Naso with a Bulge

[cowgirldani]

Our Naso tang devoloped some sort of head sore. It looks like it erupted from under the top layer, as the yellow scale/skin is stretched and torn over it. the lesion is the dark grey color of the fish, but has some sort of white clumps in it, look hard. not sliming. Fish doesnt seem bothered at all, eats fine, still a active swimmer, hasnt lost weight. Been about a week. Only difference is the hideous bulge on his head.

Saw him by cleaner shrimp today, first time I saw them working on it. Now he is over there often, and they were working like crazy. Looks like they tore out a big chunk of it, and now all i see is red flesh under and bone...

I dont get it. If I had a hole like that in my head I wouldnt be acting just like normal. Any ideas? Help I wanna fix my naso we love him!

Tank parameters are normal, although two weekends ago we had someone tank care of the tank for us, and they overfed on the nori. Dont know if that would affect it, all other fish, corals, etc are doing great.

Here are some pics, please note the cleanershrimps pulled big chunks out that were near the top.

 

[polydactyl]

wow i've never seen anything THAT bad....my first guess would be a nematode of some kind.....i have no idea what the life cycle of most nematodes are but i would think that there is a possibility that it could infect other fish. its also possible that it was just a hideously infected scratch. i've seen plenty of fish get open lesion like sores. one product i have found to work pretty well with the open sores is bio-bandage from hikari. its a topical medication...so you would need to catch the naso and apply it directly....daily for about a week. depending on exactly how big/deep the hole is it should heal over and the fish will be fine. if it gets into the brain...well...i think we could guess as to the future there. good luck.........

 

[leebca]

I'd like some additional information.

1. How long have you had this fish?
2. Did it have any indication or injury of this when it was acquired?
3. Describe how it came on, if the fish never had any problem in this area.
4. List all other marine life forms that are in the tank.

The overfeeding would not bring such a condition on, in my opinion. I'd like to understand more of the history of this fish.

 

[cowgirldani]

1. How long have you had this fish?
We have had him for about 2 months.

2. Did it have any indication or injury of this when it was acquired?
No, none, no upset in the tank either. He never acted weird at all.

3. Describe how it came on, if the fish never had any problem in this area. Woke up one morning, went out to see the tank and boom he had a huge thing coming out from his head. And no, he seemed completely healthy and normal.

4. List all other marine life forms that are in the tank.
Three cleaner shrimp, halloween urchin, leopard wrasse, mcoskers flasher wrasse, pair of black clowns, red sea sailfin. bubble coral, various sps, hydnophora, large open brains, candy canes, zoas. hermits and snails.

thank you so much for all your help you guys, it is much appreciated

 

[Madisons_Mommy]

Lee will help you get this figured out!! I wonder if it could have had a run in with your Urchin? Possibly a spine broke off in it's flesh and became infected?

 

[small alien]

Hope your fish is doing better. It's beautiful.

 

[leebca]

I'd say it was a serious injury. It happened obviously very fast -- suddenly. Urchin could be a suspect, as well as the Desjardini.

The fish should be removed and the area given a swabbing of betadiene. The sp. gr. should be lowered to 1.016. The fish should be kept in quarantine with nothing but the best water quality.

An infection is too likely, if it hasn't begun already. Treat with Maracyn Two for Saltwater fishes, starting off with double the recommended dose. The area should heal on its own. Make sure you feed the proper foods. Your efforts should be to keep the bacteria count low in the water, provide the best nutrition, isolate the fish to reduce stress, and the swabbing every other day with betadiene until the red is no longer seen (just white).

After the red is no longer visible, raise sp. gr. very slowly (like, 0.002 units per day) until back in the normal range -- the sp. gr. of the display system.

 

[jag3534]

Oh, poor fishy, that hurt my stomach to look at! I really hope that gets better! He's a very pretty fish!

 

[jag3534]

Hi, I was just wondering how your naso is doing? Does he look any better?

 

[cowgirldani]

he ended up passing two days ago. was completely normal until the morning of, when he was swimming sideways. it still frustrates me that I couldnt figure out what it was. Everything else is fine.

 

[jag3534]

Aw, I'm sorry! Poor guy.

 

[krisfal]

I am so sorry to hear that! I was really hoping he would pull through. My Naso is one of my favorites and I am sure you will be missing his personality in the tank.

At least it seems that the suffering was minimal, since he was acting normal until almost the end.

 

[SDW]

Sorry for the loss! That was a nice fish, and the Naso's are great.