[rchilder]

I purchased 3 fish from my lfs 2 weeks ago and after a few hours of drip acclimation, added them to my 90 gal, fowlr, deep sand bed tank. Within 24 hours, I noticed several small white spots on the head of the Gold Band Wrasse. In the next 24 hrs, they had grown into small pill-shaped ovals, about 2-3 mm long, and a large white spot appeared on the upper lip. Over the next 24 hrs, the white areas on the head fell off and left open sores/lesions. Also the whole upper lip turned white and swelled to about 2-3 times normal size. The Wrass stopped eating and laid on the substrate most of the day. When he wasn't lying at the bottom, he was swimming up and down the glass in apparent panic/distress. Over the next few days, the lesions did not heal and remained open sores. The white on the upper lip also fell off/went away and the whole area deteriorated into a large open sore. I did a 7 minute freshwater dip and returned it to the main tank where he went straight to the bottom and hid under the live rock. He never resumed eating and was dead less then 24 hrs later. He was dead in less than 1 week after the first visible signs of ailment.

I mourned the loss for a few days and then returned to the lfs where they stated no fish had come back recently with any problems and they were unable to offer any ideas as to what killed it. I hoped that the problem was isolated and kept an eye on the remaining fish. Two days ago, almost 1 week after the death of the Wrasse, I noticed a small white spot on the lower lip of the new Blue Chin Trigger. Over the last 2 days, the spot has doubled in size and covers almost 1/2 of the lower lip. If this is the same ailment, it appears to be progressing much more slowly. The Trigger is still eating normally and does not appear to be in distress. The spot on his lip is pretty much identical to the ones on the Wrasse. I've included a few pictures of the Trigger, but it's not easy to make out the area of concern. I'll try to get better pics if it will help the diagnosis.

Any suggestions on identification/treatment? I only have 5 other fish in my tank at this point, but don't want to lose them all! (Of course.) I've only been in the Saltwater hobby for a little more than a year and have tried to be very cautious with my setup. This lesson is teaching me the hard way about the necessity of a QT system.