White Speck on Gramma

[salty27]

Woke up this morning to find a few white "specks" on my Royal Gramma...one next to the eye, one just pass the eye, and one on top of it's head. It's not a cut or abbrasion, but rather looks like a white head pimple or large salt grain. Doesn't look like ick (too large a blemish and no other marks/spots on it's body).

It's actions appear completely normal, and it gets along great with the other fish I have. I did a 25% water change 2 days ago, and all my parameters are on par.

Any ideas what this might be? Unfortunately, I don't have a QT tank set up at the moment (took it down, partly out of necessity, once I converted to a reef). The pics are not the clearest, but I tried...

 

[roka64]

Is it possible it is sand or bubbles, possible bite marks?
Do they move?
I agree, they look (from those pics) that it might be too big for ich.
1st thing I would do is get some garlic guard and soak your frozen in that for about 20 mins. Personally, I soak my frozen in garlic guard, zoe and selcon.
2nd, you may want to think about bustin out the QT.
A tale tell sign of ich, it should drop off at night and reappear the next day or so.

 

[salty27]

Thanks roka. I can't tell if it moves right now, but will check again tomorrow. After looking closely, it almost looks like a long pimple...it really juts out of the little guy! And I don't have any fish that would make such bite marks (a small clown and a small 6 line) if that were the case.

I usually soak their food in Garlic Xtreme and Selcon myself, but only every other feeding. I'll make it more of a daily routine until I see what this growth could be.

 

[roka64]

If you could get a clearer pic, that would help too, maybe during feeding....

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Scott that if they fall off then reappear then most likely it is ick. According to the picture they look to big. It might be a fungus. Either way the best way to treat is QT. If you do decide it is fungal then treating with pimafix might help.

 

[salty27]

Hours later, and I'm noticing the same blister-like growth on it's other side...plus, the tracing of a white scar on the original side. It looks like it's getting worse for the little fella, but I don't have any quarantine options at this moment (unless I scoop him out and keep him in a goldfish bowl with no filtration). I'm helpless at this point, as my LFS is closed and I have no meds for treatment. My lesson learned for the QT.

I tried with some more pics, but I don't think it's still clear enough to really make out what this could be, though ick is definitely ruled out:

 

[roka64]

It could be sporozoa (which is somewhat rare in home aquariums).
Are there any threads growing out of the white spots? If so, it could be fungal.
Do you have an anenmoe? It looks like one in the pic, has he been stung?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I went through two Royal Grammas, neither one made it out of my QT. They both were healthy at the LFS, but within a week of coming home they developed "bubbly skin" around their head... a lot like the pictures you're showing.

For the first fish, I treated with the saltwater versions of Maracyn and Maracyn2. It didn't do much, and it eventually died a couple weeks later. Water parameters were never an issue. For the second fish, I treated with both Melafix and Pimafix, which really didn't do anything except make the water smell good. In both, the "bubbly skin" expanded to encompass more area around their heads, but never moved far from their heads. It was really strange.

Neither one made it for more than a couple weeks, even with perfect water parameters. Never did figure out what it was - I just took it as a sign that I shouldn't have a Royal Gramma and moved on to my next stocking idea.

I know this probably doesn't help, but just thought I'd pass it on.

 

[salty27]

Well, it's been almost 3 days now and guess what? The marks are all gone! They "disappeared" almost overnight on Friday night, with no traces of what was once there. Let me cross my fingers when I say this for fear of jinxing myself, but I think the little guy is going to be all right. I still don't think it's ick since the spots were too large and they didn't reappear (or appear on my other tank mates).

Hopefully this will be the end of this topic!

Thanks everyone for your help and attention!

 

[melosu58]

Well let`s hope that all is over but I`ve learned that diseases and parasites just dont disapear. Keep up with good water hubandry and keep an eye out for any problems.