Ill firefish - looks like black bulge in mid section

[pbrown]

I have had this fire fish for three years. Super hardy and made it through my tank crack/ new tank adventure back in May. This week he went into his nighttime cave and didn’t come out for two days. Very abnormal. He usually awaits me for meals with the rest of the fish. I could see him in the cave and I saw him breathing. Alive- good.
I read in a thread that sometimes they will hide for a few days. So I tried to be patient since he looked fine and was not thinning.
He came out today. But, he won’t eat, has a black circle inside his body that almost looks like it has tentacles… and he won’t eat. He has a clear string of ?… coming out where poop should exit.
thinking I should try to catch him and treat him, but if it’s a tumor and he will die don’t want to stress him out in his final days.
Would love your opinions…
Sorry the pics not good, he only came out when the blue lights were on. The pic doesn’t do the spot justice. This isn’t the normal grey bladder. This is a mass that has some tentacle like threads on it.

 

[pbrown]

One cool note. The yellow goby and 6 line wrasse photo bombers in the photo have been very protective of the firefish all week. They constantly check on him in the cave and when I tried to feed him in the cave they blocked my way. I thought this interesting behavior. They have been tank mates for a few years.

 

[Isopod80]

What other fish do you have in this tank? Are any agressive? I wonder if it could be a bruise with some possible internal bleeding/damage. I'm interested in what others have to say.

 

[DinoMagnet]

Per @Jay Hemdal on a similar post. Apparently fire fish have a specific parasite.

 

[Isopod80]

Interesting but would it really take 3 years to manifest itself. What are the chances of introducing such a specific parasites larvae. I suppose if some lfs water with infected firefish whose parasites recently released larvae got in the tank it's possible. Talk about the perfect storm. Hopefully Jay will comment on this.

 

[pbrown]

I don’t buy my water. Have RO unit. Fish is 3 years old and I just read life span is around 3 years. Bummer. I do think it has some sort of worm in it. If it dies I will autopsy him and figure this out. Good for all of us to know.

 

[Isopod80]

Sorry about the fish bud but any autopsy info would certainly be interesting.

 

[pbrown]

I have firefish, 6 line, Midas blenny, yellow goby… all peaceful and get along great. All 2+ years except Midas who is 9 mo. ( 1st Midas jumped out during tank cleaning )

 

[Isopod80]

I don’t buy my water. Have RO unit. Fish is 3 years old and I just read life span is around 3 years. Bummer. I do think it has some sort of worm in it. If it dies I will autopsy him and figure this out. Good for all of us to know.

I meant a little water from lfs shop when you added a new critter to the tank.

 

[pbrown]

Interesting info on the parasite coming in on the firefish. Seems to always be something…

 

[pbrown]

I meant a little water from lfs shop when you added a new critter to the tank.

Ahh… yes gotcha on the bit of lfs water. I qt for four weeks with copper, solid water changes, etc. I would think they would be killed. I do have some weird long tentacled red worms in my tank I have been battling that came in on my Australian elegance coral 2 years ago…if one of these is in him I won’t be surprised. I do dip my corals but find these still survive dip it.

 

[pbrown]

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Isopod80]

Ahh… yes gotcha on the bit of lfs water. I qt for four weeks with copper, solid water changes, etc. I would think they would be killed. I do have some weird long tentacled red worms in my tank I have been battling that came in on my Australian elegance coral 2 years ago…if one of these is in him I won’t be surprised. I do dip my corals but find these still survive dip it.

I would think so too. Also, Jay's write up seems to suggest that due to multiple larval stages, survival to infestation would be unlikely in an aquarium. I'm stumped on this one. By the way, search spaghetti worm for comparison to your worms. They're one of the good guys.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Interesting but would it really take 3 years to manifest itself. What are the chances of introducing such a specific parasites larvae. I suppose if some lfs water with infected firefish whose parasites recently released larvae got in the tank it's possible. Talk about the perfect storm. Hopefully Jay will comment on this.

Right - I've never seen that copepod except on recently acquired firefish.

I really can't see enough in the photo to hazard a guess. If you can get a clear photo under white light, that would help. Sometimes, a short video is easier to get than a still photo.

Jay

 

[MediocreAtEverything]

I recently just got a purple firefish from TSM that has a bruise just like this. It started to recede and then ripped open. It is now healing again. It eats and acts normal. It shares a rock with a tiger pistol shrimp and I hear snapping sometimes so I wonder if the wound has to do with that or a parasite of sorts.

 

[pbrown]

I recently just got a purple firefish from TSM that has a bruise just like this. It started to recede and then ripped open. It is now healing again. It eats and acts normal. It shares a rock with a tiger pistol shrimp and I hear snapping sometimes so I wonder if the wound has to do with that or a parasite of sorts.

Interesting. Firefish is still alive and swimming today. I haven't seen him eat in at least 3 days. but the brine shrimp do float around and he may be poaching some that float behind the live rock burrow. I guess it is wait and see at this point. If I pull him out to QT he will surely die from the stress. His breathing is already paced and he does this open mouthed gasp at times.

I will try to get a better picture with white lights on...but when I approach the tank he is swimming quickly to his burrow this week...which isn't typical. Normally when I approach he and I chat and I feed the fish. All my fish congregate for the feeding. He now stays in his burrow 99.9% of the day just treading water/very still.

Thanks for all the support guys - this gal needs it!

 

[Isopod80]

I would think so too. Also, Jay's write up seems to suggest that due to multiple larval stages, survival to infestation would be unlikely in an aquarium. I'm stumped on this one.

 

[Isopod80]

Interesting. Firefish is still alive and swimming today. I haven't seen him eat in at least 3 days. but the brine shrimp do float around and he may be poaching some that float behind the live rock burrow. I guess it is wait and see at this point. If I pull him out to QT he will surely die from the stress. His breathing is already paced and he does this open mouthed gasp at times.

I will try to get a better picture with white lights on...but when I approach the tank he is swimming quickly to his burrow this week...which isn't typical. Normally when I approach he and I chat and I feed the fish. All my fish congregate for the feeding. He now stays in his burrow 99.9% of the day just treading water/very still.

Thanks for all the support guys - this gal needs it!

I still wouldn't rule out a bruise. I've seen bruises on fish turn dark purple/black where I knew they'd been injured. Especially on light colored fish. Can you hatch out some live brine shrimp quick? The live may get him eating better. If you decapitated the eggs with bleach you'd have them in less than 24 hrs. Mine usually hatch at 18 hrs. this way.

 

[pbrown]

I still wouldn't rule out a bruise. I've seen bruises on fish turn dark purple/black where I knew they'd been injured. Especially on light colored fish. Can you hatch out some live brine shrimp quick? The live may get him eating better. If you decapitated the eggs with bleach you'd have them in less than 24 hrs. Mine usually hatch at 18 hrs. this way.

I raise copepods but not brine shrimp. . My garage is like a copepod laboratory- brine shrimp is a future goal. I don’t know any local reefers who hatch brine.

 

[pbrown]

I recently just got a purple firefish from TSM that has a bruise just like this. It started to recede and then ripped open. It is now healing again. It eats and acts normal. It shares a rock with a tiger pistol shrimp and I hear snapping sometimes so I wonder if the wound has to do with that or a parasite of sorts.

Wow, that sounds horrible. The fish has grit to survive. Mine doesn’t have any skin damage. When I got close it looks more like internal parasite vs bruise. I saw what looked like tentacles.Picked up phone to take a picture… off to the burrow he swam….

does anyone know a treatment to help fish expel large internal parasites?