Resolved Help- Poor Yellow Head Jawfish

Hey guys. I purchased my yellow head jawfish from a LFS on Fri which arrived on Thurs. It was pretty stressed out and didn't eat the first day, but this didn't worry me. It didn't find its den, but was attempting to make a home under a rock.

Day 2 (photo 1): fish still breathing hard, moving infrequently. Its right eye appears cloudy and there were some skin inconsistancies on its lips (see photo) but both symptoms went away later. It was still in a make-shift den under the rock. Ate two pieces of flake food that floated by. Fins and colour are not looking completely healthy.

Day 3: much like day 2; unsure if it ate (not much if it did). Hard breathing most of the time, in and out of its den under rock.

Today, Day 4 (photos 2,3,4): fish breathing hard, moving infrequently, refuses food (even if it lands in mouth). Cleaner shrimp tries to clean it but fish moves away. Cloudiness is now in the right eye, both eyes seem like they're "not seeing"- they move but look odd; blotches are apparent along body (especially under unforgiving actinics), fins and colour unhealthy.

Well that's a detailed look at my poor jawfish's situation... I think it's stress-induced illness (cloudiness in and out of eyes, still swimming along the bottom, but not fluidly) and he looks to be in pretty rough shape. All other fish and corals are doing better than fine- my anemone just split a month ago. Water parameters are normal.

What do you guys think is the issue? Should I just leave it in my tank and see if he gets better since it's already so stressed? I am going to call the LFS tomorrow to see how the other jawfish are doing because I thought I saw another one with a bugged-out eye.

Thank you for your help!
-Kristyn

 

Hm.. pic posting troubles..

 

kinda sounds like it may be flukes . . . have you noticed and jerking movements like he was trying to shake something off himself? if its not, then second guess would be some kind of bacterial infection. Do you have any prazi pro on hand and a hospital tank?

~Will.

 

3reef Forums - FAQ: How to display/add images to posts

 

Hi- thanks for the tip on the flukes... It does appear to jerk now and again. No I don't have a hospital tank or any treatments on hand but I can set up a 10g... Not entirely sure how to go about that. I read a little under the disease thread. I also checked out Puffer Chick's disease website, but couldn't come up with a definitive diagnosis. Hope these pics help. Thanks.

 

Well I did some reading on hospital/QT tanks and it seems doable for me. I will have to take a closer look at my fish tomorrow to see if I see anything squirming because the symptomology of a fluke infestation seems to match, unfortunately. If these parasites are now introduced to my tank, are there any reef-safe treatments that I should administer to try and take early control or am I doomed to battle with them for the rest of the tank's days like that which occurs with ich?

Damn and it was likely the last fish to be added with the exception of the death of one..

 

Unfortunately the fish didn't make it through the night. I looked at him in the morning and didn't see any apparent signs of parasites or anything, but I suspect that it may have been either parasites like flukes or a bacterial infection like mentioned above. It's likely that the stress of shipping to the LFS just allowed whatever the issue was to be exacerbated. I guess in the future I'll just have to resist the urge the get the fish right away (even if they are known to be relatively resistant to disease like this fish) just to make sure for sure that they are doing great in the store, even though I saw it eat well.

Hopefully my next attempt at keeping a jawfish won't end like this one did!

Kristyn

 

Sorry to hear he didn't make it. What a bummer! Hopefully your next attempt goes better.