Help please! Pink "blush" (bruise?) on yellow wrasse (pics)

keri

Active Member
Ok, sorry about the poor quality of pics, this is the one fish i can NOT get a clear shot on, bugger moves too fast!
Noticed tonight a couple of pinkish bruise looking spots (one bigger one smaller very faint) seems to be colour Under the scales and not yet affecting the "texture' of the scales themselves. He is still super bright and quite hungry, acting normally. he's been in the tank since march 7th with no issues other than a tiny wound on his mouth (probably from netting) which cleared in a day. it's a 65 gallon reef with coral, inverts, 2 false percs, a scooter blennie and a LMB. No anemones to sting him other than 2 Tiny aiptasia that keep eluding my needle.
He (very eagerly) eats "marine cuisine" frozen food, frozen mysis and brine (brine just as a treat) and Formula one maine pellets, made by "ocean nutrition"
Tank has been up and running 3 months, params are listed below:
Salinity: 1025 (refractometer)
Temp:78
Calcium: 405
PH: 8.2
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5 (it may actually be a touch lower but there is no "in-between" on my test, the colour is slightly lighter than the 5 but not 0)
I've been running a filter with carbon (changed every 2 weeks) and a skimmer, 3 powerheads 80lbs LS and 75+lbs LR.
Can anyone point me in the right direction? Could this be a bacterial infection even though the scales do not seem to be involved?
(BTW there is no aggression between the fishes, the false percs and wrasse are buds)


 

lion_crazz

Active Member
Looks like it could be bacterial to me. If anything, I would increase the feedings first, and make sure fresh garlic and vitamins go into every feeidng. If it does not clear up on its own, you should probably think about treating it. I suspect it will clear up on its own, though. Wrasses are tough fish.
 

keri

Active Member
thank you for your reply! i've kinda been on pins and needles and maybe (somewhat) understand those ppl who bump their own post!
I'm a garlic-virgin! ack! I'll go "search" for it.
As for vitamins... I live in like the boonies, our LFS has some fish...salt...a hydrometer... (you get the picture) so that will have to wait till I can get into the city. :( It's good that he's still hungry, right? Is this something they can get over with just better nutrition or will I have to (ha ha yeah right) catch him and put him in my QT?
I'll write the ingredients of my frozen marine cuisine:
Artemia Franciscana, krill, mysis, menhaden oil, astaxanthin, sodium alginate, spirulina, Vitamin premix: wheat flour, Vitamin A acetate, cholecalciferol (source of vitamin D3), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfate complex, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, inositol, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, betaine, d-alpha mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E)
and the ocean nutrition formula one pellets
Shrimp, plankton, sardine, soybean, wheat flour, salmon egg oil, lecithin, spirulina, fish oil, minerals (calcium chloride, potassium iodide, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, magnesium carbonate, zinc sulfate), garlic, MPAX (Marine Protein Amino eXtract: fish meals, hydrolysate's, select amino acids (arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, cystine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine)), vitamins (stabilized vitamin C, biotin, beta carotene, cyanocobalamin, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, vitamin E), preservatives (ethoxyquin, potassium sorbate), amino acids (dl- methionine, L-lysine), carotenoid pigments (astaxanthin, canthaxanthin), and beta glucan.
 

nacl freak

Member
Check out Beth's post on bacterial infections at the top of the disease and treatment threads! If it is bacterial you need to start treatment ASAP!
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
He has a bacterial infection it looks like. This usually requires treatment with antibiotics in a quarantine tank. It can not be treated in a display tank. Try doing a water change using well mixed salt water, and feed the fish meaty foods soaked in fresh garlic 3x a day. Vitamins are not really going to help.
Don't use antibiotics in your display tank, or any medications for that matter.
If you live too far out to make going to fish store's convenient, it may be worth stocking up a bit on what you might need. When I lived in Key West, their was not much available. At that point, I started getting most supplies online. Cheaper and you can find exactly what you need.
 

keri

Active Member
well, he looks about the same, still zippin' around eating like a pig.
Did an 8 gallon water change today and we're hoping to take the ferry over to the city tomorrow. Going to look up meds...anyone have any suggestions/experiences?
(we're in canada so all the drugs may not be available) ALSO....I work in a vet clinic so if it's a prescription drug I may be able to order it in.
I've thought about stocking meds "just in case" but it's always when I'm allready in town and I don't want to just buy what the LFS recommends without asking about it first on here. My mistake. Any suggestions for a "first aid kit" would be appreciated. (Probably no copper though. I don't want to ruin my QT tank as I put inverts in there on occasion)
I found this under "pop-eye" in Beth's diseases and treatments thread, but there isn't one specifically called "bacterial infections" - is that what I'm looking at?
Maracyn–Two or Nitrofurazone are the two meds of choice here.
Treatment: Using Maracyn-Two; Maracyn is Minocycline and comes in fresh and saltwater formulas. Both are the same medicine with one exception, the saltwater formula contains B vitamins that are hard to consume when the fish is exposed to the antibiotic, thus the addition of the B vitamin. A broad-spectrum antibiotic for internal or external gram negative bacterial infections. Effective treatment of fin and tail rot, popeye, gill disease, dropsy, bleeding or red streaks, secondary and internal infections. Effective even when fish won't eat.
Use the Maracyn-Two at the double dose each and every day for 7 to 10 days if the infection appears to be internal, 5 to 7 days for external. A small water change before each dose is recommended because the organics in the water can inactivate the antibiotics.
NITROFURAZONE is bactericidal for many gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria causing disease in fresh water and marine fishes. This antibacterial is effective for control of Aeromonas, Vibrio and related species. Nitrofurazone is particularly useful for control of minor topical skin infections of marine fishes that have not become systemic (internal).
Using Nitrofurazone (Furacyn): Dose 30 to 40mg/gal in quarantine only. Dose on the first day only and leave the fish in the treated water 3 to 5 days. Feed lightly.
Thanks all!
 

keri

Active Member
Well...
We ferried/drove to Vancouver,. searched the LFS's for Maracyn-two - turns out Health Canada pulled it off the shelves a while back - lucked out and found somewhere who didn't listen to that, bought net, drove/ferried home inserted net in tank only to see yellow wrasse say "

[hr]
you" and head'er into the rocks.
This is going to be interesting.
 

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by Keri
http:///forum/post/2538627
Well...
We ferried/drove to Vancouver,. searched the LFS's for Maracyn-two - turns out Health Canada pulled it off the shelves a while back - lucked out and found somewhere who didn't listen to that, bought net, drove/ferried home inserted net in tank only to see yellow wrasse say "

[hr]
you" and head'er into the rocks.
This is going to be interesting.
Maracyn 2 for FW fish will work as well, use double the dose. In my "medicine kit", I have Formalin, Maracyn 2 for SW fish, and Cupramine. I don't plan on using any of them. I bought small amounts of them, just in case. If they go into the garbage, ah well, at least I was/am prepared.
 

keri

Active Member
We actually found somewhere that didn't know it wasn't legal to sell here (or didn't care?*shrug* I didn't inform them, other ppl might need it)
either way I have meds, I have QT....but no fish yet lol and he's going to go to bed soon anyhow, he's always in the sand way before lights out
Formalin! That's the one I forgot. I actually have some of that at work (we send histo samples away in formalin) but I unno if I'd use it at that strength, maybe I'll just wait till i can go back to town....HOPEFULLY I won't need that TOO just yet! Thanks Sepulatian!
 

keri

Active Member
well I can't catch him but the pink are is definately receding, very strange.
With my luck he'll get over this and get ich or something.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
This means that the fish's immune system is beating off the infection. Do very small water changes daily and offer the fish meaty foods soaked in fresh garlic 3x a day following the directions in the info post located in the FAQ thread.
 

keri

Active Member
Awesome, yeah, he really seems to be loving the garlic and food 3xd rather than just 2xd! I'll start some more water too. Thanks :)
 
Top