What is this on my fire fish?

[Baronen]

had the guy for probably two months now. Grown a bit. Eats pretty well. It looks like blisters on his side. I am just now noticing them. He also has kind of a speckled tail but more worried about the blister things as those are new. They don’t appear to be raised at all

 

[vetteguy53081]

had the guy for probably two months now. Grown a bit. Eats pretty well. It looks like blisters on his side. I am just now noticing them. He also has kind of a speckled tail but more worried about the blister things as those are new. They don’t appear to be raised at all

Looks like nick or injury but also can be bites marks from a tank occupant
What other fish do you have in tank ?
It should heal on its own but keep an eye on it to assure it is healing and becoming an infection.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Purple fire fish are prone to a specific parasitic copepod. The females are most clearly seen when they produce a chain of eggs that extend out of the fish. Male copepods and females without eggs can just create a skin lesion. I can’t be sure that is the issue here, but it could be.
Jay

 

[Baronen]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fungal-infection-on-helfrich’s-firefish.720306/

This looks exactly like my fish. Sent a message to other op for advice. Do you have more info on the copepod thing?? This one is a helfrichi

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fungal-infection-on-helfrich’s-firefish.720306/

This looks exactly like my fish. Sent a message to other op for advice. Do you have more info on the copepod thing?? This one is a helfrichi

It could be a bacterial infection from an injury - external fungal infections of marine fish are almost non-existent, I've only seen a couple in my career.

I don't know if helfrich's can get the copepod, but I bet they do.

Here is an excerpt from my book about them:

The purple firefish, Nemateleotris magnifica has a copepod parasite specific to that species – Serpentisaccus magnificae. Described by George Blasiola in 1979, this parasite is seen on newly imported firefish. The body of the parasite is buried in the flank of the fish, behind the gills, either on one or both sides. When the female copepod develops its egg sacs, these emerge from the fish’s skin as tiny coiled strands. Treatment should not be attempted for this parasite, as the adults are buried too deeply into the body of the fish for physical removal to be done safely, and no known chemotherapeutic will eliminate internal crustacean parasites without also harming the host fish. This copepod is thought to have indirect development with a series of planktonic larval stages, so there is no real concern of the eggs hatching and then fully developing and causing reinfection of the host.

Jay

 

[Baronen]

It could be a bacterial infection from an injury - external fungal infections of marine fish are almost non-existent, I've only seen a couple in my career.

I don't know if helfrich's can get the copepod, but I bet they do.

Here is an excerpt from my book about them:

The purple firefish, Nemateleotris magnifica has a copepod parasite specific to that species – Serpentisaccus magnificae. Described by George Blasiola in 1979, this parasite is seen on newly imported firefish. The body of the parasite is buried in the flank of the fish, behind the gills, either on one or both sides. When the female copepod develops its egg sacs, these emerge from the fish’s skin as tiny coiled strands. Treatment should not be attempted for this parasite, as the adults are buried too deeply into the body of the fish for physical removal to be done safely, and no known chemotherapeutic will eliminate internal crustacean parasites without also harming the host fish. This copepod is thought to have indirect development with a series of planktonic larval stages, so there is no real concern of the eggs hatching and then fully developing and causing reinfection of the host.

Jay

Thank you very much . It’s just strange that my fish looks exactly like that other. I can’t set up another tank due to space. Should I just let this ride?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you very much . It’s just strange that my fish looks exactly like that other. I can’t set up another tank due to space. Should I just let this ride?

Well, if it spreads then it is more likely bacterial….trouble is, you shouldn’t dose your display tank with antibiotics, so without a treatment tank I think you’ll have to see if it can ride it out…..
Jay

 

[Baronen]

Well nothing changed today. It is still there. Maybeee smaller. Definitely not any worse. What causes the cloudy tail? That has been going on for a while and potentially the whole time I’ve had it