Purple Firefish with white blotch

[stcreef]

I have had this guy for a while now, healthy, eating, all normal activity. Over the weekend I noticed on his right side about mid body, a milky blotch about 3-4 mm long and 2-3 wide. He was hanging out by my RBTA and figured maybe he got stung and it was slime. Then this morning the blotch had moved back and up from where it originally was. I cannot see any type of appendages or anatomy on this mark. It really looks like dead skin or slime.

I will try to get a pic tonite, but he is going to be a tough one to get to smile.

Any ideas, I have searched high and low for anything resembling this to no avail including WWM

 

[danthemanj]

Almost sounds like Brooklynella but that usually occurs in clowns. Can a firefish get Brooklynella? If its Brooklynella, you can use Formalin dips (have to be very careful with this) to try and cure it

 

[stcreef]

Well I was all set to come home and take a picture but the skin tag is gone. He is still not exhibiting any out of the ordinary behavior, breathing normally and is eating. In fact I was able to tease him with some food to get a better look at him. There is no sign of the tag at all. I will have to keep an eye on him.

Dan, I had looked at the info about brook and it does appear other fish can get this as well. But looking at the pics I was able to dig up, it does not resemble what I saw at all. What I saw actually looked like a piece of jelly stuck to his side.

Since my RBTA decided to go on the move last week, he has finally rested where the firefish hangs out. I have seen him get very close to the anemone investigating and wonder if he got stung.

 

[Demo]

As ridiculous as this may sound, it kind of sounds exactly like an illness that nearly wiped out my koi pond. I received about a dozen small koi from someone breaking down their pond. Several months after putting the new fish in my pond, they ALL came down with the exact same symptoms as your firefish. All died exept one within a day or two. The blotch on the one that lived just dropped off. The skin had a noticable mark for a while, but he and the other 2 koi seem fine nearly a year later. Funny that none of the previous pond residents caught the illness. Glad to hear your firefish seems to be on the road to recovery.