White Sores on Wrasse

[scsinet]

My Red Coris Wrasse has been getting white sores on his body. The spots are maybe 1/8" in diameter, maybe several scales across, and round. It almost looks maybe less like sores and more like discolored scales, but we'll call them sores. The sores are appearing along the top of his body, right at the base of his fins. The fins directly above the sores are slightly frayed.
At the same time, his abdomen is swollen right above the anus. Although the swelling seems to have gone down somewhat, it's still bad, and the scales around the swelling are discolored there as well.
Every morning when he emerges from the substrate, he has one more sore along his fins. He is up to three sores on one side and one on the other.
This is screaming "bacterial" to me, and the LFS sold me Seachem Metronidazole, as a bacterial treatment. I medicated some food last night and fed it to the Wrasse, but he had another sore this morning.
So far, this problem has not affected the fish's behavior in any way. He is actively swimming, eating, etc, so I know I have time, but I am not even sure if I am treating this problem properly because I have no idea what he has, and the Metroidazole is not very specific as to what it treats. I am wary of cure-alls, but they swear by it. Nobody has been able to tell me what he's got, and none of the books or resources I have describe the symptoms.
Any help would be appreciated!

 

[beth]

Any chance of posting a picture? Is this attached to the fish, or just discoloration. Use a magnifying glass to see the details.

 

[scsinet]

My camera is at work, I'll grab it tomorrow morning. Hopefully can get him to hold still long enough.
It's nothing attached the fish... nothing like anchor worms, flukes, etc. They almost look like white pits in the skin, although when looking close, you can still see the scales. One of the other things I noticed is that the spots are symmetic on both sides of the fish. In other words, along the top of the fish where his body is relatively thin, the spots appear opposite each other on both sides of the fish.
What's interesting is that the spots never get any worse during the day. When he emerges from the substrate each morning, every day since I've noticed the swelling in his abdomen, he has gained a sore (he's up to four), but the sores do not change in number, appearance, etc during the day.
I've read that this type of thing is supposedly common in wrasses because they pick up baddies from the substrate at night. Unfortunately, none of the sites mention how to fix it or if/what type of bacteria it is (gram pos, gram neg, etc), so I'm afraid I'm just shooting in the dark as this thing progresses and precious time is wasted.

 

[beth]

Is this a juvenile fish? Is it the natural transformation of the fish from juvi to adult?

 

[scsinet]

No, it's an adult specimen. There is also clear fin damage near the spots and/or swelling.
I attached the best picture I could make. I wish I had my Rebel handy, but I had to make due with a crap camera. I circled the spots along the top, the fin damage, and the swollen abdomen, even though the latter is not visible in the picture.
The spots along the top that are circled are symmetric; there are spots on the other side opposite these.
This morning, the Wrasse had not gained a sore as described above for the first time since I've noticed it. I;m hoping the antibiotics are working, but I think it's too close to call yet.

 

[beth]

Do you have a cycled QT to treat this fish with antibiotics? If so, you can use Maracyn Two for SW fish.

 

[scsinet]

My cycled QT is in use with two new arrivals, but I have another 10g tank I can set up and just treat with Prime and do water changes on, plus I have some ceramic rings on standby in the sump that I can use.
I've been medicating his food with the seachem product described above. Would you say that if the sores stop appearing that he is on the mend and I can just continue with this method until the existing sores disappear? Of course, my Sailfin and Volitan are always competing for the medicated food, so sometimes they get a piece. Does the antibiotic treatments adversely affect healthy fish?

 

[beth]

I am always very hesitant to suggest that a hobbyist use an uncycled Qt for antibiotic treatment. Obviously the antibiotics kills the biofilter, and in this case, the biofilter will never even begin.
If you are diligent with water quality, it may be ok. If you can do a water change just before each re-dose, that would be best. And if you can run carbon filtration for 1 hr just before the next re-dose, that would be very good [but only for 1 hr just prior to re-dose].
Of course, use water from your display to setup the Qt. Try not to net the fish, rather herd him into a submerged zip-lock. Up water circulation in the QT to a level that is still comfortable for the fish.

 

[scsinet]

Okay. I will get some Maracyn Two tomorrow and get this started. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

 

[scsinet]

Well... I'm afraid this might be another case of aquarist-that-makes-things-more-complicated-than-they-have-to-be.
As I was attempting to coax the wrasse into a collection cup, I my juv. snowflake cornered him, clamped down (exactly on one of the sore spots) and just threw the wrasse a beating! I've never seen nor would I have ever expected a tiny eel to take on a wrasse this size. The wrasse just went limp like he was dead. I had to reach down with my hand and convince the eel I was more appetizing. Once the eel was clamped down on my finger I just pulled out of the tank and let him drop into the container when he let go.
SO, long story short (or short by MY definition), the eel is now in the QT I had set up for the wrasse and the wrasse is very shaken, but puttering around again in the main tank. Looking at things now, I think it's most likely that my first instinct (physical trauma) was correct, so I'm just going to leave the wrasse in the main tank where he has substrate and hiding places to heal. I figure less stress = quicker mend. I'm going to leave the eel in the QT, and if the wrasse heals up, obviously we've found the problem, so I'll sell the eel. If the wrasse continues to degenernate, then it was probably cooincidence and I'll swap them and begin maracide treatment.
I ended up going to a different LFS than I usually go to. The owner at that store suggested that the eel was at fault. It seemed strange that my sailfin tang had not experienced any problems, but he suggested that perhaps the eel was digging in the substrate and night and catching the wrasse asleep. This would also explain why the trauma seems to appear very suddenly overnight (notournal eel). Maybe he's right. To be honest, looking back, this seems to have started around the same time I added the eel (wishing there was an emoticon to convey my sense of selt-stupidity).

Anyhoo, I'll post my results as time goes on. Thanks Beth so far.

 

[beth]

Wow, what a story. Brave of you to take the bite for the wrasse. Be sure to put antiseptic on your finger and neosporan.