Potentially Sick Volitans

[theblackvneck]

• We’ve had these 2 volitans for about 2 weeks. They were wild caught in Florida. Was dipped and QT by LFS before being sold.
• 300 gallon tank. Tank mates include 1 zebra moray eel. They get along well.
• Fish have been eating every 3 days (alternating between shrimp and scallops). They both ate 2 scallops tonight and still have a ravenous and aggressive appetite!
• Parameters:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.025
• Largest volitan appears to have some broken spines (which I assumed was just an accidental injury from scraping against some rocks). Also noticed a couple of small white dots on eyes (though they are otherwise clear). I’ve seen them hanging out in front of the flow like they’re enjoying it. I’ve also seen them suddenly make sharp, unprompted movements, like they’re itching or in pain (though they aren’t doing it against any rocks). Lastly, I noticed that there was some mucous sloughing off of them (though I’ve read that can be normal with lions).
• I’ve started dosing the tank with Cupramine and temporarily removed the carbon (as it is the only form of copper my eel can handle) in case it’s Ich or Velvet.

Important note: My last 2 lionfish died from something that started the same way. I believe they died before treatment could take effect. However, after they died, I continued treating the tank for 40 days before removing copper from the system. This leads me to believe that it might be brooklynella, which is not impacted by copper. (I will admit that I struggled to read that awful copper test kit, so I suppose it’s possible that in didn’t dose high enough.)

Thoughts? Help? Suggestion?

[Sniperhank]

How much live rock in the system is there? Are there signs of aggression? What are your nitrates?

Secondly you don't want to treat your display tank. Copper leaches into the rocks and leaches out into the water column over time. This will prevent you from having inverts or corals in your system, among other issues it can cause.

[Andy Sager]

If the lions are breathing more heavily when not in front of the water flow, they most likely have a parasite(s) attacking the gills ( a common place for oodinium and Ick to start at). The sudden darting also suggest a parasitic infestation. I would suggest isolating these lions in a hospital tank a.s.a.p. in order to keep any possible infestation from getting a good grip into your tank. A freshwater dip should help kill off any external parasites but I would keep the lions in the hospital or a quarantine tank for at least 30-60 days to make sure no internal parasites become present. Sadly, while rarer, there are parasites now that have 90-120 day life cycles so the longer you keep the fish in quarantine, the more time you have to see if they are infected with other issues. Medicate accordingly IF needed.

Brooklynella looks more like a slime disease than individual spots ( like I see on the eye in your pic) however, a freshwater dip will also work to kill off Brook.