Parasite

Humblefish · Feb 12, 2017

ebushrow said:
That infestation is severe....I agree you have to get him and the rest of the fish out to treat....at minimum, I would suggest a freshwater dip and a formalin dip for starters...hopefully humblefish and meridith have some better ideas of what it might be.

I don't recommend formalin often, but I do think I would go that route in this instance. Do a 5 min FW dip, followed up by a 45 minute formalin bath and then place the fish in QT. How he looks following the FW dip + formalin bath will tell us whether those "things" are something worm-like or an external parasite or possibly not a disease at all.

Humblefish · Feb 12, 2017

I also think once he's in QT that he will need "the kitchen sink" thrown at him: Copper, Metroplex, Kanaplex & Furan-2.

The diseases commonly known to science - ich, velvet, brook, flukes, etc. - probably only represent a fraction of what's really out there. So, every now & then you are going to encounter a "Typhoid Mary" type disease like this. When that happens, all you can do is throw everything you have in your fish medicine cabinet at it and hope something works.

Or take a skin scrape and try to figure out what it is under a microscope.

P.S. I wouldn't completely rule out this being something environmental either.

Kidderic · Feb 12, 2017

Ok. Thx.. asked this already.. any chance this is environmental?

Humblefish · Feb 12, 2017

Kidderic said:
Ok. Thx.. asked this already.. any chance this is environmental?

It's possible. The more I look at those photos, the more I think it may be a severe case of the "mystery disease": http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2440449

This thread once contained pics of a PBT who looked very similar to yours: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2295036