Banggai Cardinalfish with hole in mouth

[RabidDragon]

I've got 2 Banggai Cardinalfish that I've had for over 1/2 a year and I notice today that one of them seems to have trauma to its mouth. It looks a lot like the kind of damage a fish would have after poorly removing a fish hook.

It clearly has a hole directly below its mouth, its pelvic fins are also frayed. It is clearly having to work harder to force water over its gills. I have caught the fish while it was sleeping and place it in a "breeder box" within the display tank.

Thoughts on the cause of this? Actions to take? I have not notice any other fish bothering it. The other fish in the tank appear fine.

Please see short videos.

Thanks,

 

[vetteguy53081]

Any still pics? Cannot open video

 

[threebuoys]

Did this just appear suddenly? If so, I suspect the cardinal got into a fight with another tank inhabitant. It looks like an injury to me and I can't imagine how that much damage would occur unless it was interaction with another fish or some mechanical item in the tank.

Not sure whether that much tissue loss in that location can regenerate or not.

 

[Unitylover]

possibly a fight.what other fish do you have besides the other cardinal

 

[RabidDragon]

This appeared suddenly and just as quickly grew worse to the point the fish died. I suspect the entire process took
about 1 day. All other fish in the tank appear healthy and are acting normally.

I would still like to know the cause and potential actions I could take in the future for this and if it is likely to spread to my other fish. Medications? are they display tank safe? I have a reef tank: fish, corals, inverts, pods



Yesterday night, when I posted the original videos. The mouth appears damaged and has a hole directly under the mouth.

This morning, 12 hours later. The tissue under the mouth is completely eroded away. The fish died about 4 hours later. This picture was taken from a video I have of this stage, the website does not recognize it as a video file (MP4).

thank you for any insight or guidance.

 

[threebuoys]

This proceeded so quickly I still believe it was an injury caused by an attack from another fish or mechanical device (wave pumps?) in the tank.

Perhaps someone( #fishmedic ) else has seen something like this before and will offer more insight.

 

[Karen00]

I am so sorry for your loss! That is crazy scary how fast it progressed. Hopefully someone has insight into whether it's an injury from another inhabitant/equipment or an illness but I would also say an injury from another inhabitant. I had two gobies in my freshwater tank who had been fine together suddenly go after each other and boy that was ferocious. It freaked me out. If it hadn't happened during the day where I was able to stop it and separate them I think one would've had his mouth ripped off. They locked jaws so the weaker one had a bad bruise all around his upper and lower jaw. I'm positive that would've turned into a torn jaw if I wasn't there. It reminds me of yours for the positioning.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

This appeared suddenly and just as quickly grew worse to the point the fish died. I suspect the entire process took
about 1 day. All other fish in the tank appear healthy and are acting normally.

I would still like to know the cause and potential actions I could take in the future for this and if it is likely to spread to my other fish. Medications? are they display tank safe? I have a reef tank: fish, corals, inverts, pods



Yesterday night, when I posted the original videos. The mouth appears damaged and has a hole directly under the mouth.

This morning, 12 hours later. The tissue under the mouth is completely eroded away. The fish died about 4 hours later. This picture was taken from a video I have of this stage, the website does not recognize it as a video file (MP4).

thank you for any insight or guidance.

There are some really aggressive bacteria, but this is very fast.
Are there other Banggai in the tank with it?
Other fish in the tank?
What also may have happened was this was an internal bacterial infection that proceeded unseen for a time, then by the time it erupted, the damage was already done under the skin maybe?
Jay

 

[RabidDragon]

Tank: Waterbox 220, >1 year old
1. another Banggai, pair was bought together over 6 months ago, swam together but not always
2. purple tang
3. bristletooth tang
4. hippo tang, "Porky", dominate fat fish in tank, number one goal is to EAT, easily eats 5 times more than any other fish and is always ready to eat more.
5. lawnmower blenny
6. fairy wrasse
7. yellow coris wrasse
8. orchid dottyback
9. royal gramma bassett
10. 2 clown fish
11. purple firefish

I feed heavy.

Inverts:

2 tuxedo pincushion urchin
4-5 different snail types (3 trochus snails have died recently, not sure if they had enough to eat or just old age, I’ve got a few baby trochus snails.)
Skunk shrimp
Blood shrimp
1 small emerald crab
Hermit crabs, blue legs and scarlet (all small)
Bubble tip anemone
Rockflow anemome
Amphipods – rocks are “just-crawling” at night

~20 coral frags, SPS, LPS,

**** I received 13 coral frags from two different online very well-known websites about 1.5 weeks ago. I acclimated them and dipped in Coral Rx.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Tank: Waterbox 220, >1 year old
1. another Banggai, pair was bought together over 6 months ago, swam together but not always
2. purple tang
3. bristletooth tang
4. hippo tang, "Porky", dominate fat fish in tank, number one goal is to EAT, easily eats 5 times more than any other fish and is always ready to eat more.
5. lawnmower blenny
6. fairy wrasse
7. yellow coris wrasse
8. orchid dottyback
9. royal gramma bassett
10. 2 clown fish
11. purple firefish

I feed heavy.

Inverts:

2 tuxedo pincushion urchin
4-5 different snail types (3 trochus snails have died recently, not sure if they had enough to eat or just old age, I’ve got a few baby trochus snails.)
Skunk shrimp
Blood shrimp
1 small emerald crab
Hermit crabs, blue legs and scarlet (all small)
Bubble tip anemone
Rockflow anemome
Amphipods – rocks are “just-crawling” at night

~20 coral frags, SPS, LPS,

**** I received 13 coral frags from two different online very well-known websites about 1.5 weeks ago. I acclimated them and dipped in Coral Rx.

I would be suspicious of the second Banggai cardinal. They live well when young, but as they mature, they can sometimes start to fight. The fish may have "lip locked" causing this damage. The chance of you actually seeing this happen is slim.

Jay

 

[threebuoys]

I would be suspicious of the second Banggai cardinal. They live well when young, but as they mature, they can sometimes start to fight. The fish may have "lip locked" causing this damage. The chance of you actually seeing this happen is slim.

Jay

I agree with Jay. Two years ago I added 3 banggais to my tank. After several months, two of them paired and started laying eggs. After that, they bullied the 3rd banggai to its death.