Diagnosis Assistance - Cirrhilabrus balteatus

kmwcane · May 8, 2023

Hello everyone! Quick background on my issue: I acquired 3 wrasses (the above referenced balteatus along with a golden rhomboid and McCosker's flasher) on Friday and placed them all in the same 40 gallon breeder aquarium for observation and quarantine. The golden rhomboid and McCosker's flasher are both doing fine with no discernable issues.

However, as you can see from the attached pictures, the balteatus wrasse has what I can best describe as a thick white slime on some areas of its body. I noticed a small area when the fish arrived but it is much more pronounced today. The fish is eating well and swimming around when I approach the aquarium. Any ideas what the issue might be and what would be a good treatment? I have not yet begun my QT treatment protocol so there are no medications currently in the water. Please let me know if additional information would be helpful and I will provide. I apologize for the low quality pictures, I will try for better pics shortly but I wanted to get this out to the community as quickly as possible in case anyone had input.

vetteguy53081 · May 8, 2023

kmwcane said:
Hello everyone! Quick background on my issue: I acquired 3 wrasses (the above referenced balteatus along with a golden rhomboid and McCosker's flasher) on Friday and placed them all in the same 40 gallon breeder aquarium for observation and quarantine. The golden rhomboid and McCosker's flasher are both doing fine with no discernable issues.

However, as you can see from the attached pictures, the balteatus wrasse has what I can best describe as a thick white slime on some areas of its body. I noticed a small area when the fish arrived but it is much more pronounced today. The fish is eating well and swimming around when I approach the aquarium. Any ideas what the issue might be and what would be a good treatment? I have not yet begun my QT treatment protocol so there are no medications currently in the water. Please let me know if additional information would be helpful and I will provide. I apologize for the low quality pictures, I will try for better pics shortly but I wanted to get this out to the community as quickly as possible in case anyone had input.

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Pics are quite fuzzy but appears to be injury/scrape opposed to bacterial or other. Need clearer pics to verify in case its a treatment issue

kmwcane · May 8, 2023

Thanks Vette. Hopefully the pics below will be more helpful. It definitely does not look like an injury or scrape to me as I see no open wounds - just what appears to be thick white looking slime on certain spots.

Jay Hemdal · May 8, 2023

kmwcane said:
Hello everyone! Quick background on my issue: I acquired 3 wrasses (the above referenced balteatus along with a golden rhomboid and McCosker's flasher) on Friday and placed them all in the same 40 gallon breeder aquarium for observation and quarantine. The golden rhomboid and McCosker's flasher are both doing fine with no discernable issues.

However, as you can see from the attached pictures, the balteatus wrasse has what I can best describe as a thick white slime on some areas of its body. I noticed a small area when the fish arrived but it is much more pronounced today. The fish is eating well and swimming around when I approach the aquarium. Any ideas what the issue might be and what would be a good treatment? I have not yet begun my QT treatment protocol so there are no medications currently in the water. Please let me know if additional information would be helpful and I will provide. I apologize for the low quality pictures, I will try for better pics shortly but I wanted to get this out to the community as quickly as possible in case anyone had input.

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Could be excess mucus from an injury - recently acquired fish often show net damage.
You also want to make sure some other fish isn’t tagging it.
What is your quarantine plan for these fish?
Jay

kmwcane · May 8, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
Could be excess mucus from an injury - recently acquired fish often show net damage.
You also want to make sure some other fish isn’t tagging it.
What is your quarantine plan for these fish?
Jay

I plan on using your current QT protocol; I held off a few days in case I needed to treat with an antibiotic first.

I've watched the tank for a while now and have not seen the other wrasses harassing the fish in question.

kmwcane · May 9, 2023

@Jay Hemdal thanks for your help so far. The wrasses condition seems a bit worse today? Do you think I should treat with antibiotics? I have nitrofurazone on hand. Or should I commence with the copper portion of the QT protocol?

Jay Hemdal · May 9, 2023

kmwcane said:
@Jay Hemdal thanks for your help so far. The wrasses condition seems a bit worse today? Do you think I should treat with antibiotics? I have nitrofurazone on hand. Or should I commence with the copper portion of the QT protocol?

That is a good question - if it is getting worse, then that needs to be dealt with. The issue is most likely bacterial, so antibiotics would be the way to go, nitrofurazone is pretty effective.
However, while on antibiotics, you need to put the whole quarantine process on hold, leaving the fish vulnerable to protozoans.
Jay