Gramma scratching, fin trauma?

[canjosh]

Royal gramma recently developed some fraying of his caudal fin a couple weeks ago, at the same time he seemed to become more aggressive towards his tank mates, especially a Midas blenny. I initially attributed the fin trauma to aggression, but never actually witnessed anybody attacking him—quite the opposite as he seems to instigate with the blenny who hilariously completely ignores the gramma. Only recent additions have been inverts…a few emerald crabs right before I noticed the fin fraying. And some corals on frag plugs, all dipped in CoralRx.

Over the last week or 10 days I’ve noticed the gramma flashing/scratching on the rockscape. Eating, swimming, still trying to bully the Midas. This is a young tank, gramma has been in the tank since Dec 1 and was quarantined/medicated by a reputable seller. The other fish are the Midas, a Banggai, a Yasha, and a court jester goby. Other fish seem to be ok. Nobody else scratching.

I think the gramma has a small white area near his tail, just noticed today, oval shape, fairly difficult to see. I’m thinking about treating the DT with Prazi on the assumption this is flukes since whatever it is hasn’t rapidly killed the gramma and all fish were quarantined and medicated (let’s assume for now that this protocol was adequate), and flukes can ride in on inverts.
Treating with Prazi seems pretty low risk, I think removing the gramma from the DT is going to be difficult and stressful. Just wanted to make sure my line of thinking is logical, and see if anybody has other ideas…also is the tail fraying indicative of anything other than nipping by a tank mate?

 

[MnFish1]

SO just to make sure - you haven't QT'd with medication? The area to me looks infected - whether it was injury or something else that happened before IDK. I would suggest at this point - a hospital tank with an antibiotic - and probably neomycin. You can then (though I don't recommend it usually) - treat with Prazipro per protocol.

I'm assuming that there are no other symptoms on this - or the others (i.e. rapid breathing) - I know the flashing.

 

[canjosh]

SO just to make sure - you haven't QT'd with medication? The area to me looks infected - whether it was injury or something else that happened before IDK. I would suggest at this point - a hospital tank with an antibiotic - and probably neomycin. You can then (though I don't recommend it usually) - treat with Prazipro per protocol.

I'm assuming that there are no other symptoms on this - or the others (i.e. rapid breathing) - I know the flashing.

Correct, I haven’t removed or treated this fish. Prophylactically medicated by DrReef prior to going in the tank. I’m assuming either infected by flukes by inverts/corals put in the tank after him. Or as you said, bacterial infection is possible. No other symptoms in this fish or others. Just scratching, frequently. I began watching closely for anything external after I noticed the scratching behavior, and other than the tail fraying, didn’t see anything else until today when I noticed the whitish area. Thanks for the reply

 

[canjosh]

Parameters today: Hanna digital
1.025
77 degrees
pH: 7.9
Nitrate: 8.8
Phos: .18
Amm: 0
These have all been stable

Calcium: >600!! This has been riding high, I think it’s my salt (Nyos Pure), freshly mixed in the bucket is 591!…or this is testing error (Hanna digital)
I would assume that the high calcium would have no bearing on the fish issue though.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Parameters today: Hanna digital
1.025
77 degrees
pH: 7.9
Nitrate: 8.8
Phos: .18
Amm: 0
These have all been stable

Calcium: >600!! This has been riding high, I think it’s my salt (Nyos Pure), freshly mixed in the bucket is 591!…or this is testing error (Hanna digital)
I would assume that the high calcium would have no bearing on the fish issue though.

These fish are susceptible to flukes and in addition to scratching, with flukes you will see increased breathing, loss of appetite, darting suddenly, hiding and what looks like yawning
A video of at least 30 seconds will help with viewing the fish and making a proper assessment

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Royal gramma recently developed some fraying of his caudal fin a couple weeks ago, at the same time he seemed to become more aggressive towards his tank mates, especially a Midas blenny. I initially attributed the fin trauma to aggression, but never actually witnessed anybody attacking him—quite the opposite as he seems to instigate with the blenny who hilariously completely ignores the gramma. Only recent additions have been inverts…a few emerald crabs right before I noticed the fin fraying. And some corals on frag plugs, all dipped in CoralRx.

Over the last week or 10 days I’ve noticed the gramma flashing/scratching on the rockscape. Eating, swimming, still trying to bully the Midas. This is a young tank, gramma has been in the tank since Dec 1 and was quarantined/medicated by a reputable seller. The other fish are the Midas, a Banggai, a Yasha, and a court jester goby. Other fish seem to be ok. Nobody else scratching.

I think the gramma has a small white area near his tail, just noticed today, oval shape, fairly difficult to see. I’m thinking about treating the DT with Prazi on the assumption this is flukes since whatever it is hasn’t rapidly killed the gramma and all fish were quarantined and medicated (let’s assume for now that this protocol was adequate), and flukes can ride in on inverts.
Treating with Prazi seems pretty low risk, I think removing the gramma from the DT is going to be difficult and stressful. Just wanted to make sure my line of thinking is logical, and see if anybody has other ideas…also is the tail fraying indicative of anything other than nipping by a tank mate?

I agree - with flashing/scratching in a royal gramma, my go-to diagnosis is gill or skin flukes. Prazi can help with that.

The tail damage is probably due to some tankmate aggression. You likely will never see that happen - it can be over in a split second, and while you are watching the fish, they are likely watching you as opposed to attacking each other.

 

[canjosh]

As a follow up to this, I dosed Prazi 2 weeks ago. I dosed at 80% of the recommended for the display volume. Gramma stopped scratching within a few days. It was previously seen scratching multiple times per hour, so it was a dramatic result. Ran carbon for a couple days before a water change and then dosed Prazi a second time, some dose as before. I’m now a week out from the second dose. No livestock losses, none of the corals seemed unhappy during the treatment. I did run the skimmer without collecting skimmate during the treatment, and increased surface agitation as well. No signs of distress at any point.

Thanks to you all for confirming my suspicions!