Spots on cardinalfish

[ab1988]

Hello everyone,

I just happened to spot three large white raised spots on my cardinalfish. Two on the left side, and one on the right side under the gill cover. The fish does not appear to be struggling to breathe, and is swimming and eating normal. The other fish in my aquarium seem unaffected, and there hasn’t been any additions to the aquarium in about a year. There are no corals, only two cardinalfish, two clownfish, a royal gramma, and a pistol shrimp. Any ideas what it could be? Thanks for any help!

 

[Mjrenz]

Welcome to the forum! Let's ask @ngoodermuth @HotRocks and @4FordFamily to take a look and help you along here

 

[4FordFamily]

Those almost look like abscess’ to me. Too big to be ich. It would be a strange presentation of lymph, but that’s also a possibility.

Any anemones? Perhaps a reaction to a sting?

Did it gradually get this way or seemingly you suddenly notice it (as I suspect based on your post).

 

[ab1988]

Those almost look like abscess’ to me. Too big to be ich. It would be a strange presentation of lymph, but that’s also a possibility.

Any anemones? Perhaps a reaction to a sting?

Did it gradually get this way or seemingly you suddenly notice it (as I suspect based on your post).

No anemones or corals in the aquarium at this time. I noticed them suddenly, however I was out of town for a couple weeks and noticed them when I came back. I described it to my local fish store and they think it may be fungal, however they have not seen any photos of it. They suggested starting a broad spectrum antifungal/antibiotic.

 

[4FordFamily]

No anemones or corals in the aquarium at this time. I noticed them suddenly, however I was out of town for a couple weeks and noticed them when I came back. I described it to my local fish store and they think it may be fungal, however they have not seen any photos of it. They suggested starting a broad spectrum antifungal/antibiotic.

Fungal issues are almost unheard of in marine fish, for what that’s worth.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I had a clownfish develop weird white growths in QT with copper (looked like a beard) antibiotics in the water had no effect but ruby reef rally removed most, and the rest cleared up on it’s own.

Perhaps something stressed him out while you were away, which subsequently lowered his immune system allowing some bacteria or virus latent in the water to take hold.