White on parrotfish dorsal

[Areseebee]

I've had a quoyi parrotfish for probably a month at this point. I got it from DD and didn't QT it for all types of reasons that don't hold up to scrutiny. He seems very healthy, eats great, pecks at the rocks all day and eats anything I feed. He shares the tank with 2 clowns, a starry blenny and 3 lyretail anthias, nobody has had any signs of anything and everyone seems very healthy. Tank is running roughly 4 months, fish for roughly 3. Haven't really lost anything yet. Parameters are normal across the board.

My Parrot this afternoon has 2 or 3 little white spiky things on his dorsal. To me it kind of looks like he injured it but I'm not sure. He's more or less the king of the tank, the blenny tried to get a little aggressive when he first was added but he never paid the blenny any attention. Was hoping for an expert opinion on it.

 

[melypr1985]

Can you get a little clearer photo? It looks like a white lump growing on the dorsal, but that's not what you described. Does it look like cauliflower growing on his dorsal?

 

[Areseebee]

I'll try now... it's more like little spines.

 

[Areseebee]

Here's one. In the picture he's moving fast... the problem is whenever I come up to the glass he comes to see me so I can only get front on shots. So since he's moving fast everything looks stringier and fuzzier. I circled the fins I'm worried about, I also circled a tiny white spot for two reasons: I didn't notice it before and that's what a single dot looks like in this picture... like a white line.

 

[melypr1985]

Ok. It's hard to tell much from these pictures, but this one is a bit clearer. It could be many things.... an injury, infection, ick, the beginning of lympho.

What will narrow it down is the symptoms that he exhibits. Please read these carefully and think hard. Watch him carefully from a few feet away.

Heavy breathing, lethargy, lack of appetite, hiding from the light, swimming into the flow of a powerhead, flashing or scratching, yawning, head twitching, white spots that come and go after several days, or anything else that seems out of character.

 

[Areseebee]

Here's another one. I circled ones that look accurate to what I actually see. They all kind of look like that.

 

[Areseebee]

Ok, I'll watch him carefully. Thanks for that great list. Some ideas on there I wasn't looking out for.

However, I haven't seen any symptoms. Definitely no flashing or swimming into powerheads but I'll spend more time looking for that. He's a really smooth swimmer so if I saw him move like that I think it'd really stick out. He's eating great, both when I feed and he's constantly picking at the rocks. He habitually only comes out in the light and during the day never hides. The lights just turned off and I saw him go right to his sleeping spot, but today he was out constantly after waking up. He has his normal white sandy poops. I'll pay extra attention to the white spots. One of my clowns did have a slight lympho two months ago or so but it went away quick and hadn't seen it since.

 

[melypr1985]

A wait and see approach will be fine here. Just watch him and the spots and report back if anything develops. Hopefully he can resolve it on his own without interference.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

What size tank is it in? Parrots get fairly large and need as much live rock in a tank as possible... how often do you see it grazing? Regarding the pictures, I wouldn't worry about him too much... he could have easily scrapped himself up against a rock and got a small injury like that.

 

[4FordFamily]

I have a bunch it's an injury or lymph based on location.

 

[Areseebee]

Thanks as always for your help, he's a fantastic fish and I don't want to panic and do more harm then good!

What size tank is it in? P.arrots get fairly large and need as much live rock in a tank as possible... how often do you see it grazing? Regarding the pictures, I wouldn't worry about him too much... he could have easily scrapped himself up against a rock and got a small injury like that.

He's in a 180g. He's constantly grazing during the day and eats 3 meals a day. He runs and sleeps in the rock work every night so I'm hoping he just scraped it last night

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Hopefully so.. if it gets any worse, I'd qt (with as much LR as possible) and possibly treat with an antibiotic to be 100% safe. Any broad range would work fine.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

^The rock of course wouldn't be able to be used in a dt again*

 

[Areseebee]

Of course, that was the logic that initially had me skip QT with him actually. I worried he wouldn't do well in a small QT without mature LR. Sure enough, after an afternoon of hiding, he exclusively picked at LR for the first 2 weeks or so However, as soon as I added the Anthias, whicht furiously attacked at feeding time (my clowns are pretty laid back), that immediately triggered it in him too. Now I feel like if pressed I could keep him healthy with feedings alone if I had to.

 

[Areseebee]

Seemingly 100% today, no white stuff. Best picture I could get with my phone of him with his dorsal displayed. Thanks for the advice! As a bonus you an see my anemone disposing of a shrimp molt in the background.