My tank is currently stocked only with a Fu Manchu lion and a Cherry Dottyback, and they’ve been good tankmates for almost a year. I’ve never seen them fight, and they both eat well. However, they both look a lot more raggy than usual and I’m not sure why. Nitrates are reading between 0-5ppm but my test kit is a little old, it might be time to get a newer one, and I have trouble believing it due to the amount of red and coralline algae I get. I also have a pretty bad aiptasia problem and was wondering if that could be causing it. They both eat pretty much only ghost shrimp who are gut-loaded on spirulina pellets. They’re both acting fine, but have raggier fins than usual and the fu is a bit less colorful.
Fin Rot???
- Thread starter zonatus
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That looks like aggression damage, not infection. Any other inverts that could be sneaking up on him while he sleeps? If not, I’d think maybe the lion is taking a nip at him.
It’s a 29. I don’t necessarily know if I but that though, as the dottyback is far too big to be seen as a food item by my lion, who really can’t even take down larger ghost shrimp. I don’t know if you can see it as well in the picture I posted but the pectoral fins of the fu look raggy as well, but in a different sense.
With bacterial fin-rot, the edges of the fin will look kind of white and fuzzy, and the spines remain in tact. The tissue is literally eaten away. There's an example attached. I think the lion's fins are frayed more from the friction of scooting around on the substrate. My mandarin's fins look the same at times, but she's perfectly healthy. If you're positive that it's not the lion nipping the dottyback, you might want to do some night hunting to look for a hitch-hiker of some sort...
