Blue Spotted Watchman Issues

[TechnicalFisher]

I have a blue spotted watchman that I kept in my QT for one month. He was pretty large when I got him, probably 4 inches or so. He went through Prazipro treatment without problems and then I had an extended pin QT ower outage. He was keeping near the surface of the QT (10g) and I panicked that the 02 was depleted so I decided to move him to the DT, which I then manually turned the water over in for 10 hours or so.

He's been in the DT for 3 weeks. Started out eating and appearing to do well. Over the last few days, he is pretty listless and hasn't been eating. Today when I got home he was laying in back corner of the tank, away from the cave he normally sits in. His tail shows signs of damage and maybe his pectoral fins as well - sort of looks like fin rot. Tried to pull him into QT but he was having none of it.

All parameters are in line. He's got a couple of ocellaris clowns, a yellow assessor, a leopard wrasse and a green mandarin on there with him. I haven't observed any fish picking on him and he's more thank twice the size of any other fish in there.

Any ideas on what might be going on greatly appreciated.

 

[Humblefish]

Sounds like either a bacterial infection or someone is nipping at his fins. Got any large crabs or other inverts which could be messing with him?

 

[TechnicalFisher]

Sounds like either a bacterial infection or someone is nipping at his fins. Got any large crabs or other inverts which could be messing with him?

Thanks @Humblefish. No, just some very small hermits and a scarlet cleaner shrimp. If it's bacterial, are there any good options to treat in DT? I've got a few SPS and a hammer in there.

 

[Humblefish]

If it's bacterial, are there any good options to treat in DT? I've got a few SPS and a hammer in there.

You could try food soaking an antibiotic (such as Kanaplex), using Seachem Focus to bind it: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/metronidazole.298762/#post-3655831

This approach is not as effective as dosing the water to treat for an external infection, but binding the medication to food does make it reef safe.

 

[TechnicalFisher]

I managed to get him out and into QT. I went ahead and started dosing Kanaplex per the label instructions.

Before removing him I tried presenting some reef frenzy right in front of his mouth. He wouldn't touch it. He also seemed lethargic and didn't really move around until he was sort of provoked into it (as I was removing him). Does any of this provide additional insight?

Also anything else I should do in addition to the antibiotic at this point? Many thanks.

 

[Humblefish]

Can you post a pic of him now that he's in QT?

 

[TechnicalFisher]

Here are a few. Sorry for the coralline and small feather dusters on the glass- haven't done maintenance on the QT for a few weeks.

I tried to get his pectoral fins and tail, there appears to be damage to all three. No visible spots, specks or anything like that I can see. Eyes look clear. Breathing is fairly slow and mouth is opening and closing, but he's not gasping or laboring from what I can tell.

 

[Humblefish]

I mean, his fins don't look too bad from your pics. If this is an infection, it's likely a slow moving gram positive one. Do you have any acriflavine/Rally?

 

[TechnicalFisher]

Yeah, they aren't terrible, don't look ragged and I wouldn't be as concerned if he were eating or behaving normally. Something's just not right though. At least in QT I can watch/wait and hopefully get him eating.

Don't have either of those, just happened to have the Kanaplex handy. Is that not likely to help?

 

[Humblefish]

Don't have either of those, just happened to have the Kanaplex handy. Is that not likely to help?

Yes, but antibiotics tend to be slow acting with fish. Giving him a 90 min bath using an antiseptic might provide more immediate relief: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acriflavine.282887/