Scorpionfish Disease ID

[Mickle]

I got this Yellowspotted Scorpionfish on August 2nd. Yesterday was feeding day (It ate on day 1), it refused live food and so I immediately began to worry. I first thought it was gill related disease like flukes, It seemed to be breathing fast for a scorp (67 BPM) but I found a bigger problem today, there is an open wound/discolored patch/hole on its side, no idea how this could've happened or what disease this is. I looked back on previous pics and this discoloration was there but much smaller(just looked like his camouflage). I started looking into Uronema and it sorta matches but could a scorpionfish be infected by it? Ive never had chromis in my tank. If this is a 'normal' bacterial infection by say a small cut, how should I treat it? The wound seems too far gone imo

Only other fish in here is Yellow Watchman Goby and they are the same size so I cant see the injury being from the goby. Ive read every forum post mentioning scorpionfish with disease and what I could gather is, its best to leave scorpionfish alone vs intervene with meds but its hard to do that when it looks so bad. My hopes for its survival are low


August 2nd 2024

August 5th 2024 7pm CT (The pink patch appears)

2 days later.. August 7th 2024

 

[vetteguy53081]

I got this Yellowspotted Scorpionfish on August 2nd. Yesterday was feeding day (It ate on day 1), it refused live food and so I immediately began to worry. I first thought it was gill related disease like flukes, It seemed to be breathing fast for a scorp (67 BPM) but I found a bigger problem today, there is an open wound/discolored patch/hole on its side, no idea how this could've happened or what disease this is. I looked back on previous pics and this discoloration was there but much smaller(just looked like his camouflage). I started looking into Uronema and it sorta matches but could a scorpionfish be infected by it? Ive never had chromis in my tank. If this is a 'normal' bacterial infection by say a small cut, how should I treat it? The wound seems too far gone imo

Only other fish in here is Yellow Watchman Goby and they are the same size so I cant see the injury being from the goby. Ive read every forum post mentioning scorpionfish with disease and what I could gather is, its best to leave scorpionfish alone vs intervene with meds but its hard to do that when it looks so bad. My hopes for its survival are low


August 2nd 2024

August 5th 2024 7pm CT (The pink patch appears)

2 days later.. August 7th 2024

This appears to be a wound and can be from a mechanical injury or bite. What other tank mates are there other than goby?
Best treatment is in a separate tank using seachem Neoplex with added aeration via air stone . Ruby rally pro may work but will take much longer. These fish rarely if ever get uronema. Elevated breathing likely from stress. This is a fish that should be quarantined when acquired

 

[Mickle]

This appears to be a wound and can be from a mechanical injury or bite. What other tank mates are there other than goby?
Best treatment is in a separate tank using seachem Neoplex with added aeration via air stone . Ruby rally pro may work but will take much longer. These fish rarely if ever get uronema. Elevated breathing likely from stress. This is a fish that should be quarantined when acquired

2 species of caulerpa, palythoa, zoas, toadstool coral, GSP, 5 small hermit crabs, 1 mexican turbo, green rhodactis and general micro biodiversity like spaghetti worms. I didnt have a QT setup, its the first fish Ive bought in 2 years. Ill look into Neoplex, is it safe for Scorpionfishes? From my research very few meds are safe

 

[vetteguy53081]

2 species of caulerpa, palythoa, zoas, toadstool coral, GSP, 5 small hermit crabs, 1 mexican turbo, green rhodactis and general micro biodiversity like spaghetti worms. I didnt have a QT setup, its the first fish Ive bought in 2 years. Ill look into Neoplex, is it safe for Scorpionfishes? From my research very few meds are safe

Yes on neoplex but safer is General cure. I dont see any occupants to cause damage but a possibility is netting damage from the place of purchase especially if the tank had rocks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I got this Yellowspotted Scorpionfish on August 2nd. Yesterday was feeding day (It ate on day 1), it refused live food and so I immediately began to worry. I first thought it was gill related disease like flukes, It seemed to be breathing fast for a scorp (67 BPM) but I found a bigger problem today, there is an open wound/discolored patch/hole on its side, no idea how this could've happened or what disease this is. I looked back on previous pics and this discoloration was there but much smaller(just looked like his camouflage). I started looking into Uronema and it sorta matches but could a scorpionfish be infected by it? Ive never had chromis in my tank. If this is a 'normal' bacterial infection by say a small cut, how should I treat it? The wound seems too far gone imo

Only other fish in here is Yellow Watchman Goby and they are the same size so I cant see the injury being from the goby. Ive read every forum post mentioning scorpionfish with disease and what I could gather is, its best to leave scorpionfish alone vs intervene with meds but its hard to do that when it looks so bad. My hopes for its survival are low


August 2nd 2024

August 5th 2024 7pm CT (The pink patch appears)

2 days later.. August 7th 2024

This looks like a bacterial infection - Pseudomonas or Aeromonas possibly. Combined with the rapid breathing though, it means the infection has become systemic and will be difficult to treat. Neomycin in a treatment tank would be my recommendation.

 

[Mickle]

It died overnight, that was pretty fast acting. I wonder what the window to save him was, maybe when the pink patch first appeared? Pretty brutal it advanced and killed him in 2 days

This looks like a bacterial infection - Pseudomonas or Aeromonas possibly. Combined with the rapid breathing though, it means the infection has become systemic and will be difficult to treat. Neomycin in a treatment tank would be my recommendation.

I got this fish and was super excited so I was constantly checking on him, its just frustrating that my window for action was so small before the heavy breathing started. Is it possible the source of the fish contributed?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It died overnight, that was pretty fast acting. I wonder what the window to save him was, maybe when the pink patch first appeared? Pretty brutal it advanced and killed him in 2 days



I got this fish and was super excited so I was constantly checking on him, it’s just frustrating that my window for action was so small before the heavy breathing started. Is it possible the source of the fish contributed?

Sorry to hear.

Newly arrived fish always have some inherent risk of mortality, but usually not this fast.

Did you have the fish shipped in or did you pick it up at a store?

 

[PicassoClown04]

If you did pick it up at a store, were there any other scorps in the tank with it? Mr. Hemdal is already on the case and he's the best but this wound and the progression does look a little bit like when I had a warty angler stung by a fuzzy lion

 

[Mickle]

Sorry to hear.

Newly arrived fish always have some inherent risk of mortality, but usually not this fast.

Did you have the fish shipped in or did you pick it up at a store?

I had a LFS to keep an eye out for scorpionfishes. They got this one on their list so they ordered it for me, I picked it up the day it came in

If you did pick it up at a store, were there any other scorps in the tank with it? Mr. Hemdal is already on the case and he's the best but this wound and the progression does look a little bit like when I had a warty angler stung by a fuzzy lion

It was in a separate holding tank off to the side, no other inhabitants (they knew I was coming to get it same day)

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I had a LFS to keep an eye out for scorpionfishes. They got this one on their list so they ordered it for me, I picked it up the day it came in




It was in a separate holding tank off to the side, no other inhabitants (they knew I was coming to get it same day)

That sort of a “double bounce” can be rough on fish though. Stores like to do that though since any mortality isn’t in their tanks then.

 

[Mickle]

That sort of a “double bounce” can be rough on fish though. Stores line to do that though since any mortality isn’t in their tanks then.

I guess so, Im just bummed not knowing the cause of the infection. It ate in acclimation so I thought it was going to go well

 

[Mickle]

Well I just found out a possible cause. I just witnessed the biggest of the Red-legged hermits go up to my goby. My goby displayed behavior toward the hermit as if he wanted be cleaned, then the hermit latched onto him. The goby then freaked out, repeatedly darting around until throwing off the hermit, resulting in torn pectoral fin.

My guess is that since the scorpionfish sits still, this could of easily happened a number of times until an injury occurred