blue damselfish

Scott Blackburn · 07-02-2001, 09:14 PM

I have a Blue Damselfish that has developed some sort of white growth on the upper part of his mouth? The fish looked real good when I brought him home and was eating well at my LFS, but I noticed that the first day or two in my tank he was picking at the rock. For the last three days he has been hiding in a cave. My question is could he have injured himself picking at the rock? And do you think if I give him a few more days this may heal up? The fish looks otherwise healthy with good color. I bought a damselfish because I have a 12 gallon reef tank that has been set up for about 2 weeks and wanted to get a very hardy fish so that the chances of it dieing and polluting the tank would be fairly slim. My water quality is very good and all inverts seem to be doing well.

Alice · 07-03-2001, 01:39 AM

Hi there;

Was he picking at the rock or scratching on it? Chances are that he has a secondary infection from a wound either way. Keep a close eye on him and let us know how it goes. Treating fish in a reef is a risky proposition; you may need to set up a Q-tank, which can be as simple as a bucket and an airstone or sponge filter. Ideally, the spong filter has been in your main tank developing denitrifying bacteria but if that's not the case, just fill the bucket with tank water. Treatment for this type of infection isn't nearly as long as for ich so you should be able to maintain him in the bucket with just a water change or two with water from your main tank.

Did I just confuse you more than I've helped you? LOL...it's getting late

Scott Blackburn · 07-03-2001, 07:28 AM

Thanks for the reply. I guess the only problem is getting him out without destroying my aquascaping.

Alice · 07-04-2001, 08:59 PM

Any luck with your damsel?

Scott Blackburn · 07-05-2001, 10:42 AM

Unfortunately no. The growth got much worse and yesterdsay morning the fish died. What really makes me mad is that I went back to my LFS and asked about the health of the fish in their tanks, there response was that they had no problems. Upon further investigation of the store I noticed one dead percula in one tank and some not so healthy fish in another. I also looked at the tank that my damsel came out of and its stock had gone down condsiderably (probably 10 or 15 Damsel less in 4 or 5 days). I am not sure but I would suspect that the fish in this establishment are not real healthy. Needless to say I think it will be my last purchase there. The bad part about that is that I need to travel 1 hour to get to a decent aquarium store.