White ulcer on tailspot blenny

[Reedc200177]

Hi,

Got a tailspot blenny from what I thought was a reputable source and introduced him to my tank on Thursday. Normal behavior, eating well. No obvious outside lesions, etc.

Saturday morning I noticed what appeared to be a white "pimple" on the side of his head. When I got up today, the pimple had been replaced with a larger white ulcer. He doesn't behave like anything is wrong with him and so far it's the only lesion.

Any ideas? I would do a water change but I'm currently halfway through a fluconazole treatment for bryopsis that seems to be working well. Ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates 10ppm

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi,

Got a tailspot blenny from what I thought was a reputable source and introduced him to my tank on Thursday. Normal behavior, eating well. No obvious outside lesions, etc.

Saturday morning I noticed what appeared to be a white "pimple" on the side of his head. When I got up today, the pimple had been replaced with a larger white ulcer. He doesn't behave like anything is wrong with him and so far it's the only lesion.

Any ideas? I would do a water change but I'm currently halfway through a fluconazole treatment for bryopsis that seems to be working well. Ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates 10ppm

Looks like a bacterial ulcer. Furunculosis disease, caused by Aeromonas bacteria is one possibility. A water change won't hurt, but it also won't really cure this on its own.

Some bacterial infections are self-limiting, they grow to a certain size, then the fish's defenses get ramped up, the ulcer will gradually shrink. In other cases, the fish isn't able to fight it off and you would need to treat with antibiotics in a hospital tank. Catching this little guy is going to be next to impossible, so you may just need to see if it can ride it out....

Jay