Pipefish legion? Infection?

Karliah · Jul 25, 2023

Hello. First post in the medical section so please let me know if I’m missing something/did something wrong.
On Saturday, my banded pipefish had what I thought looks like a small abrasion behind its vent/dorsal fin. There was a small patch ever so slightly off color (more white/faded) with just the tiniest little spots of red. He was acting normal and eating and like I said, I thought it was a scratch so I decided to wait and see. It took up about the space of one stripe/band.
Sunday the whiteish/dull area had increased slightly (to about 1.5 stripes/bands) but the red had lessened, tentatively assumed some progress. Still normally active and eating.
Monday no change, still normally active and eating.
Tuesday (right now) it is now 5/5.5 bands and a lot of red. He is laying on the bottom and will not swim. Still breathing.
I will try to do what I can to help him, however, realistically I realize that he might not be around much longer. In either case, I would still like to figure out what this is so I can try to prevent/be prepared for it if there is a next time.
Water @ 1.027 and 77.2F
Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates at 0 as usual (lots of macro) per testing on sunday.
Attaching lower quality zoomed pictures for now. Since he’s not moving, I will try to position him to get better pictures right after posting this.
(also, I realize there’s a typo in the title, it won’t let me edit it)

Karliah · Jul 25, 2023

The red is not showing up as much in the pictures as it does in person.
Also, while moving him, he did put up a bit of a fight, hoping that’s a good sign

vetteguy53081 · Jul 25, 2023

Karliah said:
Hello. First post in the medical section so please let me know if I’m missing something/did something wrong.
On Saturday, my banded pipefish had what I thought looks like a small abrasion behind its vent/dorsal fin. There was a small patch ever so slightly off color (more white/faded) with just the tiniest little spots of red. He was acting normal and eating and like I said, I thought it was a scratch so I decided to wait and see. It took up about the space of one stripe/band.
Sunday the whiteish/dull area had increased slightly (to about 1.5 stripes/bands) but the red had lessened, tentatively assumed some progress. Still normally active and eating.
Monday no change, still normally active and eating.
Tuesday (right now) it is now 5/5.5 bands and a lot of red. He is laying on the bottom and will not swim. Still breathing.
I will try to do what I can to help him, however, realistically I realize that he might not be around much longer. In either case, I would still like to figure out what this is so I can try to prevent/be prepared for it if there is a next time.
Water @ 1.0027 and 77.2F
Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates at 0 as usual (lots of macro) per testing on sunday.
Attaching lower quality zoomed pictures for now. Since he’s not moving, I will try to position him to get better pictures right after posting this.
(also, I realize there’s a typo in the title, it won’t let me edit it)

Like a seahorse, they are susceptible to a couple of issues. Assure first its not due to aggression as they dont do well with tankmates especially due to competition for food being the slower swimmers.
To heal, they must be eating. Im hoping its not a bacterial infection or vibrio which is one of the diseases they get often triggered by warm temps or poor water quality. Not sure what water temp you maintain but the cooler range of 74-77 is best for them.
Triple sulfa or neomyacin are the safest treatments for this specimen

vetteguy53081 · Jul 25, 2023

Karliah said:
The red is not showing up as much in the pictures as it does in person.
Also, while moving him, he did put up a bit of a fight, hoping that’s a good sign

Great pics- This may be vibrio and best treated in water of 68-72 degrees

Karliah · Jul 25, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Like a seahorse, they are susceptible to a couple of issues. Assure first its not due to aggression as they dont do well with tankmates especially due to competition for food being the slower swimmers.
To heal, they must be eating. Im hoping its not a bacterial infection or vibrio which is one of the diseases they get often triggered by warm temps or poor water quality. Not sure what water temp you maintain but the cooler range of 74-77 is best for them.
Triple sulfa or neomyacin are the safest treatments for this specimen

Tank stats are in first post. Its at 77F. Tank mates are a firefish and a saltwater acclimated molly. Never seen any aggression from either. There are also some small hermits that could’ve pinched him I guess, but he was always in the water column, until now.

vetteguy53081 said:
Great pics- This may be vibrio and best treated in water of 68-72 degrees

Thank you I will look into that

vetteguy53081 · Jul 25, 2023

Karliah said:
Tank stats are in first post. Its at 77F. Tank mates are a firefish and a saltwater acclimated molly. Never seen any aggression from either. There are also some small hermits that could’ve pinched him I guess, but he was always in the water column, until now.

Thank you I will look into that

You mentioned typo and wanted to assure you had right numbers. Salinity range 1.021-1.025

Karliah · Jul 25, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
You mentioned typo and wanted to assure you had right numbers. Salinity range 1.021-1.025

Ahh yes I meant a typo in the title: “legion” instead of *Lesion.
But I see now my salinity had a typo as well. I fixed that and it is at 1.027.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 25, 2023

Karliah said:
Ahh yes I meant a typo in the title: “legion” instead of *Lesion.
But I see now my salinity had a typo as well. I fixed that and it is at 1.027.

Salinity needs to come down- recommend 1.024

Jay Hemdal · Jul 25, 2023

Karliah said:
Tank stats are in first post. Its at 77F. Tank mates are a firefish and a saltwater acclimated molly. Never seen any aggression from either. There are also some small hermits that could’ve pinched him I guess, but he was always in the water column, until now.

Thank you I will look into that

Seahorses, pipefish and sea dragons are also prone to external Uronema, a protozoan infection. Trouble is, there is no way to tell this apart visually from a bacterial infection, you need to do a skin scrape and look at it under a microscope.
There is no easy treatment for Uronema, but chloroquine in a treatment tank has shown some promise.

Jay

Karliah · Jul 25, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
Seahorses, pipefish and sea dragons are also prone to external Uronema, a protozoan infection. Trouble is, there is no way to tell this apart visually from a bacterial infection, you need to do a skin scrape and look at it under a microscope.
There is no easy treatment for Uronema, but chloroquine in a treatment tank has shown some promise.

Jay

Thank you. Don’t have a microscope otherwise I would try this.