My Orchid dottyback needs help’

[uagirl08]

None of the other fish are exhibiting any symptoms. It looks like he’s missing scales. Please help a newbie out. I don’t have a quarantine tank set up. I just got an extra tank, but I haven’t had a chance to fill it and get it cycling. Any suggestions as to how to get it up and usable quickly or how to treat this fish are welcome.

 

[fishguy242]

hi,does not look good,
do a water change, use that water to start qt, best wishes.
is it being picked on?
how do other fish look?
water parameters? these are questions the experts will be looking for.
@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 #reefsquad

 

[uagirl08]

I haven’t noticed it being picked on. It’s tank mates are a dwarf Pygmy angelfish, purple fire fish and a tiny snowflake eel. Everyone else looks healthy. I’ll test parameters and post the results.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I haven’t noticed it being picked on. It’s tank mates are a dwarf Pygmy angelfish, purple fire fish and a tiny snowflake eel. Everyone else looks healthy. I’ll test parameters and post the results.

Welcome to Reef2Reef.

That sure looks like a dottyback that got beaten up by another fish. Could the eel have tried to eat it?

It could have a bacterial disease, but they just don't start out of nowhere like that, and some injury is the likely start of those.

The problem is: fish use their skin to help maintain the proper salt level in their blood. With that much damage to their skin, it means they cannot balance those levels properly. I think it is too far gone. However, in case I'm wrong, the treatment would be to move the fish to a treatment tank at a lower specific gravity - 1.019, and then treat with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic such as Furan-2, Maracyn 2 or Neoplex.

Jay