Discoloration on Basslet

[BST310]

Any ideas what would cause this discoloration on my black cap? I am thinking a bacterial issue of some sort and plan to treat with antibiotics (kannaplex+Metro+furan) but wanted some second opinions.

To make a long story short I added some new clowns and about a week later one died pretty rapidly to what I can only describe as brook. All other fish looked fine but, this black cap has been flashing on this side for some time well over a year and I would notice the slightest discoloration. I never though much of it because I put it through full QT, it wasn’t everyday, and didn’t seem to bother the fish.

Fast forward, I set up QT last week and Formalin bathed all the fish before adding them. This black cap started to showing really pronounced discoloration after the formalin bath. Hard to picup in photos but his head is almost dull like a reptile in shed. I wonder if it’s brook as well.

Possible he is the root cause of it all?

 

[mattyzang]

My blackcap seems to get a lot of scrapes and various injuries, he spends a lot of time cave making so I assume he just gets scratched up here and there. Definitely not enough to do anything about, not sure I could catch him anyway. Mines head can look kinda goofy, not a pure black helmet for sure, but idk if I’m on the level for the reptile shed reference

being that yours is in qt, and it’s a prolonged thing, I’d probably try a couple weeks of abx. Afaik formalin kills brook really well, you could try a h2o2 bath or just a few days of metronidazole and that should definitely cure any brook concerns

kinda hard to tell other than it looks like a blemish of some sort. Do you have a whiter light you could take pics with?

 

[BST310]

My blackcap seems to get a lot of scrapes and various injuries, he spends a lot of time cave making so I assume he just gets scratched up here and there. Definitely not enough to do anything about, not sure I could catch him anyway. Mines head can look kinda goofy, not a pure black helmet for sure, but idk if I’m on the level for the reptile shed reference

being that yours is in qt, and it’s a prolonged thing, I’d probably try a couple weeks of abx. Afaik formalin kills brook really well, you could try a h2o2 bath or just a few days of metronidazole and that should definitely cure any brook concerns

kinda hard to tell other than it looks like a blemish of some sort. Do you have a whiter light you could take pics with?

Yeah I might be a bit over exaggerative on the dullness. I’ll try to get a pic under whiter light but I’m not terribly concerned still eating like a champ.

Sounds like abx should be a good fail safe. Would you even bother with the kannaplex and furan? Never used either in the water column.

 

[mattyzang]

Yeah I might be a bit over exaggerative on the dullness. I’ll try to get a pic under whiter light but I’m not terribly concerned still eating like a champ.

Sounds like abx should be a good fail safe. Would you even bother with the kannaplex and furan? Never used either in the water column.

that's the trifecta right? furan kanaplex and sulfaplex iirc?

i did it one time when i was losing fish to something unknown after copper treatment. i leaned bacterial issue, but wasn't sure, so i did httm + the trifeta on the fish and didn't lose anymore, so not sure if it was the httm or the abx that fixed the issue. since then, the only times i've run into bacterial type issues i had acquired cipro which is done in a bath, so i just used that

being that you had brook, i'd be more concerned about diseases, but from what i can see in the pic, i see stuff like that on my fish from time to time. i assume they just bump into stuff and get the equivalent and cuts and bruises. it usually seems to happen to my rock dwelling fish, the blackcap most prominently. i've never intervened on those, but if the fish is in qt, and it doesn't seem to be healing, i'd probably do something

you could do metro for a couple weeks and see how things go with the spot. metro should treat the brook if formalin missed it, if the spot gets worse i'd water change and run the trifecta instead

 

[BST310]

I thought the trifecta was Kannaplex + Furan 2 + Metroplex. They seemingly all serve the relatively same purpose.

Yeah I’ll start with the round of ABX and watch after that.

Appreciate your help!

 

[mattyzang]

I thought the trifecta was Kannaplex + Furan 2 + Metroplex. They seemingly all serve the relatively same purpose.

Yeah I’ll start with the round of ABX and watch after that.

Appreciate your help!

you're probably right, idk what sulfaplex is really for

the antibiotic stuff is quite a rabbit hole