White patches on Blennie

[ben1989]

Hi all,

I am brand new to owning a marine aquarium and this forum, so apologies if I am making mistakes. I purchased an AquaOne Mini Reef 120, (marine pure, skimmer and main pump in sump, mariglo lights and the heater in the main tank), added in sand and live rock, added my salted RODI water, let it cycle for about a month, did my water changes to get chemical levels to "normal", before I started adding in some snails and coral frags and the blennie.

Initially phosphate spiked, so I put a pack of PhosGuard and some macroalgae in the sump to reduce phosphate, which has since gone to ~0ppm. After that I've consistently had issues with ammonia and nitrite levels being ~2ppm (however nitrate levels have remained at 0ppm, so I wonder if my initial cycling didn't do the job). I've also had challenging algae growth requiring daily scraping and scrubbing. I've been dosing SeaChem Prime daily for the past week to try and combat the high ammonia/nitrite. Today the ammonia tested at ~0ppm, although the nitrite is still at ~2ppm, and nitrate is still at ~0ppm.

Today I also found the blennie with white patches that I've not seen before. It's previously appeared brown with its white tail and black spot tip, and seemed happily moving about the rock feeding on algae. Now it's lethargic sitting at the bottom of the tank near the glass. My understanding is that the white patches are too big to be white spot disease. Any ideas what they might be? Any and all advice will be very much appreciated. I guess I just want to make sure it's not some disease that I need to respond to asap.

My chemical levels have been consistently around these values since adding livestock:
11 dKH, ~1260ppm magnesium, ~460 calcium, ~0ppm phosphate, ph ~8, temperature ~26C, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels as mentioned in the paragraph (currently at ~0ppm, ~2ppm, and ~0ppm respectively)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Going to need some side pics to clearly see but may be normal pigmentation

 

[ben1989]

It's sitting right next to some algae growth making the photo fuzzy, not sure if these side ones help

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It's sitting right next to some algae growth making the photo fuzzy, not sure if these side ones help

Those are generalized stress patterns on the blenny. I can’t tell you what exactly is causing the stress though. They can also show this pattern at night.
Is the blenny still eating?
Can you tell if it’s breathing fast?

Jay

 

[ben1989]

ok thanks. good to know its stress and not some sort of disease. not sure what might be causing the stress. i'm not aware of any significant changes. i've seen the blenny eat once in the past couple of days, much less than normal. unless its eating at night. doesnt seem to be breathing fast. it will sit on the bottom most of the time, then wrap itself around a small thermometer halfway up the tank, then sink back down to the bottom.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

ok thanks. good to know its stress and not some sort of disease. not sure what might be causing the stress. i'm not aware of any significant changes. i've seen the blenny eat once in the past couple of days, much less than normal. unless its eating at night. doesnt seem to be breathing fast. it will sit on the bottom most of the time, then wrap itself around a small thermometer halfway up the tank, then sink back down to the bottom.

The problem is, disease can cause stress which in turn causes this species to develop stress coloration. The not eating as vigorously is also a symptom of done disease problem.

The coral and invertebrates are all doing well?

The trouble is that the blenny is just showing generalized symptoms, so I don’t have a clear diagnosis to offer you.

Jay

 

[ben1989]

The problem is, disease can cause stress which in turn causes this species to develop stress coloration. The not eating as vigorously is also a symptom of done disease problem.

The coral and invertebrates are all doing well?

The trouble is that the blenny is just showing generalized symptoms, so I don’t have a clear diagnosis to offer you.

Jay

it seems to be doing better and feeding more normal now. the invertebrates have been doing fine, although the corals were struggling a bit when ammonia levels were high they seem to be doing better. i guess unless there's more specific signs then its quite hard to tell. thanks for your expertise and guidance, much appreciated