jgranata13
09/20/2017, 03:25 PM
My firefish has something mysterious going on, so I'm hoping that someone here might have an idea of what it is.
Basically, since I got the fish it has looked gaunt to me. Seeing as I've had it for over a year and it hasn't really gotten fatter/thinner and it's been eating very well, I kind of stopped worrying about that (I figured that if it had an internal parasite that was taking the nutrients from everything it was eating, it would have continued to get thinner and died by now, but I'm not claiming that my reasoning is right). I've been casually monitoring for white stringy poop, but I don't recall seeing any. I'm pretty sure I've also seen the fish take a number of healthy poops.
I've also been monitoring a bump that it's had on its side the whole time I've had it. I'm not quite sure if it had the bump before I got it or soon after, but my best guess is that it's a physical injury due to a couple flying leaps out of the tank. I stopped worrying about that too because it wasn't changing.
Over the last few months I think the fish has gotten worse. I'm starting to notice that the back half of the body is almost completely flat, the colour there is a little dull, and it almost looks like its tail and surrounding area are covered in a fine gold dust.(I know that gold dust is literally the textbook explanation for velvet, but would the fish still be alive at this point if it's been dealing with velvet for a few months? All other fish are totally healthy too.)
And finally, today I noticed that it has mild localized hemorrhaging on its body. I can't be sure, but I think it's on the same site as the bump that I mentioned earlier. This definitely wasn't there a few days ago.
The fish has not changed its behaviour or comportment at all since I got it, so I really have no idea what's up.
In terms of the history of the tank (additions, illnesses, etc), I lost a chromis five months ago to (almost surely) uronema. That chromis was added a month before. Before then, there was no sign of any infectious disease in the tank during the entire two years that it had been set up.
I can't really capture anything that I'm describing in pics, except the hemorrhage which looks exactly like every other fish hemorrhage out there.
Basically, since I got the fish it has looked gaunt to me. Seeing as I've had it for over a year and it hasn't really gotten fatter/thinner and it's been eating very well, I kind of stopped worrying about that (I figured that if it had an internal parasite that was taking the nutrients from everything it was eating, it would have continued to get thinner and died by now, but I'm not claiming that my reasoning is right). I've been casually monitoring for white stringy poop, but I don't recall seeing any. I'm pretty sure I've also seen the fish take a number of healthy poops.
I've also been monitoring a bump that it's had on its side the whole time I've had it. I'm not quite sure if it had the bump before I got it or soon after, but my best guess is that it's a physical injury due to a couple flying leaps out of the tank. I stopped worrying about that too because it wasn't changing.
Over the last few months I think the fish has gotten worse. I'm starting to notice that the back half of the body is almost completely flat, the colour there is a little dull, and it almost looks like its tail and surrounding area are covered in a fine gold dust.(I know that gold dust is literally the textbook explanation for velvet, but would the fish still be alive at this point if it's been dealing with velvet for a few months? All other fish are totally healthy too.)
And finally, today I noticed that it has mild localized hemorrhaging on its body. I can't be sure, but I think it's on the same site as the bump that I mentioned earlier. This definitely wasn't there a few days ago.
The fish has not changed its behaviour or comportment at all since I got it, so I really have no idea what's up.
In terms of the history of the tank (additions, illnesses, etc), I lost a chromis five months ago to (almost surely) uronema. That chromis was added a month before. Before then, there was no sign of any infectious disease in the tank during the entire two years that it had been set up.
I can't really capture anything that I'm describing in pics, except the hemorrhage which looks exactly like every other fish hemorrhage out there.