Midas Blenny is sick

[fodsod]

Good morning R2R medics,

I've had this Midas Blenny for about 6 months and he's been fine until last week. I noticed a spot on his head but thought it looked more like an injury from darting in and out of the rock work. I monitored it and now it seems to be getting worse and he seems "off" a little from his normal behavior.

He's in my 50g FOWLR tank with 5 other fish that seem to be fine.

Tank params:
PH- 5.3
Alk- 8.4
Nit- 15
Phos - .10
Temp- 78 degrees
Salinity- 1.025

I'm including the best pics I could get of the spot (left side of his head) and a video to show his respirations. Any help would be appreciated. @vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal and anyone else that can assist.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good morning R2R medics,

I've had this Midas Blenny for about 6 months and he's been fine until last week. I noticed a spot on his head but thought it looked more like an injury from darting in and out of the rock work. I monitored it and now it seems to be getting worse and he seems "off" a little from his normal behavior.

He's in my 50g FOWLR tank with 5 other fish that seem to be fine.

Tank params:
PH- 5.3
Alk- 8.4
Nit- 15
Phos - .10
Temp- 78 degrees
Salinity- 1.025

I'm including the best pics I could get of the spot (left side of his head) and a video to show his respirations. Any help would be appreciated. @vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal and anyone else that can assist.

Im am now at airport to return home but can make this quick. Fish appears to be thinning which is a bad sign with these blennies. Some start out thin and never eat and actually feed off their liver until they are too weak and perish. Not saying this is the case.
Is fish eating, and what are you feeding it? Often improper diet like pellets only are a contributor. They dont have a bladder and require a bit of food- proper food throughout the day to maintain energy.

 

[fodsod]

He gets frozen Mysis with Vitachem once a day, a mix of mysis, and seaweed pellets and NORI is also daily.

He eats like a pig including last night.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

He gets frozen Mysis with Vitachem once a day, a mix of mysis, and seaweed pellets and NORI is also daily.

He eats like a pig including last night.

The spot on the head looked fairly serious in the photos, but in the video, it looks more like a superficial scrape. The breathing rate is a bit on the fast side of normal.

As @vetteguy53081 said, the skinniness is the thing you should focus on. This species tends to need to be fed 4x a day, and even then, some just get thin and die, nobody really knows why. Here is a write-up I did about that:

Skinny Blenny issue

Skinny blennies: Midas blennies are much more difficult to maintain than their common presence in the pet trade would have you believe. They are very prone to starvation. It is unknown if this is due to not feeding them often enough, not feeding enough, feeding the wrong foods, or if internal...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[fodsod]

The spot on the head looked fairly serious in the photos, but in the video, it looks more like a superficial scrape. The breathing rate is a bit on the fast side of normal.

As @vetteguy53081 said, the skinniness is the thing you should focus on. This species tends to need to be fed 4x a day, and even then, some just get thin and die, nobody really knows why. Here is a write-up I did about that:

Skinny Blenny issue

Skinny blennies: Midas blennies are much more difficult to maintain than their common presence in the pet trade would have you believe. They are very prone to starvation. It is unknown if this is due to not feeding them often enough, not feeding enough, feeding the wrong foods, or if internal...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Thanks @Jay Hemdal and @vetteguy53081 for your responses. The pics make it look worse than it is for some reason. The video is a more accurate representation of the actual issue.

I'll increase the feeding for the blennies. I have one in my 90g tank also but he is fine and been with us for 2 years now.