What could have caused this much tissue loss so quickly?

[Ziggy17]

My YW goby normally sits in his cave with his pistol buddy. In the last week, in the mornings when I go to feed, I’ve noticed him out of his cave and sitting in either back corner of the tank. Still eating, with no visible damage to fins or scales. Once he eats, he goes back to his cave where he usually stays until the next morning.

Yesterday morning I saw him in the corner but he has a large open wound right near his dorsal fin. It was red and looked like someone drilled a perfectly round hole. I immediately got a hospital tank going where he’s being treated with melafix. In Canada, it’s pretty much all we can get for medicine to help prevent further secondary bacterial infection.

I know there are bristle worms that live in the cave with the YWG and PS as the shrimp is always clicking away giving them crap around feeding time as I’m sure the worms and PS fight over the food.

Could a bacterial infection really cause a hole in the body overnight? Or should I be looking for a different culprit? No other fish showing signs of the same. YWG continues to eat well in the hospital tank. Breathing was and remains normal. Swimming also has not changed.

See photos

Water parameters are

S- 35
N03 8.0
PO4 .07
Alk 8.7
Temp 77.1
PH 8.25-8.5 (daily swing)
ORP 310-325

Cheers.
Zig.

@fishmedics

 

[vetteguy53081]

My YW goby normally sits in his cave with his pistol buddy. In the last week, in the mornings when I go to feed, I’ve noticed him out of his cave and sitting in either back corner of the tank. Still eating, with no visible damage to fins or scales. Once he eats, he goes back to his cave where he usually stays until the next morning.

Yesterday morning I saw him in the corner but he has a large open wound right near his dorsal fin. It was red and looked like someone drilled a perfectly round hole. I immediately got a hospital tank going where he’s being treated with melafix. In Canada, it’s pretty much all we can get for medicine to help prevent further secondary bacterial infection.

I know there are bristle worms that live in the cave with the YWG and PS as the shrimp is always clicking away giving them crap around feeding time as I’m sure the worms and PS fight over the food.

Could a bacterial infection really cause a hole in the body overnight? Or should I be looking for a different culprit? No other fish showing signs of the same. YWG continues to eat well in the hospital tank. Breathing was and remains normal. Swimming also has not changed.

See photos

Water parameters are

S- 35
N03 8.0
PO4 .07
Alk 8.7
Temp 77.1
PH 8.25-8.5 (daily swing)
ORP 310-325

Cheers.
Zig.

@fishmedics

This likely started as a puncture wound or injury and became infected as a bacterial infection and untreated allowed the flesh to rot
Immediate treatment is Seachem Kanaplex IF it allows the healing process with this much damage

 

[Ziggy17]

Over night though? I see the fish every day. There was no hole two days ago.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Over night though? I see the fish every day. There was no hole two days ago.

Ugh - that sure looks like an aggressive bacterial infection, probably Vibrio. This genus of fish seems prone to that issue, sometimes from an injury to the skin, but often for no apparent reason. Is the fish relatively new to the tank?

One possible treatment is with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic like Neomycin or Kanaplex, in a treatment tank, but with a lesion this large, the prognosis is very poor....sorry.

 

[Ziggy17]

We’re extremely limited in Canada as to what we can get. I have melafix. Not sure if I can get kanaplex but not likely. I’ll see if melafix can do the job. Hopefully. Yes, he’s fairly new. 8 weeks.

 

[Ziggy17]

edit. Dbl post

 

[Ziggy17]

Ordered Kanaplex from Amazon.ca. Let’s hope it arrives and it works.

Thanks guys.

 

[Ziggy17]

So quick update. Fish is still eating well and finished a 3 dose course of kanaplex ( 6 days) and I’ve been dosing melafix for 9 days. The wound appears to be healing up nicely. How long should I keep it in the hospital tank?

 

[Ziggy17]

Updated pictures. Thoughts?

#fishmedics @fishmedics

 

[mh0ward]

Wow, that's a crazy recovery... little guy's a fighter!

 

[Ziggy17]

Haha. I like her cause she’s stubborn, like me. Hoping she flips to male colouration some day, but I’m just glad she’s making a comeback.

 

[mh0ward]

Haha. I like her cause she’s stubborn, like me. Hoping she flips to male colouration some day, but I guess I’m just glad she’s making a comeback.

Mine is a small male, I call him the grumpy cat of the sea

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So quick update. Fish is still eating well and finished a 3 dose course of kanaplex ( 6 days) and I’ve been dosing melafix for 9 days. The wound appears to be healing up nicely. How long should I keep it in the hospital tank?

Great news!

I always wait at least 14 days beyond when I think a fish is “cured” before moving it, you don’t want a relapse to hit and require you to move the fish back to the treatment tank.

 

[Ziggy17]

Great news!

I always wait at least 14 days beyond when I think a fish is “cured” before moving it, you don’t want a relapse to hit and require you to move the fish back to the treatment tank.

Copy. Thanks Jay.

Should I continue with the melafix or discontinue that as well and just observe for the next 14 days prior to the reintroduction to the DT?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Updated pictures. Thoughts?

#fishmedics @fishmedics

Great to hear. Skip the melafix which is a tonic made from Teak tree oil and rendered useless

 

[Ziggy17]

Great to hear. Skip the melafix which is a tonic made from Teak tree oil and rendered useless

Copy. Much appreciated.

 

[Ziggy17]

So an update, albeit a few weeks late.

So the goby went back into the DT, paired back up with the pistol in the cave. A couple weeks went by and it stayed pretty clear of open water. One morning he was out and about in a corner, fairly inactive. I noticed that in the same area as the last time, the skin loss had significantly became larger. Literally twice as big and even deeper. I don’t have a picture but you could see the fish’s backbone. It couldn’t swim properly as there was so much muscle tissue loss in the middle of the back. It just kinda squirmed to move.
Set up a hospital tank, medicated with Kanaplex for 4 doses. It’s back on the road to recovery and the wound is healing once again. The fish ate the entire time, I just had to spot feed it mysis and brine as it couldn’t swim.

I’m now wondering if it could be a fire worm that’s in that cave that could be eating at the flesh or is it just a super aggressive bacterial infection? If it’s bacterial, why would it heal up and then start back up and get more aggressive just to get knocked back a second time?
The plan is to keep it in the hospital tank for a couple months to ensure the wound is 100% healed before I put it back in the DT. Just seems odd that it healed up,then came back bigger faster stronger.

Thoughts?

 

[Ziggy17]

@jayhemdal

See above last update. Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@jayhemdal

See above last update. Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Cheers.

Sorry - IDK. Can you post a current video/picture?

 

[Ziggy17]

I’ll try, but it’s healed quite a bit again.