Injured Damsel?

[jbro]

had this Blu-Devil Yellow Tail Damsel since August when I started the tank. Everybody is doing fine except for this little guy. Last week, I noticed a vertical white mark on his body. Thought it might be a parasite, so I watched closely. Now, he looks like he has stress marks on the other side of his body and the vertical mark has some red in it.
I want to quarentine him, but I've been trying to catch him for 2 days now, fast one. He acts normally, except quck to hide. I think he got a taste of his own medicine as he was always the bully of the tank.

My BIG dilema right now is that I am going on vacation for a week Saturday, and I won't be around to nurse him. I just hope this isn't a disease that will spread and come home to find my whole tank infected. My favorite LFS store is closed this week and haven't found one that will take him. Should I just take my chances and leave him in the tank, or work feverishly to QT and leave him with my Mother -in-Law that only knows how to feed him?

 

[steve-s]

It's not parasitic from what I can see. It looks more like a wound or possibley a bacterial "fungus". Best suggestion is to leave the fish be for now, QTing would not help unless it gets worse and needs treating with an antibiotic. Problems like this can often be cleared up with increasing the frequencey of the water changes and fortifying the foods daily with a good marine vitamin high in [acronym="Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acid"]HUFA[/acronym].

Do a few good sized water changes over the next few days with well aged SW and be sure someone can continue to do them at least weekly if your gone longer. Have whoever is looking after the tank soak the foods in the vitamin overnight so it's ready for feedings. You can also pre-prep it by getting a cheap icecube tray and letting the regular amounts of food soak overnight in the seperate cups and then freeze the mixture. The "caretaker" then only needs to thaw the food properly before hand.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jbro]

Thanks Steve,
I already have increased WC frequency due to adding 6lbs LS 2 weeks ago. Which was another cause for concern that I didn't mention in my original post. But, the more I look, the more it seems like an injury. The damsel is totally acting normal, but more shy of other fishes.
I'll definitely look into vitamin supppliments, but I think the tank should be fine for now.

Jack