Warts? On my black clown goby

[Duke13]

I apologize, I do not have pictures. My digital camera could not do the symptoms justice.

Ok, my wife decided to surprise one day with a Black Clown Goby. Probably her biggest mistake was she bought it from Petco, reknown for selling diseased saltwater fish. Well, I wasn't aware of all of this until after the little guy was acclimated and placed into the tank (I don't usually run a QT tank).

Now to the problem. It's been about 3 days since we put him into the tank. I see what I consider 'warts', they aren't just spots, you can actually see roundness to them. I can't tell if they're black or clear because of the fish's 'pygmentation' (when I wake in the morning, the goby is lighter in color and after I turn on the lights, he gets darker). To me, this doesn't look like Ich. It may be a possibility of Black Ich, however I've never seen it in real life, just pictures - so I'm not too reliable.

My other fish show no signs of these 'warts'. Here are the fish in my tank:

2 ocellaris clown
2 chromis
1 Potter's Leopard Wrasse

BTW, my tank water stats are all at normal/acceptable levels.


I am worried that this may spread soon. My first step is make a QT tank and isolate him. However, I'm still not sure how to treat these 'warts', let alone identify what the disease is.

I also wanted to add the fish wasn't picked on by any of the other fish and is eating and moving just fine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and I apologize ahead of time for a lack of a picture.

[SAT]

It would help if you could determine if the spots are on the skin, part of the skin, or under the skin. "Black Ich" or turbellarians, are typically brown or black, on the skin. If that's the problem, a freshwater dip or formalin bath should knock them off. See: http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/blackich.html

If the spots are under the skin, best bet is to isolate, watch and see what happens. Sometimes spots like that will erupt, like pimples. If that happens, some antibiotic treatment is a good idea (Maracyn-Two is a good choice).

You may also have a viral infection, similar to warts. Lymphocystis, for instance, will resemble white or pink warts or bits of cauliflower. If that's the problem, no treatment is available or required... Lymphocystis is rarely fatal and usually goes away on its own after a while.

[Duke13]

Thanks for the advice. Personally, I don't think it's Ich or Black Ich because the 'warts' are big (almost the size of a piece of NERD candy in some spots). They seem to be under the skin.

I already have the little guy isolated.

[Duke13]

I also wanted to add that the 'warts' match the color of the fish, so it's hard for me to determine if they're clear or black. I can definitely say they're not white or pink.

[SAT]

Some parasites, such as monogeneans, are nearly transparent. A formalin bath is indicated for those.

[Duke13]

Question, I looked up Maracyn-Two and the package says it's for freshwater. Can this be used with saltwater?

[SAT]

Originally posted by Duke13
Question, I looked up Maracyn-Two and the package says it's for freshwater. Can this be used with saltwater? Yes, you can. They also sell a saltwater flavor for more money that contains some extra ingredients that may or may not be helpful.

[Duke13]

I did a search on lymphocystis and it mainly showed 'extreme' cases of it. I'm not ruling out the possibility of lymphocystis but I'm still looking for a milder case of it. If you find any, please share. Thanks again.

[Duke13]

OK, my wife just looked at the fish and she confirms that the 'warts' on the fish are definitely black. It still doesn't look like anything I've come across in my research though.

[Duke13]

Now I'm wondering if this may actually be Black Ich. Of the pictures I've seen, the black spots were smaller and more clustered together. My Goby clearly has black spots but they're bigger and aren't really custered together.

[SAT]

I suggest trying a dip and seeing if anything falls off.

[Duke13]

I will try a FW dip and let you know. Thanks.