Clown Goby Melting- Please Help!

[CMG]

I woke up and found my clown goby like this, it appears to be shedding its tissue in varous places. Bad pic, sorry, I will try for another closer one after work:




I did a water change on sat.
Testing from yesterday:
Calcium 420-440 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Salinity 1.026
PH 8.3
Alk 5.5

[Witfull]

VERY FUZZY. could be secondary bacterial infection.

how long have you had him? other tank mates? more info is better

[rlcline76]

The tissue is coming off, those are not just flesh colored bumps?

[CMG]

Sorry about the info/pics, I was on the way to class then work.

So I have only had him for a week and he has been eating like a champ and acted "normal" to me.

I will try to get better pics tonight after work but I dont know how close tot he glass he will be. Looks Like he has had a sun burn and is peeling. Thats the best way I can describe it. I got T5's about 5 days ago, upgraded from PC, maybe he did actually get a "sun" burn??

His tank mates are a purple dart fish and a cardinal fish. No mean fish at all, they all get a long. I do have a fungia coral and it may have put some mucas coating on him since he likes to perch on it??

I set up a QT tank this morning quickly but he isnt in it yet because it wasnt warm enough and no time to catch him. After work I will try and do that.

I just remembered that these little guys supposedly have a slime coating that protects them from predators so maybe thats what this is. Shedding it off or using it beacuase of stress??

[CMG]

Is there a genral medicine that I can use on a fish that wont hurt the fish if he doesnt have anything wrong with him. Maybe some kind og liquid antibiotic that I can add to a QT tank? Or will it hurt him if nothing is wrong with him?

[CMG]

I forgot to mention that I have a coral banded shrimp, which may or may not be picking on him. He does perch which makes it easy for the shrimp to get to him so perhaps he snipped at him a few times...

[leebca]

Information is coming in bits and pieces. Wish I had more info and better photos.

The Coral Banded Shrimp, though very attractive is a predator and has been known to attack fishes. It can be very possessive about its territory, too. Not a good invert choice for a community fish tank, I'm afraid.

Some observations:
Your alkalinity is not balanced with the calcium. Wonder what the magnesium concentration is like?

I have no idea of the tank size, equipment, foods, nor other inhabitants. Was the fish quarantined before putting into the display tank?

The only answer at this point:
Antibiotics made for marine fishes, in a QT will do no harm to the fish if applied properly.

This is a common symptom of brooklynellosis.

[rmlevasseur]

yes, based on your description and some clowns I recently had with broolynella, i'd concur with leebca.

However, I don't agree that QT and antibiotics is the only answer at this point w/o a clearer shot of this fish. If it is still eating, I'd rule out the other non-disease related possibilities first. Leebca very well might be spot on, but if the fish is still eating and the other fish don't seem affected, I'd try some treated food and perhaps removal of the coral banded first. If you do have a diseased tank, all the fish might need QT, and the display would have to run fallow for quite a while to remove the disease. Probably not a step you want to make hastily.

[rlcline76]

I don't think it is the coral banded shrimp. I have seen injuries inflicted by those and they do now resemble a skin sloughing issue. That is just me, though.

I've seen clown gobies get sick...how are the other tank inhabitants?

I have also seen skin issues with poisoning. What test kits are you using (I apologize if this was covered, I am doing a quick browse through the posts). I see that the nitrites and nitrates are in a good position, but I would still have wondered if there was ever an ammonia reading in the recent past.

Although, rushing all the kids out of the pool might seem hasty...this clown goby would probably benefit from an antibacterial treatment in QT. I use MelaFix and a good diet.

[BoomerD]

I agree with the tentative diagnosis of brooklynellosis. It's a NASTY parasitical disease that, in spite of the name, "Clownfish Disease," can affect most, if not all marine fishes. Here's more info for the OP. Maybe it will help with a solid diagnosis:

BrooklynellosisArt

ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site - Reference - Brooklynellosis

Treatment of Brooklynellosis(Brookynella) - Reef-Fanatics.com - The Authority In Coral Reef Keeping And Saltwater Aquariums

Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Aquarium Fish: Applications for Hyposalinity Therapy: The Benefits of Salinity Manipulation for Marine Fish

[CMG]

Ok, thank you to everyone for posting on this I really appriciate it. I want to appologize for my spazastic posts and information, it was one of those mondays.

I honestly do not think it was the coral banded shrimp. Last night the skin peeling that I saw in the morning semed to be gone, almost as if he had molted or maybe there was just some goop on him?

He is eating fine. None of the other 2 fish have anything wrong with them that I can see and they are eating fine too. Perhaps I just jumped the gun on him being sick and he is fine? I will continue to watch him and I actually did try to catch him last night and put him in the QT but he is so little and can hide so well that I cant get to him. He is also very friendly so if I gently poke him with my finger to get him to come out of a crevise he doesnt care, he just sits there and lets me "pet" him! I was almost able to catch him in this way with my hand! he is not swimming near the surface at all and does not appear to be breathing abnormaly.

I am using API and Seachem testing kits. The tank is 40g.

Anyways, I will read up on Boomers posts and when I see the tank tonight will try and determine by his apperance what my next move will be. Liek I said, perhaps I just freaked for no reason. Thank you again for your help and recomendation on medication products.

[rlcline76]

Keep us updated!

[leebca]

Robert especially, please read my post carefully. I gave no recommendations. I usually don't unless the poster has provided enough information and/or good photos. However in this case, CMG did ask a question I could reply to:

Is there a genral medicine that I can use on a fish that wont hurt the fish if he doesnt have anything wrong with him. Maybe some kind og liquid antibiotic that I can add to a QT tank? Or will it hurt him if nothing is wrong with him?

and that's what I addressed.

[CMG]

After seeing him this morning I have pretty much concluded that I am an idiot...

Watching him swim around I can see that pieces of substrate and other misc stuff get stuck to him and then later fall off from turbulance. At first glance it seems strange that things would just stick to a fish but in reading my Marine Fish's book it says that they have a special coating to deter others from eating them, so perhaps this is what the stuff is sticking to. Or, since he perches on everything and most corals, mushrooms, polyps secrete mucus type coatings, he is getting that on him and then stuff is sticking to that.

Here are some pics from this morning....

[CMG]

BWUAAAAAAAAAAA

My little fishy died! I came home after work today to find him being eaten by my snail!!!! He was eating fine and swimming around fine but I guess that white peeling stuff was bad after all. IT was wierd because one day he would be his natural green color then the next day white again. He was eating fine and everything. So confusing.