Skin irritation on spotted mandarin

[Adequate]

I just noticed this on my male spotted mandarin, his skin on his left side looks a bit off. He’s feeding and behaving fine, but I’m still worried. There’s a small brown wound looking thing on his shoulder too.

 

[ngoodermuth]

That looks to be a bacterial infection. Do you have any antibiotics on hand? I’ve seen these on mandarins before, and they usually don’t last too long once they appear :/

 

[Adequate]

Just that Blue Planet Multicure stuff that I bought when my freshwater fish had whitespot. Didn't work btw.

Is it contagious and should I isolate it from the scorpion and female mandarin?

 

[ngoodermuth]

Just that Blue Planet Multicure stuff that I bought when my freshwater fish had whitespot. Didn't work btw.

Is it contagious and should I isolate it from the scorpion and female mandarin?

Not usually contagious, it’s more often something that lowered the fish’s immune system and allowed naturally occurring bacteria to take hold.

However, some gram-negative infections can be quite virulent and affect multiple fish. Much more rare though.

Either way, you’ll either need to separate the fish to treat it by itself, or treat all three together. I would try to source an antibiotic locally today if possible. A lot of box stores carry API products, like Triple Sulfa and Furan-2. Or Kanaplex, Sulfaplex, etc.

Common Antibiotics: Breakdown
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...n-Antibiotics:-Breakdown.313609/&share_type=t

Also, acriflavine (API fungus cure, ruby reef rally) is a good first step, as a bath in a separate container.

Now that you mentioned the scorpion... could the mark be a brush-in with him? Maybe that’s what caused the wound initially and it’s become infected?

 

[Adequate]

Now that you mentioned the scorpion... could the mark be a brush-in with him? Maybe that’s what caused the wound initially and it’s become infected?

That's a possibility, they do huddle together, and that may have caused the infection. I never knew scorpions stung other fish, but this species has spines that also protrude from the side of its head, so it may have actually been the culprit.

How long will I have before the mandarin dies?

 

[ngoodermuth]

That's a possibility, they do huddle together, and that may have caused the infection. I never knew scorpions stung other fish, but this species has spines that also protrude from the side of its head, so it may have actually been the culprit.

How long will I have before the mandarin dies?

I couldn’t know that for sure. I would still try to treat it. Maybe methylene blue as a bath instead of the acriflavine, if this could be the result of a sting/aggression injury.

Although, I wonder if he wouldn’t be worse-off than he is if he was suffering from the venom also? I don’t have enough experience with scorpionfish to know exactly how much of a punch they pack.

 

[Adequate]

I couldn’t know that for sure. I would still try to treat it. Maybe methylene blue as a bath instead of the acriflavine, if this could be the result of a sting/aggression injury

I've tried methylene blue in the past, never did anything except stain everything in the same drawer blue. I'll give the Multicure a go, if ineffective, I'll see what my LFS recommends.

Although, I wonder if he wouldn’t be worse-off than he is if he was suffering from the venom also? I don’t have enough experience with scorpionfish to know exactly how much of a punch they pack.

Idk if the side spines are venomous, but he doesn't appear swollen or anything.

Edit: I've just dosed Multicure into the tank and set up a divider between the scorpion and mandarins to prevent future incidents like these. Will monitor closely.

 

[Adequate]

Edit 2: Upon further observation, it seems one or two tiny circular areas of skin are absent, so my hypothesis that the scorpion is the culprit is fairly likely. Also the mandarin swam under the barrier just to huddle with the scorpion, so judging by how much time they spend together when inactive, this might be the case.

 

[Adequate]

Edit 3: he’s dead