Purple fire fish

[Kalen]

I have a purple fire fish I've had for just about 4 months housed in a jbj 30 Rimless. A week ago I noticed he had what appeared to be circular spots raising up from beneath his skin from his mid section to his tail. Then today. I noticed he was not it very much and then I saw he had a partly glazed eye. He also became super shy. You move or look in his direction he runs into his cave.

Also periodically I've notice that he will be hovering and takes a dive and looks like he bounces of a rock I have on the bottom and continues to hover like nothing happened.

So what does he have. What's going on with him?

[Newsmyrna80]

Can you post a pic of the spot? The bouncing off the rock is sometimes called flashing or scratching and most of the time they do it to try to dislodge a parasite.
Have you added anything new to the tank including corals or inverts without quarantining?

[Kalen]

Let me start off this way. I'm fair new to salt water. I didn't really have space for a quarantine tank so I never set one up.
Two weeks ago I added a green goblin acan coral. A month ago I added a red banded prawn goby. Bought at two different stores. The hobby lasted two days and died. Did drip line acclimation. Everything was fine then it died.

[Kalen]

He's been doing that flashing for a while now come to think about it. Probably off and on for the last six months.

[Kalen]

Could everything be connected to the hazy eye.

[Chief Reef]

Could everything be connected to the hazy eye.

More than likely either your fish is suffering from a disease, Or your fish and system are infested with a parasite.You say its been on off and for around 6 months? sounds like ich to me. Velvet kills and does so very quickly. Ick is more Survivable and as long as the fish isnt stressed and is otherwise healthy they have the possibility of not showing symptoms, Stress from new additions or drops in water quality will usually cause an outbreak in this case.cloudy eye makes me think Flukes is also a possiblity. Though it could be something else. Could freshwater dip him in RO water with the same PH and temp and see if anything falls off to eliminate that possiblity, in that case id just do two treatments of prazipro.

In your case since you dont have a QT set up(.i highly recommend setting up one, a 10 Gallon tank and a cheap power filter and along with some ammo lock and seeded filtration media will work fine, Can be bought for under $50 and will save you alot more by preventing fish death's and medication, along with time,effort,and frustration.) i'd freshwater dip him to eliminate flukes as a possiblity, Because if it is flukes your lucky and that can be treated in the Display tank with no harm to anything but featherdusters(allegedly, it killed nothing in my tank, absolutely nothing, as far as beneficial organisms go anyway.) if not flukes it would probably be best to get him into a seperate QT/Hospital tank to better diagnose/Treat him.

If its ICH like i mentioned before you will have to take all fish out (Going "Fallow") and Treat them in a seperate QT tank while Leaving the Display without ich for at least 72 days. Treatments for ich are Tank transfer method(TTM) 3-4 weeks of Copper Treatment(I recommend cupramine.) And hyposalinty Treatment( The most difficult to Use as its hard to maintain Salinity at proper levels, and some Strains of ich have been reported to be resistant to this method.) More information on these methods can be found in the Stickies Located in this section of the forum.


Could be something more along the lines of a bacterial infection which im not 100% familiar with so i dont feel comfortable giving advice about that except that theres quite a few stickies on this forum regarding diagnosis, Treatment, and General information on fish disease's/Parasites that i suggest you give a read.

good luck!

[Kalen]

More than likely either your fish is suffering from a disease, Or your fish and system are infested with a parasite.You say its been on off and for around 6 months? sounds like ich to me. Velvet kills and does so very quickly. Ick is more Survivable and as long as the fish isnt stressed and is otherwise healthy they have the possibility of not showing symptoms, Stress from new additions or drops in water quality will usually cause an outbreak in this case.cloudy eye makes me think Flukes is also a possiblity. Though it could be something else. Could freshwater dip him in RO water with the same PH and temp and see if anything falls off to eliminate that possiblity, in that case id just do two treatments of prazipro.

In your case since you dont have a QT set up(.i highly recommend setting up one, a 10 Gallon tank and a cheap power filter and along with some ammo lock and seeded filtration media will work fine, Can be bought for under $50 and will save you alot more by preventing fish death's and medication, along with time,effort,and frustration.) i'd freshwater dip him to eliminate flukes as a possiblity, Because if it is flukes your lucky and that can be treated in the Display tank with no harm to anything but featherdusters(allegedly, it killed nothing in my tank, absolutely nothing, as far as beneficial organisms go anyway.) if not flukes it would probably be best to get him into a seperate QT/Hospital tank to better diagnose/Treat him.

If its ICH like i mentioned before you will have to take all fish out (Going "Fallow") and Treat them in a seperate QT tank while Leaving the Display without ich for at least 72 days. Treatments for ich are Tank transfer method(TTM) 3-4 weeks of Copper Treatment(I recommend cupramine.) And hyposalinty Treatment( The most difficult to Use as its hard to maintain Salinity at proper levels, and some Strains of ich have been reported to be resistant to this method.) More information on these methods can be found in the Stickies Located in this section of the forum.


Could be something more along the lines of a bacterial infection which im not 100% familiar with so i dont feel comfortable giving advice about that except that theres quite a few stickies on this forum regarding diagnosis, Treatment, and General information on fish disease's/Parasites that i suggest you give a read.

good luck!
I'll see if I can get a picture tomorrow.
You mentioned a freshwater ro/di dip. How long do I dip the fish for and is there any risk of losing the fish in a freshwater ro/di dip.

I do plan to set up a quarantine tank. I have a lot going on it the progress of a upgrade that was halted do to a cut forearm plus tenants. Out of work do to this.

Working with someone to help me stabilize my parameters and see if I need dosing.

But I'll listen if someone is willing to help me out throughout this

[Chief Reef]

I'll see if I can get a picture tomorrow.
You mentioned a freshwater ro/di dip. How long do I dip the fish for and is there any risk of losing the fish in a freshwater ro/di dip.

I do plan to set up a quarantine tank. I have a lot going on it the progress of a upgrade that was halted do to a cut forearm plus tenants. Out of work do to this.

Working with someone to help me stabilize my parameters and see if I need dosing.

But I'll listen if someone is willing to help me out throughout this

I would dip for 5 minutes. Take him out immediately if he shows any signs of stress such as laying on his side. if he does have flukes you will see little clear things falling off him into the water a few minutes in.

As with most Parasitic treatments there is always a risk of losing the fish. If the Temp or PH are too different from the water the fish came from it could go into shock, If the fish is heavily infested theres a chance the Stress could just be too much, or it could be so infested that so many parasites dropping off at once and leaving open wounds shocks it.

Freshwater dip wont actually cure anything though. It's just a temporary relief/ diagnosis method,It also wont do anything for ich. IF it is flukes you'd just does prazipro on the display(or QT if your paranoid bout dem meds.)

[Kalen]

I would dip for 5 minutes. Take him out immediately if he shows any signs of stress such as laying on his side. if he does have flukes you will see little clear things falling off him into the water a few minutes in.

As with most Parasitic treatments there is always a risk of losing the fish. If the Temp or PH are too different from the water the fish came from it could go into shock, If the fish is heavily infested theres a chance the Stress could just be too much, or it could be so infested that so many parasites dropping off at once and leaving open wounds shocks it.

Freshwater dip wont actually cure anything though. It's just a temporary relief/ diagnosis method,It also wont do anything for ich. IF it is flukes you'd just does prazipro on the display(or QT if your paranoid bout dem meds.)
Thanks. I'll give it a shot and get back to you. Now the fun part catching him.

[Kalen]

Interesting thing this morning woke up looked at the fire fish and he is normal everything that was wrong with him is gone. The cloudy eye, and the raised circular things under the skin.

[Chief Reef]

Interesting thing this morning woke up looked at the fire fish and he is normal everything that was wrong with him is gone. The cloudy eye, and the raised circular things under the skin.

id still FW dip and qurantine that fish for observation. The fact that symptoms disappeared as fast as they appeared makes me think its a parasite.
With good nutrtion and low stress fish can fight off symptoms of infection and look otherwise healthy, only showing signs again when stressed or injured. Ich also goes through cycles that take several weeks to complete, only being visible to the aquarist(Flashing fish and salt like grains.) during one of their (4?) lifecycles.

if nothing comes off the freshwater dip your likely dealing with ich but id get on this ASAP. next outbreak could be worse.

[Kalen]

Well I was talking to a buddy of mine and he suggested that he could of gotten stung by my frogspawn. But I'll do a freshwater dip

[Chief Reef]

Well I was talking to a buddy of mine and he suggested that he could of gotten stung by my frogspawn. But I'll do a freshwater dip

sound like your friends the type who see's hoofprints and thinks zebra. I say lets rule out horse first lol.

[Kalen]

I agree.