My fish grew a beard, looks like it is dying

[PookieGV]

i have a small clownfish that has grown a nasty looking beard. The fish is in qt and was being treated with copper for a few weeks when this started.

Started as a tiny brown spot and then grew into the barnacle looking bump that you can see in the first picture.

The bump seemed to change into a fuzzy goatee. Started as a bluish grey and now has changed to black. I have been treating with metroplex+Kanaplex+furan 2 but it looks like it is getting worse.

I gave him a freshwater dip today (seemed to help last week) and was able to get the second picture and the video. In the video, you can see that it has spread to the upper lip.

Could this be fungal? Any other ideas beside continuing to treat as bacterial?

There was one other strange thing that occurred just prior to this all starting. I found a really tiny shell in the tank. The shape reminded me of a very tiny verity or pyramid snail. I also was setting up a nano with sand around the same time and assumed i must have been sloppy and the shell was stuck to my fingers. Likely nothing, just thought i would mention it.

 

[Brad Miller]

Looks like he got stung by a coral to me or black ich?

 

[PookieGV]

It has been alone in the qt since i brought it home about 4 weeks ago. It used to attack the plastic string i used to feed, my guess is that it could have scratched its face on the plastic.

 

[Brad Miller]

Someone else may be able to tell you how to help him...I like the beard though

 

[PookieGV]

Thanks for trying to help. I liked him better without the beard.

 

[PookieGV]

I looked at some of the beard that came off during the dip under a microscope. It has a cotton ball like texture.

 

[MTBake]

I looked at some of the beard that came off during the dip under a microscope. It has a cotton ball like texture.

Sounds like it could be fungal. I've never seen anything like that though.

Let's get some more experienced eyes on this
@HotRocks @4FordFamily @Humblefish

 

[4FordFamily]

I am truly stumped on this.

I’ll page Humblefish

 

[PookieGV]

And..... it’s dead.

I tried Pimafix as a last resort. He had not eaten in 10 days, so i don’t know how much could have been done at this point. I took a close look at the body and his lip and chin look deformed, like whatever this was did physical damage to his face.

 

[Brad Miller]

Cancel the doctor, the patient is deceased...
Sorry to hear that

 

[Humblefish]

Sorry I'm late. I've seen something similar develop on clownfish (on their "chin"), but never this severe. Kanaplex + Metroplex for 10-14 days will usually clear it, suggesting the growths are bacterial in nature.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[PookieGV]

Thanks to everyone for trying. I think i waited a bit too long before getting aggressive with treatment.

 

[4FordFamily]

Sorry for your loss. As someone that’s learned this lesson many times and again recently— with bacterial infections treating immediately is imperative. Every minute matters.

But we don’t always know in time. Sorry again for the loss

 

[Katrina71]

I'm sorry you lost him

 

[Katrina71]

Would y'all suspect a gram negative bacteria? Just curious

 

[Humblefish]

Would y'all suspect a gram negative bacteria? Just curious

It's possible; clownfish would probably be able to survive longer with gram negative bacteria eating away at them due to their incredibly thick mucous coat.

 

[Spinal Compass]

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Your fish has the same symptoms?

There is a rare external fungal disease that causes dark fuzzy growths like this. You need a microscope to confirm that though.
I’ve been able to treat this with 1 hour formalin dips with good aeration at 100 ppm.