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Fish Keeper82
07/18/2015, 07:05 PM
I purchased a purple firefish a week ago and is in a 10 gallon QT tank. Today i noticed what looked like big clear scales coming off of him. I treated with prazi pro and they came off within 30 mins.
The "scales" i think were some kind of parasite i didnt get a picture because i could bearly see them myself.

Any ideas what these were?

Deinonych
07/19/2015, 07:19 AM
Sounds like it may have been a parasitic isopod.

Fish Keeper82
07/19/2015, 12:34 PM
Didn't look like pod IDK. .... it died this morning. I took remains back to LFS for replacement (they have 7 day guarantee). I got a regular firefish this time since all their purple firefish in the store now had the same stuff on their bodies.

snorvich
07/19/2015, 01:37 PM
Didn't look like pod IDK. .... it died this morning. I took remains back to LFS for replacement (they have 7 day guarantee). I got a regular firefish this time since all their purple firefish in the store now had the same stuff on their bodies.

Likely your new fish may have the same issue as fish systems share water.

Fish Keeper82
07/19/2015, 02:11 PM
Likely your new fish may have the same issue as fish systems share water.

This is true but I've never seen a LFS that did not have a couple of sick fish in their system.

QT and hope for the best. I now will add Prazi pro at initial QT. I used to wait a week to let the fish settle in a bit before adding it.

ThRoewer
07/19/2015, 10:09 PM
From the description it could have been flukes (Trematoda (https://www.google.com/search?q=flukes+parasite+fish&biw=1128&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCQQsARqFQoTCPSEuNzo6MYCFUsqiAodGQYOKA)) or fish lice (Argulus (https://www.google.com/search?q=argulus&biw=1128&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CDQQsARqFQoTCK-A7YLn6MYCFcMtiAodA9cCkQ)).

Flukes on the fish's skin look pretty much like your typical flatworms

Argulus looks like this:
http://www.koisale.com/argulus.jpg
Source: http://www.koisale.com/fish-lice.html

Though more common with freshwater pond fish there are also plenty of marine species.

oldbones
07/19/2015, 10:30 PM
Interesting...

I bought a Purple Firefish a week ago along with a Yellow Clown Goby. Put them together in my established 10g QT. The Firefish died during the second night having displayed no symptoms whatsoever. Clown Goby still indicating perfect health today.

On Tuesday after finding the dead Firefish, the LFS said they would replace him, and they just got in two more who were a bit bigger and looked good. So, I drove up there, about an hour, and one was displaying two milky white spots on his side the size of a scale off a small salmon. Half an hour later, I looked in on them again, and watched one of the spots come off the fish and reattach in almost the same spot! Showed the LFS guy, and he started prepping water for a FW dip.

I looked at frags for a while longer, maybe 30 more minutes, then looked in on the fish one more time. Now, I noticed the second purple now had one spot on his side as well.

Uh, no. They gave me store credit for the dead fish, which promptly turned into a nice Jedi Mind Trick monti which was hanging off the plug all the way around. Oh, and then I dropped a bunch more $$$ on corals as well! :D