I just had a Royal Gramma die after caring for the fish for months with no signs of disease. The fish died within 24 hours after I noticed it acting distressed. After it died, it had what appeared to be the outline of a bite mark on its side, but the bite mark was about five times the size of the mouth of any fish I have in the tank with it. It also appeared the fins, most notably the dorsal and tail fin, had deteriorated. Yesterday, when I saw the fish acting distressed, a melanaurus wrasse appeared to be biting near the wound. It may possible that the wrasse did a series of bites that caused the wound on the side of the royal gramma. Could it be possible that the wrasse was trying to eat something on the royal gramma, i.e. pests or parasites?
Now my concern with velvet is that I have a tomini tang that appears to have very small white marks on his body and his pectoral fins. I noticed these several days ago and thought that they may just be scratches, which I still am not ruling out. My concern is that this could be velvet and that the royal gramma could have died due to velvet, despite showing no physical signs of the parasite. I have had the tang for about six months. The most recent fish I have added to the tank is a starry blenny, which I added about a month ago. The blenny is in good health and is showing no signs of any diseases or parasites, so I am very confident that it did not introduce any parasites.
My main question is if marine velvet or any other disease can spring up in a closed system, not via the introduction of a new fish? I have not been able to find an answer to this. Any feedback would be appreciated, and I apologize for not having photos, I know that would be helpful. Thank you for your time.
Thanks,
Josh
Now my concern with velvet is that I have a tomini tang that appears to have very small white marks on his body and his pectoral fins. I noticed these several days ago and thought that they may just be scratches, which I still am not ruling out. My concern is that this could be velvet and that the royal gramma could have died due to velvet, despite showing no physical signs of the parasite. I have had the tang for about six months. The most recent fish I have added to the tank is a starry blenny, which I added about a month ago. The blenny is in good health and is showing no signs of any diseases or parasites, so I am very confident that it did not introduce any parasites.
My main question is if marine velvet or any other disease can spring up in a closed system, not via the introduction of a new fish? I have not been able to find an answer to this. Any feedback would be appreciated, and I apologize for not having photos, I know that would be helpful. Thank you for your time.
Thanks,
Josh