Fin rot on Fire Tail Blenny

[IE Reefer]

Hey everyone,
I just realized that my flame tail blenny has fin rot on its dorsal fin. What procedures should I take to cure him? I haven't done a water change in quite a bit; might this be a cause?

Parameters:
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
pH: 8ppm
Nitate: **In progress**
Salinity: 1.023ppm

 

[IE Reefer]

@Jay Hemdal, any opinions?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey everyone,
I just realized that my fire tail blenny has fin rot on its dorsal fin. What procedures should I take to cure him? I haven't done a water change in quite a bit; might this be a cause?

Parameters:
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
pH: 8ppm
Nitate: **In progress**
Salinity: 1.023ppm

Sorry, the pictures aren’t clear enough to make out any details. Can you try taking some others under white light?
Are there any other fish in the tank that might have attacked it?
How long have you had the blenny?
Is it still eating?
Do you have a treatment tank available?
Jay

 

[IE Reefer]

Sorry, the pictures aren’t clear enough to make out any details. Can you try taking some others under white light?
Are there any other fish in the tank that might have attacked it?
How long have you had the blenny?
Is it still eating?
Do you have a treatment tank available?
Jay

From my POV, there shouldn't be any fish that are bullying him. I have an Ocelaris Clown, 2x Green Chromis, Yellow Watchman Goby, Green Mandarin, and a new captive-breed Sunset Dottyback (just got him yesterday).
I've had the fish since May 28th
Yes, he's been eating well
I don't have one currently, but I can get one quickly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My suspect - Percula clown. Know aggressors and biters.

 

[IE Reefer]

My suspect - Percula clown. Know aggressors and biters.

Woops! Just realized my mistake, I meant Ocelaris, not Pericula... I must have seen something about Periculas that made me type that... lol

 

[IE Reefer]

Update: Nitrate: 5.0ppm

I am beginning to start my water change

 

[M Stein]

If it is fin rot you'll need to treat it.
I recently had success treating fin rot on my Tomani tang using KanaPlex. I used a five gallon bucket, heater, airstone, and did 100% water changes every three days.
It took me about a week and a half to start seeing results.

 

[IE Reefer]

Update:
My wife informed me that the fish had a divot in the same location a week earlier. I believe that the fish scrapped the top of its dorsal fin while going into a hole, and now it's just recovering. Anyone, to disprove that? I don't want to risk it and lose the fish, so I'd really appreciate you're guy's opinion.

 

[M Stein]

It could have been a scrape.
Quarantining and treating is a lot of work, and the fin rot doesn't seem to bad (at least not as bad as my tang was). So I would just monitor it for now. If it gets worse then you'll have to treat it.

 

[IE Reefer]

It could have been a scrape.
Quarantining and treating is a lot of work, and the fin rot doesn't seem to bad (at least not as bad as my tang was). So I would just monitor it for now. If it gets worse then you'll have to treat it.

I was thinking the same, what steps should I take to cure it if it gets worse? Do the same as you explained about your tang or something different?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

From my POV, there shouldn't be any fish that are bullying him. I have an Ocelaris Clown, 2x Green Chromis, Yellow Watchman Goby, Green Mandarin, and a new captive-breed Sunset Dottyback (just got him yesterday).
I've had the fish since May 28th
Yes, he's been eating well
I don't have one currently, but I can get one quickly.

Every treatment has its risks. I don't see anything in the photo that would push me to moving the fish for treatment, especially since the blenny is still eating.

Jay

 

[M Stein]

I was thinking the same, what steps should I take to cure it if it gets worse? Do the same as you explained about your tang or something different?

Pretty much the same thing. When you do your water changes should be based on your ammonia readings though. Also if your fish is a jumper you'll need a lid or screen.
As an aside, after completing three rounds of KanaPlex I did three rounds of NeoPlex. I don't think the NeoPlex was necessary but that's when I saw the fin starting to heal.