Coral Beauty Sick

[nursecal]

Hi all,
Although I love reading all the threads because they are always incredibly helpful, this is my first post for help. My coral beauty has been hiding in caves or behind rocks in front of wavemaker lately and I’ve noticed he isn’t swimming around as normal. He has what appear to be “indents” around eyes, fins are becoming ragged, and just today I noted redness around his gills. He also appears to be blind now as he bumps into things. He’s in QT tank for 2 days now and received 3 min freshwater dip. I’ve dosed will dose maracyn in 2 days to match the water change after dosing, thinking it may be bacterial. He’s moving around more in QT, but doesn’t appear to be eating. I’m uploading pics of him, hopefully they will do justice to what I’m seeing in person. Any help would be very appreciated, thanks so much!

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome to the reef
lets get you some expert help #fishmedic

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi all,
Although I love reading all the threads because they are always incredibly helpful, this is my first post for help. My coral beauty has been hiding in caves or behind rocks in front of wavemaker lately and I’ve noticed he isn’t swimming around as normal. He has what appear to be “indents” around eyes, fins are becoming ragged, and just today I noted redness around his gills. He also appears to be blind now as he bumps into things. He’s in QT tank for 2 days now and received 3 min freshwater dip. I’ve dosed will dose maracyn in 2 days to match the water change after dosing, thinking it may be bacterial. He’s moving around more in QT, but doesn’t appear to be eating. I’m uploading pics of him, hopefully they will do justice to what I’m seeing in person. Any help would be very appreciated, thanks so much!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!


There seems to be multiple issues here. The indents around the eyes is called Head and Lateral Line Erosion. That is a disfiguring, non-treatable, but also non-fatal disease. It is caused by past use of activated carbon and possibly other environmental problems. Once the pits have developed like this, they are usually there to stay.

The fish is also faded in color and pretty thin.
How long have you had this fish?
Take a look at this post about fish disease issues and see if there is anything else you can add - water quality, other background info, etc.

It may have a Mycobacterium bacterial infection - that isn't treatable, sorry!

Jay

 

[nursecal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!


There seems to be multiple issues here. The indents around the eyes is called Head and Lateral Line Erosion. That is a disfiguring, non-treatable, but also non-fatal disease. It is caused by past use of activated carbon and possibly other environmental problems. Once the pits have developed like this, they are usually there to stay.

The fish is also faded in color and pretty thin.
How long have you had this fish?
Take a look at this post about fish disease issues and see if there is anything else you can add - water quality, other background info, etc.

It may have a Mycobacterium bacterial infection - that isn't treatable, sorry!

Jay

Thank you Jay for the quick response! I’ve read so many posts, including the older post about another CB which appeared to have gone blind, but feel I’m reading myself into confusion. I thought it may be HLLE but know there is no tx, I don’t use carbon.
Water parameters:
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Phos 0.25
pH 8
Salinity 1.025
KH 9
Ca 470
Ammo 0
With the redness in gills, I thought this may be bacterial and thought to tx with maracyn. No other fish in tank appear to have anything going on and corals look good. Change 14gal/65gal tank weekly religiously. Feed wide variety of frozen and pellets. Main tank has refugium with macro algae and skimmer, wave maker and light pump to move things around. Have noticed an outbreak of cyano in back of tank that I’m working on, and have increased water changes to twice week. Would love to hear more on how I may be able to help my guy. Thank you

 

[nursecal]

Thank you Jay for the quick response! I’ve read so many posts, including the older post about another CB which appeared to have gone blind, but feel I’m reading myself into confusion. I thought it may be HLLE but know there is no tx, I don’t use carbon.
Water parameters:
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Phos 0.25
pH 8
Salinity 1.025
KH 9
Ca 470
Ammo 0
With the redness in gills, I thought this may be bacterial and thought to tx with maracyn. No other fish in tank appear to have anything going on and corals look good. Change 14gal/65gal tank weekly religiously. Feed wide variety of frozen and pellets. Main tank has refugium with macro algae and skimmer, wave maker and light pump to move things around. Have noticed an outbreak of cyano in back of tank that I’m working on, and have increased water changes to twice week. Would love to hear more on how I may be able to help my guy. Thank you

I’ve had the CB about 1 year.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I’ve had the CB about 1 year.

I think the redness in the gills is just normal red gill filaments showing through a more pale than normal operculum. I've never seen a disease that causes gill filaments to become more red, only less red. The last photograph seems to show that a portion of the operculum is translucent (letting the red gill filaments show through).

There could be a non-Mycobacterium bacterial issue here. I would dose Maracyn 1, but also choose a second, antibiotic that is more effective against gram negative bacteria; Neoplex or Maracyn 2 - that way, you have both bases covered.

Jay

 

[nursecal]

I think the redness in the gills is just normal red gill filaments showing through a more pale than normal operculum. I've never seen a disease that causes gill filaments to become more red, only less red. The last photograph seems to show that a portion of the operculum is translucent (letting the red gill filaments show through).

There could be a non-Mycobacterium bacterial issue here. I would dose Maracyn 1, but also choose a second, antibiotic that is more effective against gram negative bacteria; Neoplex or Maracyn 2 - that way, you have both bases covered.

Jay

Thank you Jay again. I believe I read on the maracyn/2 packages that both can be used concurrently, correct? Also, since it doesn’t seem to be parasitic, should I discontinue freshwater dips? Is it helpful to continue with melafix also concurrently?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ammonia and nitrate zero
What test kits are you using?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you Jay again. I believe I read on the maracyn/2 packages that both can be used concurrently, correct? Also, since it doesn’t seem to be parasitic, should I discontinue freshwater dips? Is it helpful to continue with melafix also concurrently?

Yes, both of those meds can be used together, skip the FW dips. Stop using the Melafix also, it is just an herbal tonic.

I'm still worried this could be Mycobacterium, and if so, there isn't a treatment for that.....


Jay