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Silver Splotches on Jawfish?


Euphyllia

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I got my first Blue Spot Jawfish on Saturday. Since then he had dug four burrows. I noticed some silver patches on one side of him and I am a bit worried. I also noticed a small patch or two on the other side. They look like scales that have turned silver, but I'm not sure. Here's a picture.

 

j5ats5.jpg

 

He's eating fine, and he doesn't seem stressed at all. He's currently the only fish in the tank and he isn't shy at all. Does anyone know what the silver patches could be?

 

Also, I noticed some dark gray patches on his anal fin. It has no texture and appears to be flat, and it's bigger than ich. Again, he seems to be doing great and is happily making burrows, but I'm still a bit worried as this is currently my all-time favorite fish.

 

TIA :)

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Don't know about the splotches but that fish is awesome! Can't wait to trap my YWG to put one of these babies in there. I love them.

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Thanks. I'm hoping he's OK because I really don't want to lose him. A few minutes ago he was breathing heavily for about 20 seconds, but then he stopped and went back to normal. Is that something to worry about? I'm assuming he was just tired after starting to dig his new hole, but I just want to be sure.

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I just bought a midas blenny and he does the same thing (breathes heavily). Probably just still getting acclimated. I slowly drip acclimated this guy and he is still a bit stressed. My clowns aren't helping either.

 

Whenever I get a new fish I worry non-stop for a week. I'd just give him some time, if he's eating/digging around then he's probably fine.

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CoolNameGoesHere

do a google search for "bluespot jawfish disease" or just "jawfish disease".

 

hopefully your guy doesn't have that- he's a handsome fella (no homo).

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After looking at some other Bluespots with the same issue, I have come to the conclusion that I'm screwed. <_<

It looks like a few others have had this problem, but theres seemed a lot worse. Mine is minor, but it seems like there is more today than yesterday. Is there a treatment? :(

 

This is exactly why I wanted to get my Jawfish before I added Picassos.

 

I believe blue spots are temperate fish. Depending on what you have your temp at he may be suffering.

 

Yeah I know that. My temperature is 74 at night and 75 when the lights are on. At the LFS the temperature of the tank was 78F and the Jawfish had been there for only four days.

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Is there anything I can do to stop the disease at this point? Any reef-safe meds?

Will Melafix or PimoFix work?

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O.K., I've had BSJF for quite some time now. If he's eating good, I'd keep an eye on him. You don't want to stress him any more by starting to add meds. I would notice splotches on mine from time to time, but it was attributed to their burrowing and getting scrapes from the substrate or rocks. The splotches would soon heal, just keep up on your husbandry and do water changes as usual. I do weekly changes.

 

As far as temps go, my tank gets up to 79 to 81 degrees and my blues have never experienced any problems with it. I hope yours does well because they are one of my favorite fish and they have a ton of personality!

 

BTW, Try soaking some food in Seachem's Vitality. It helps to heal scar tissue. Here's more info:

 

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Vitality.html

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There are more splotches. Today I came home and he wasn't in his hole, but instead he was erratically swimming at the glass. He's in his hole now moving rocks around, but I think I might take him back to the LFS and try to swap him for another BSJ. :(

 

I'll give him a few days to see if the splotches increase.

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Does Blue Spot Jawfish Disease show up as white/gray and is it contiguous? The splotches on my jawfish are not contiguous and they look like silver patches of scales.

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People are way to quick to attribute BSJ disease to anything wrong with their jawfish. I had a blue spot for about 6 months (before I broke down my tank and sold him) and went through the same thing. Blue spots can become stressed very easily, and their skin also takes time to adapt to the new substrate. Mine looked like hell the first week I got him and I was spending hours each night trying to figure out what was wrong. He had white patches all over him (like you describe, scaly). I did things to reduce stress in my tank, by reducing the light cycle, keeping the temperature ideal and so on. Your temps are fine, BSJ like a bit lower temps anyway. The above poster suggested Seachem Vitality, that is what I used religiously with this fish. Because they are stressed easily their immune system can take a hit, the vitality helps with this. Just try to make the environment as low stress as possible, keep your params good, and keep him fed. He should be fine!

 

Does Blue Spot Jawfish Disease show up as white/gray and is it contiguous? The splotches on my jawfish are not contiguous and they look like silver patches of scales.
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I have Selcon that I put in my food once or twice per week. Not sure if that will help, but it says it has omega 3 fatty acids. Is Seachem Vitality like a medication to put in food, or is it vitamins?

 

Also, I just noticed that the splotches of silver on my jawfish are reflective of my room light (like the electric blue spots on him are), which leads me to believe they are just silver scales. Do you know what would cause that?

 

If Seachem Vitality is significantly different than Selcon, then I'll call around to LFS tomorrow until I can find it.

 

EDIT: Selcon says it has "Omega-3 HUFA, Vitamin B12 and pure stabilized Vitamin C". Is that similar, better, or worse than what Seachem Vitality has? If they're different, should I put both in my fish food every few days in an alternating pattern? :)

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Selcon says it has "Omega-3 HUFA, Vitamin B12 and pure stabilized Vitamin C". Is that similar, better, or worse than what Seachem Vitality has?

 

Anyone know the difference? I'd like to go to the LFS first thing in the morning because I have stuff planned for the rest of the day.

 

TIA :)

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I think they are similar. However, Selcon is used mainly as an appetite enhancer, especially for fish that are finnicky eaters.

 

Viality has ingredients that help the formation of connective tissues, scar tissue in wound repair, and bone matrix.

 

I would try both products. Make sure you also maintain water changes regularly.

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Ugh... now I see more spots on his body, and there are places where it has spread to his dorsal fin and one of his pectoral fins. Is this BSJ Disease? If it's not, what could it be? Should I take him back to the LFS? :(

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I can't get a picture of it. First of all, my camera won't do a macro shot very well, and secondly, the places on the fin don't show up when he's in the sand because the sand and the splotches are both white. :(

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Beginning to wonder if the spots are ich. Never seen bsjf disease spread to the fins.

 

The spots on the body are way to big to be ich. Not sure about the fin spots though. I don't have a QT tank and can't set one up, so I won't be able to treat him.

 

EDIT: Just remembered I have reef-safe Ich treatment. It says it "Keeps fish free of parasites".

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partyinyourhonor

Mine seems to get beat up often, especially when he burrows a lot... he burrows more some days than others. His tall will fray a bit, and I think he actually looses some scales which gives him weird spots...

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I added some reef-safe ich treatment. The spots on the fins do kinda seem like ich to me, but the splotches on the body just don't seem like ich. Does ich have to be in little white spots, or can it be in patches/splotches?

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I went to two LFS today, one of which was the low-quality one that sold me the BSJ. I got Melafix from them and I'm going to run carbon until the No-Ich medication clears out, then I'll start dosing the Melafix. I bought Kent Garlic Xtreme from the other LFS because they convinced me with their personal experience. I'm hoping the combination of Melafix dosage and the food additives of Garlix Xtreme and Selcon will help this guy clear up before it gets too bad. I have more than $100 invested into this little guy (that includes the cost of the fish), so I really hope he doesn't die. Wish me luck with the recovery. :(

 

Also, I see him swimming around the tank often. Is that because he is stressed, or is that because there are no other fish in the tank? If I get near the tank while he is swimming about, he will start rapidly swimming at the sides or jumping up and hitting the glass cover on the tank. I think it might be stressing him, but I can't avoid my room every day.

 

After I feed him, he goes back into his hole for the rest of the day. Does he need to be fed more than once per day to keep him happy and stress free?

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I had a BSJF for about two weeks before returning him. I didn't read much about BSJF specifically until I bought one and to my dismay found out that there are two collection points for these fish - one in California and one in Mexico.... The ones from california rarely survive in reef tanks because they are used to cooler temps while the ones from Mexico usually do very well. Right before returning mine, he started to get restless at night. He would swim quickly to the surface and then back down to his burrow, and repeat. I came to the conclusion that something in his enviornment was bothering him, and with temperature being the most likely cause I took him back and picked up a Midas blenny and some other stuff. He was alwo showing those grayish patches on his body but mostly on his fins. HTH.

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