Chromis Sick? Please Help!

[mdock]

Hello. I am new to the hobby. I have a blue-green chromis that has a white spot up near the dorsal fin. It showed up first this morning. I have had him for about a month. I don’t have a QT and fear I am about to see the consequences of that… he has been swimming around and eating fine. The tank has a gravel/sand bottom and live rock. There are two clowns, a royal gramma, a mandarin goby, 5 snails, a cleaner shrimp, and another chromis in the tank. The other chromis doesn’t have issues. There is also a god of war zoa and a type of hammer coral.

The tank is a 40 gallon aqua top. It has been running since April.

These are the measurements as of today:
Temp - 81
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .2
Salt - 1.025
Nitrates - 10
Nitrites - 0
Alkalinity - 8

I turned the heater down to try to bring it back to 79 and am going to do water changes to bring the ammonia back down. The ammonia read 0 at the end of May.

I have tried to find out what is wrong with the chromis. Is it ich? Or uronema? It’s not red at all. Maybe another fish took a bite at it or it scratched itself on a rock? Would I be best off just saying goodbye to save the other fish?

Please help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I tried to get the best picture of it and to give a sense of the overall tank. The spot is right at the base of the front of the dorsal fin.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello. I am new to the hobby. I have a blue-green chromis that has a white spot up near the dorsal fin. It showed up first this morning. I have had him for about a month. I don’t have a QT and fear I am about to see the consequences of that… he has been swimming around and eating fine. The tank has a gravel/sand bottom and live rock. There are two clowns, a royal gramma, a mandarin goby, 5 snails, a cleaner shrimp, and another chromis in the tank. The other chromis doesn’t have issues. There is also a god of war zoa and a type of hammer coral.

The tank is a 40 gallon aqua top. It has been running since April.

These are the measurements as of today:
Temp - 81
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .2
Salt - 1.025
Nitrates - 10
Nitrites - 0
Alkalinity - 8

I turned the heater down to try to bring it back to 79 and am going to do water changes to bring the ammonia back down. The ammonia read 0 at the end of May.

I have tried to find out what is wrong with the chromis. Is it ich? Or uronema? It’s not red at all. Maybe another fish took a bite at it or it scratched itself on a rock? Would I be best off just saying goodbye to save the other fish?

Please help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I tried to get the best picture of it and to give a sense of the overall tank. The spot is right at the base of the front of the dorsal fin.

There seems to be an injury on its head and may be a result of impact injury or based on the other occupants what I suspect to be aggression injury Is there aggression - next time you go to feed, set your cell phone on video mode for about 40 mins and drop a little food and walk away - YOU MUST walk away as they know youre there. Often the aggressor is a bully at feeding time.
Review the video and see who it may be

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello. I am new to the hobby. I have a blue-green chromis that has a white spot up near the dorsal fin. It showed up first this morning. I have had him for about a month. I don’t have a QT and fear I am about to see the consequences of that… he has been swimming around and eating fine. The tank has a gravel/sand bottom and live rock. There are two clowns, a royal gramma, a mandarin goby, 5 snails, a cleaner shrimp, and another chromis in the tank. The other chromis doesn’t have issues. There is also a god of war zoa and a type of hammer coral.

The tank is a 40 gallon aqua top. It has been running since April.

These are the measurements as of today:
Temp - 81
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .2
Salt - 1.025
Nitrates - 10
Nitrites - 0
Alkalinity - 8

I turned the heater down to try to bring it back to 79 and am going to do water changes to bring the ammonia back down. The ammonia read 0 at the end of May.

I have tried to find out what is wrong with the chromis. Is it ich? Or uronema? It’s not red at all. Maybe another fish took a bite at it or it scratched itself on a rock? Would I be best off just saying goodbye to save the other fish?

Please help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I tried to get the best picture of it and to give a sense of the overall tank. The spot is right at the base of the front of the dorsal fin.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

In the first picture, it looks like Lymphocystis, a mild viral disease. However, the other photos show the fish as a bit thin, it is probably getting picked on as @vetteguy53081 said. Chromis often fight.
As a side note - does your tank have any aeration, like a skimmer? The water’s surface looks pretty still.

Jay

 

[mdock]

There seems to be an injury on its head and may be a result of impact injury or based on the other occupants what I suspect to be aggression injury Is there aggression - next time you go to feed, set your cell phone on video mode for about 40 mins and drop a little food and walk away - YOU MUST walk away as they know youre there. Often the aggressor is a bully at feeding time.
Review the video and see who it may be

Thank you! I’ll set that up and see. The clowns seem a little more aggressive today. They’ve been poking around a lot more.

I was worried it was going to be a tank ending disease and whether I’d be better off removing the fish.

 

[mdock]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

In the first picture, it looks like Lymphocystis, a mild viral disease. However, the other photos show the fish as a bit thin, it is probably getting picked on as @vetteguy53081 said. Chromis often fight.
As a side note - does your tank have any aeration, like a skimmer? The water’s surface looks pretty still.

Jay

Quick google search says if it is lymphocystis you just leave them alone and they get over it?? It definitely doesn’t look more serious? Just worried for the other fish in the tank. This Chromis is the bigger of the two.

I have a protein skimmer running. I pointed the pump down toward the coral to give that more aeration while I was waiting to find a power head. Should I adjust that up?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Quick google search says if it is lymphocystis you just leave them alone and they get over it?? It definitely doesn’t look more serious? Just worried for the other fish in the tank. This Chromis is the bigger of the two.

I have a protein skimmer running. I pointed the pump down toward the coral to give that more aeration while I was waiting to find a power head. Should I adjust that up?

No, the skimmer should be fine.

In the end though, I don’t think this is lymphocystis……

Jay

 

[mdock]

No, the skimmer should be fine.

In the end though, I don’t think this is lymphocystis……

Jay

Ok thanks.

Does he pose a threat to the other fish in the tank with that going on?

 

[Weeb]

The tank is a 40 gallon aqua top

The tank does look like an Aqua40. I own one of these. The skimmer (I have found) is marginally suitable. I would recommend adding a wave maker to the tank. In addition, I would point the return upwards towards the water's surface. Make these changes in steps -- going slowly.

Should I adjust that up?

Yes. As noted above.

The spot is right at the base of the front of the dorsal fin.

An injury. Chromis try to establish a 'pecking order.' Also, if the Clownfish are a mated pair, they may get territorial.

pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .2

pH could be a bit higher -- 8.4 and the ammonia has got to go. What kind of bio filtration do you have in the back chamber? When you add back pure water (RODI) to compensate for evaporation, where and how do you add it? The biofilter should be able to handle the ammonia with ease.

Just a suggestion: Read through the Fish Health Rough Proper Nutrition post when you can.

 

[Weeb]

5 snails

What kind of snails do you have. The reason I ask is that substrate thickness could be thinner. If you have Nassaurius snails, they do like to bury in the substrate until food becomes available so this thickness of substrate may be useful.

 

[mdock]

The tank does look like an Aqua40. I own one of these. The skimmer (I have found) is marginally suitable. I would recommend adding a wave maker to the tank. In addition, I would point the return upwards towards the water's surface. Make these changes in steps -- going slowly.

Yes. As noted above.

An injury. Chromis try to establish a 'pecking order.' Also, if the Clownfish are a mated pair, they may get territorial.

pH could be a bit higher -- 8.4 and the ammonia has got to go. What kind of bio filtration do you have in the back chamber? When you add back pure water (RODI) to compensate for evaporation, where and how do you add it? The biofilter should be able to handle the ammonia with ease.

Just a suggestion: Read through the Fish Health Rough Proper Nutrition post when you can.

The Chromis with the issue is the bigger one. Would that rule out injury from the other Chromis?

If it’s not an aggression injury is it a risk to the other fish?

It had 8.4 up until this past week. What should I do for that?

I have the standard stuff that came with the tank when it was new. I poured the RODI water mostly into the back where the filters are.

And thanks I’ll take a look.

 

[mdock]

What kind of snails do you have. The reason I ask is that substrate thickness could be thinner. If you have Nassaurius snails, they do like to bury in the substrate until food becomes available so this thickness of substrate may be useful.

The snails are not Nassaurius. I can’t remember the name the store said. They just hang out moving along the walls and live rock. The goby I have moved all the sand around as he was digging and cleaning and piled it up at the front.

 

[Weeb]

Would that rule out injury from the other Chromis?

Not necessarily. It could be an injury from running into a tight spot. If the submissive fish fights back (rare)

The goby I have moved all the sand around as he was digging and cleaning and piled it up at the front.

, then either one may get hurt.

If it’s not an aggression injury is it a risk to the other fish?

Not at this time. Wait and see. A healthy marine fish heal themselves quite well.

I poured the RODI water mostly into the back where the filters are.

Is this on top of the biological media? Do you have/use in the very first chamber (where the overflow first goes) that black sponge?

The goby I have moved all the sand around as he was digging and cleaning and piled it up at the front.

Don't let the goby push you around. Move the substrate back. It will give the goby something to do and initially avoid any deep substrate areas.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ok thanks.

Does he pose a threat to the other fish in the tank with that going on?

I do not see that the white spots on this chromis are any of the communicable diseases, so there is not a threat to the other fish from that {but if the fish were not quarantined, there is always a chance of them developing some other issue).

I would feed these fish multiple times a day to try and bulk them up. You don't want uneaten food in the tank, but feed them small amounts, as much as they will accept, three times a day.

Jay

 

[mdock]

This is what it looks like today. It looks a little bigger. What do you think?

 

[mdock]

I do not see that the white spots on this chromis are any of the communicable diseases, so there is not a threat to the other fish from that {but if the fish were not quarantined, there is always a chance of them developing some other issue).

I would feed these fish multiple times a day to try and bulk them up. You don't want uneaten food in the tank, but feed them small amounts, as much as they will accept, three times a day.

Jay

Thanks. I’ve been trying to figure out the best feeding schedule to bulk them up but then the ammonia raised. I think lots of small amounts is going to be it. I posted new pictures of it today. Looks like the spot got bigger.

 

[CoralB]

Good advice already spoken

 

[mdock]

This is what it looks like today. It looks a little bigger. What do you think?

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 @Weeb ?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 @Weeb ?

More recent pics?

If it is growing larger, that of course can indicate an active infection. At this point, it is most likely a bacterial infection. Treating that would require dosing with a broad spectrum gram negative antibiotic in a treatment tank. Is that something you can do?

Jay

 

[Weeb]

@mdock Any update?

 

[ThaiReeferfromVegas]

Get some stressguard to prevent further infections. I had a baby chromis and he had a massive split on his head. Probably ran and hit its head on the rockwork. Cleared up after a week.