-of-common-marine-fish-diseases.1141555/

 

[SaltedAgave]

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.

Water quality issues bad enough to kill fish would have first caused problems with the invertebrates since they are much more sensitive to water issues than fish are.

In case this might help, here is an article on how to diagnose fish diseases:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/self-diagnosis-of-common-marine-fish-diseases.1141555/

Thank you for providing this, i looked through it but I think it might be uronema but honestly i have no clue at this point. This has progressed severely, hes was laying under a coral today and is breathing really rapidly. I honestly dont think hes gonna make it. Do you have any other thoughts on what this possibly could be?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for providing this, i looked through it but I think it might be uronema but honestly i have no clue at this point. This has progressed severely, hes was laying under a coral today and is breathing really rapidly. I honestly dont think hes gonna make it. Do you have any other thoughts on what this possibly could be?

That is a very fast progression - I suspect it didn’t make it through the night?

Uronema is a possibility, but that typically isn’t contagious fish to fish. Also, that typically creates red lesions, not white.

Possible treatments are limited here - since I can’t give you a firm diagnosis, and then since the tank is mixed fish and invertebrates, most medications can’t be used.

 

[SaltedAgave]

Thank you for providing this, i looked through it but I think it might be uronema but honestly i have no clue at this point. This has progressed severely, hes was laying under a coral today and is breathing really rapidly. I honestly dont think hes gonna make it. Do you have any other thoughts on what this possibly could be?

That is a very fast progression - I suspect it didn’t make it through the night?

Uronema is a possibility, but that typically isn’t contagious fish to fish. Also, that typically creates red lesions, not white.

Possible treatments are limited here - since I can’t give you a firm diagnosis, and then since the tank is mixed fish and invertebrates, most medications can’t be used.

he unfortunately passed and i agree that i dont think uronema displays as white lesions and it especially doesn’t start as a singular white dot that looks essentially like ick i don’t really think i have many options outside of hoping to make it through and going fallow for a few months if it doesn’t stop spreading.