"Cyst" in Longnose Hawkfish

[cjpitt80]

Hi,
Can anyone help me identify this strange "cyst" thing on my Longnose hawkfish. I noticed it and a change in behavior in that he wouldn't aggressively feed any longer. He also changed his perch spot. A few days after I first noticed it, he was just laying on a few rocks and wouldn't move unless I tried to catch him. Unfortunately, with my rockscape, I couldn't capture him and he died a few days later. I'd really love to get another, but I'd like to be more prepared. The cyst really never got much bigger and it seemingly appeared overnight. It looked to me like he was unable to fully close his mouth, but I couldn't ever quite tell if there was something stuck in there.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jSJ3HJz4VWgEgbkP8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jSJ3HJz4VWgEgbkP8

Thanks for any help

[slief]

Originally Posted by cjpitt80

Hi,
Can anyone help me identify this strange "cyst" thing on my Longnose hawkfish. I noticed it and a change in behavior in that he wouldn't aggressively feed any longer. He also changed his perch spot. A few days after I first noticed it, he was just laying on a few rocks and wouldn't move unless I tried to catch him. Unfortunately, with my rockscape, I couldn't capture him and he died a few days later. I'd really love to get another, but I'd like to be more prepared. The cyst really never got much bigger and it seemingly appeared overnight. It looked to me like he was unable to fully close his mouth, but I couldn't ever quite tell if there was something stuck in there.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jSJ3HJz4VWgEgbkP8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jSJ3HJz4VWgEgbkP8

Thanks for any help

I fixed the links above. It kind of looks like Lymphocystis in which case, it’s highly unlikely that would be what caused him to die. Lymphocystis usually goes away on its own with proper feeding.

[cjpitt80]

Thanks.
Just my luck... Well he stopped eating maybe 3 days before he disappeared. A couple days after I first noticed whatever it was, I noticed he wasn't feeding as aggressively. Everything else in the tank looked okay. Is lymphocytosis contagious?

[cjpitt80]

DOes anyone else have any experience with this?

[hkgar]

How long did you have the fish. If a recent addition it could be from improper acclimation.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1959576

[cjpitt80]

Originally Posted by hkgar

How long did you have the fish. If a recent addition it could be from improper acclimation.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1959576

Had him in QT for about 4 weeks. He was in display about 2 weeks. First noticed the cyst about 1 week after I moved him up to the Display

[slief]

Originally Posted by cjpitt80

Had him in QT for about 4 weeks. He was in display about 2 weeks. First noticed the cyst about 1 week after I moved him up to the Display

Lympho is not usually contagious but it also doesn’t normally kill the fish. If the fish dissapeared and hasn’t been seen since, it could be that he died of other causes. There is a reasonably high attrition rate in this hobby in terms of new fish mortality. The stress from capture methods to being transferred from the source to the wholesaler to the store to your tank is often a death sentence for fish. One thing that is often overlooked is the salinity of the incoming water. It’s VERY important to test the salinity of the bag water and match the salinity in your quarantine. Very often stores, online sellers and wholesalers maintain very low salinity (I’ve seen salinity levels as low as 1.011 but anywhere from 1.015-1.021 is common) and you cannot acclimate a fish from even 1.021 to 1.025 in a couple hours let alone 24 hours safely without risk of osmotic shock. Even stores overlook this and take fish from ultra low salinity which is VERY common with wholesalers and do a fast acclimation without ever checking the salinity of the bag water and the end result is a very high casualty rate with store bought fish. If your incoming bag water had fairly low salinity and you didn’t match the salinity and raise it slowly over the course of several days, it’s possible the fish was suffering from osmotic shock. Even if you did, it’s still possible that the store you got it from didn’t. The stress from that can cause lympho and it can take several weeks for the fish to finally succumb to the effects from the osmotic shock.

[cjpitt80]

Originally Posted by slief

Lympho is not usually contagious but it also doesn’t normally kill the fish. If the fish dissapeared and hasn’t been seen since, it could be that he died of other causes. There is a reasonably high attrition rate in this hobby in terms of new fish mortality. The stress from capture methods to being transferred from the source to the wholesaler to the store to your tank is often a death sentence for fish. One thing that is often overlooked is the salinity of the incoming water. It’s VERY important to test the salinity of the bag water and match the salinity in your quarantine. Very often stores, online sellers and wholesalers maintain very low salinity (I’ve seen salinity levels as low as 1.011 but anywhere from 1.015-1.021 is common) and you cannot acclimate a fish from even 1.021 to 1.025 in a couple hours let alone 24 hours safely without risk of osmotic shock. Even stores overlook this and take fish from ultra low salinity which is VERY common with wholesalers and do a fast acclimation without ever checking the salinity of the bag water and the end result is a very high casualty rate with store bought fish. If your incoming bag water had fairly low salinity and you didn’t match the salinity and raise it slowly over the course of several days, it’s possible the fish was suffering from osmotic shock. Even if you did, it’s still possible that the store you got it from didn’t. The stress from that can cause lympho and it can take several weeks for the fish to finally succumb to the effects from the osmotic shock.

Yeah, I don't think it was a salinity issue. Just checked my notes..The store water was at 1.021 so I set my QT to match that and dumped him in after temp matching. My DT is 1.025, so over the course of about 3 weeks in the QT, I added a teaspoon of salt every 3rd day until the QT was at 1.025, matching the DT. Hawk seemed fine in QT. First noticed the cyst looking thing on him 27 days after he was in DT. Because of my rockscape, I couldn't catch him to treat and a week later I couldn't find him and assumed dead.

[slief]

Originally Posted by cjpitt80

Yeah, I don't think it was a salinity issue. Just checked my notes..The store water was at 1.021 so I set my QT to match that and dumped him in after temp matching. My DT is 1.025, so over the course of about 3 weeks in the QT, I added a teaspoon of salt every 3rd day until the QT was at 1.025, matching the DT. Hawk seemed fine in QT. First noticed the cyst looking thing on him 27 days after he was in DT. Because of my rockscape, I couldn't catch him to treat and a week later I couldn't find him and assumed dead.

For somebody who I assume (based on your profile) is relatively new to the saltwater hobby, you did it right in terms of matching salinity in the QT and raising it slowly. That is something that is often overlooked by even long time hobbyists and store owners alike. It’s refreshing to see new comers taking the time to do that. With practices like that and the fact that you clearly do your homework, you should have a long and successful future in this hobby.

[cjpitt80]

Originally Posted by slief

For somebody who I assume (based on your profile) is relatively new to the saltwater hobby, you did it right in terms of matching salinity in the QT and raising it slowly. That is something that is often overlooked by even long time hobbyists and store owners alike. It’s refreshing to see new comers taking the time to do that. With practices like that and the fact that you clearly do your homework, you should have a long and successful future in this hobby.

Ah well thanks for the kind words. I'm DEFINITELY a newbie in the reefing world, but I have over a decade of experience with various freshwater setups. This is a different animal though lol. When stuff goes wrong, I like to know how I messed up. I've lost a few fish (carpet surfing, harassment, +2.0 alk swing in one night, being lazy and not checking for ammonia in the little 10gal QT, etc..) I'm a biologist by trade and pretty solution oriented, so something like this where I have no answer kinda makes me a lil bonkers.

[slief]

Originally Posted by cjpitt80

Ah well thanks for the kind words. I'm DEFINITELY a newbie in the reefing world, but I have over a decade of experience with various freshwater setups. This is a different animal though lol. When stuff goes wrong, I like to know how I messed up. I've lost a few fish (carpet surfing, harassment, +2.0 alk swing in one night, being lazy and not checking for ammonia in the little 10gal QT, etc..) I'm a biologist by trade and pretty solution oriented, so something like this where I have no answer kinda makes me a lil bonkers.

Sounds like you have a great background for the saltwater side of things. Like many who come into this hobby, I learned the hardway. When I got into the hobby 30+ years ago, the internet didn’t exist and BBS groups for saltwater we pretty much non existant. I depended on the stroes who I learned had only one motivation. To sell fish even if my tank was ready or worse, wasn’t the correct setup. Like.I said, I learned the hardway and paid heavy tolls in my early years. Especially being the impatient persion I was with very limited resources for quality information. How times have changed with the internet!

Sadly, the fish we get through commercial channels have already been through god only knows what before they get to us and all to often, there is no explaining what really happened to them short of paying for a necropsy which most of us will never do. Choosing good sources and doing proper QT as you have done are the best methods of reducing casualties but ultimately, we never know what these fish have been through or the stresses they have endured prior to our acquisitions. And often times, it can take several weeks for the fish to succumb to those stresses. As such, the casualty rates will always be higher than most would expect. Especially when buying from a store unless they allow you to hold them there for long observation periods. I’ve been fortunate enough to get my fish direct from the wholesales which eliminates one more variable and reduces the casualty rates for me a bit. Granted, I don’t buy fish often these days as my tank is very well stocked with fish that I’ve had (for the most part) a long time.