Re: Blue Spotted Jawfish has Crypt? email... two actually out of 9/27/11
Hi again,
<Haylee>
I just checked on the Blue Spotted Jawfish and he's all the way out of his burrow, so I was able to get a better picture of him and a better personal look. I think now he probably has Brooklynellosis.
<Mmm, not likely... instead Cryptocaryon...>
If this is correct, apologies about failure to recognize it before. The disease in general is still new to me and I didn't think it quite fit the description until I got a better look at him. Reading up on that on your archives now, although it seems rather hopeless so far.
<... this species, Opistognathus rosenblatti, is not really a tropical animal... Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/BlueSptJawArt.htm
and here re disease: http://wetwebmedia.com/BluSptJawDisF.htm
and once it's in a suitable environment... deciding on either a course of medicine treatment or hoping it will self-cure.
Do you understand? Bob Fenner>

Re: Blue Spotted Jawfish has Crypt?... three out of... 9/27/11
Thanks for the reply Bob!
<Welcome Haylee>
I just read your links, thank you, I wish I had known about them a bit before purchasing the Blue Spotted Jawfish, I didn't realize he needed it quite so cold. As far as what seems to be plaguing him, I'm just not certain it looks like Crypt. I'm not sure if marine Ich is different from freshwater, but based on the outbreak we had once in our freshwater tank this doesn't look quite the same.
<Indeed they are. Difference in size...>
Mainly the fact that there are apparent tubes/tentacles on him (what I assumed was the 'cilia' from Brooklynellosis)
rather than white dots flesh with his scales.
<Actually... one cannot see the actual agents (Protozoans)... the white clumps, spots are the reaction effect of the host... mucus>
Additionally he has the labored breathing which seems to be a Brooklynellosis symptom, <Symptomatic of all "proteinaceous precipitant" reactions... More mucus makes breathing/respiration difficult>
although whether or not this is also true for Crypt I'm not sure,
<... tis>
all I saw on our freshwater Ich was the fish flashing against the gravel, which I have also seen the Jawfish doing from time to time (though I suspect any type of parasite will cause this reaction?)
<Many do>
As far as the fish being non-tropical, does that relate in anyway to his illness?
<Oh yes... all health issues are "environmentally mediated"... Have you not noticed this in your life? Read here re: http://wetwebmedia.com/mardisease.htm>
I'm just a little confused because on a WWM article about Brooklynellosis it says Jawfish can also be easily susceptible to it, so I'm not sure if you're implying it's a disease for tropical fish only or if other types of Jawfish are tropical and therefore are the ones to get it?
<Mmm, can be subject to... but rare>
It's just frustrating because he looked so healthy yesterday and in the store, and suddenly today he has this. At any rate, I'm going to need to treat my whole tank now won't I?
<Unless you have a treatment set-up... yes. Or as insinuated in the last email, want to hope/wait out the situation, hoping this/these animal/s will fight off the infestation. Read here re:
http://wetwebmedia.com/parasittkfaq2.htm
and the linked files above, till you understand sufficiently. BobF>
Thanks for all the advice
- Haylee
Blue Spotted Jawfish has Crypt?... the original/first email... rec'd third 9/28/11
Hi there!
<Haylee... has your email gone through a worm hole? We've chatted twice before this>
My boyfriend and I just recently got into the marine aquarium hobby, and your website has been a fantastic source but we're definitely still learning a lot as we go (we just recently battled a Vermetid Snail and are still combating the Digitate Hydroids).
<No fun>
We have a 29gal.
<Too small for Opistognathus rosenblatti>
that's 30x12x18. I want to say we have ~30 lbs of live rock, and it's been up and running about 2 months now with great reports thus far. Unfortunately my boyfriend does all the water testings, so I don't have the exact numbers for you (and we actually don't have a test for magnesium yet) also some of our tests are dry strips...which I know you guys hate and are less reliable (we're working on it!) but we did a water test last night and all of our numbers were in the 'good range'. We do have a powerhead and a protein skimmer, I'm not sure what the specs you need for those are though. The inhabitants are: 1 Tail Spot Blenny, 1 Blue Spotted Jawfish,
<A cool water species. Incompatible here>
1 Arrow Crab,
<Predaceous>
1 Fancy Brittle Star,
<This too possibly>
1 Cerith Snail, 2 Astrea Snails, 2 Nerite Snails (I believe they were sold to us as Margarita Snails, but based on the sesame seed like eggs on the tank I've chalked them up to Nerites) and 8 Hermits that I think are the Dwarf Red Tip.
Now the problem is, we just bought a Blue Spotted Jawfish 4 days ago and then went back to pick him up and introduce him to our tank yesterday. He was doing absolutely fabulous yesterday, and immediately began to burrow.
<What they do>
Likely our first mistake is we did not quarantine him. We don't have a separate tank set aside for this, or had even really thought of it until I was trying to read up on some things tonight. The place we bought the Jawfish from is a place we haven't bought anything from yet, and the Jawfish was actually $80 when I know they can go for $200 (too good to be true usually is, right) but all of their livestock, both coral and fish, appear very healthy and the employees are knowledgeable (albeit still salesmen) the low prices if anything are likely a way for their smaller scale store to compete with some of the larger ones near them.
But back to the Jawfish, tonight he has what appears to be white dots on him.
<Saw these in our previous email>
Now we've had an outbreak of Ich in our freshwater tank a while back, and to me, these spots don't look the same. However, I did witnesses him flashing a few times against the sand. Really on closer inspection though, it's not so much white spots as what looks like....clear, short tentacles coming off his body
<Excessive body mucus...>
(well his head, he won't show me the rest of his body)
it also looks like his breathing is a little bit more labored and one gill appears rather flared out (I thought maybe he had a Copepod stuck in there even). I've attached a picture, you can sort of see one of the 'tentacles' on the very top middle of his head. These sort of tentacles on his body could be his slime, but I've seen slime off corals and fish before and this doesn't quite look the same, but sand is sticking to it (which is where the white dots appearance is really coming from I believe). So before I stress him out even further with a freshwater dip for Ich, I wanted to know if this sounds more like a stress case and we should just leave him alone,
<Is a crypt case linked/subsequent to excess stress>
maybe even see how he is tomorrow before taking action?
<Up to you... have you read where you were last directed?>
My only concern is if it is Ich I want to act now to ensure the greatest survival rate for him, and stop it from spreading period.
Now, another thing that makes me think this may not be Ich is that starting yesterday our Arrow Crab lost a leg. By this evening he know has 4 legs and 1 claw, which kind of sounds like he's reacting to poor water quality (but we just tested last night!). The Arrow crab has been one of our longest additions to the tank and he's actually relatively mellow for an Arrow so I don't believe he's getting into any fights with anyone (as far as I know he hasn't even left the back corner where all his legs are lying around him).
But we did do a few new things to our tank this week, besides adding the Blue Spotted Jawfish.
<Likely a water quality issue... do you administer iodide/ate? Balance of Biominerals and alkalinity?>
We also bought 8 new coral frags (is their type important?
<Yikes, yes>
Nothing really out of the ordinary.) and ran all of them and our live rock through a dip yesterday with Coral RX
We also added more live sand into the tank, to give the new Jawfish some more burrowing room (although he's using the shallower side anyway, go figure).
Because of the rock and coral dip we ended up rearranging the entire set up of our tank, also in efforts to promote the Jawfish burrow at the front (which he chose yay!) rather than the back where he'd initially begun digging.
And we attached our new corals to the rock using a reef safe putty (I'm afraid I don't know the name, but it's red with gray inside and you mix it together and it generates a small amount of heat. The package warned it would make the protein skimmer go nuts for 36 hours, which it is).
Last night we also did about a 10% water change, and we'd had some evaporation as it is so topped off the tank (we did the water test a few hours after this, by the way). Typically we don't do a weekly water change which you guys seem to suggest, but we also don't do a monthly one, just sorta somewhere in between.
<You're learning; good>
So, between all of that, I'm not sure what it is. Obvious answer seems to be stress, right?
<As a related "cause". Yes>
But truth be told, after all the chaos of dipping and reorganizing the tank last night, the Jawfish immediately built a new burrow and seemed very content. He never appeared slimy, labored, timid or ever not digging at any point yesterday. Sorry for being so long, I wanted to make sure I got every possible source of issue explained! Any help would be appreciated though, because I'm not quite sure what to think or do at this point. Thanks!
- Haylee
<Please review our last two emails, the linked citation referrals therein. BobF>

Blue spotted Jawfish, damaged -- 3/31/10
Hello,
We have a blue spotted Jawfish whose mouth on the left side seems to have turned pink & almost appears bruised I know this isn't the best photo but he is burrowing like he does. Do you think he is I'll or somehow hurt?
<I do... and very likely misplaced... You do realize this is a sub-tropical species... that requires deep fine sand, very large space front to back...
Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/BluSptJawF.htm
Bob Fenner>
Re: Blue spotted Jawfish -- 3/31/10
Misplaced?? Please elaborate.
<... read where you were referred>
If there is more I could or should be doing to make him happy or comfortable I would be happy to make those changes. Maybe I should also tell you he has lots of room but chooses to make his burrow under the live rock. This morning he was actually swimming all around the tank so I'm hoping that's a good sign since normally he is quite shy.
<... I have an as yet unpublished article (in process) on Opistognathus rosenblatti I can/could send along... but the salient points are covered in the aforementioned FAQs file. BobF>

Blue Spotted Jawfish Injury 12/12/09
Dear Wet Web Media,
<Caroline>
I spent several hours trying to find the right article to answer my questions. I have had 2 ocellaris clown fish, a yellow tang, and a blue spotted Jawfish in my aquarium for over 6 months with not one problem.
<Mmm, I've recently penned an article on Opistognathus rosenblatti. It's not posted on WWM pending publication in pulp 'zines... but I want to state that this fish is difficult to keep in most hobbyist settings long term...
Is not really tropical, but cooler water, and needs much more room/space than folks realize, esp. for such a small species... Like a four foot or more long and two foot or more wide sandy bottom area footprint... With no competitors in the way of fish life in its space>
I test my water about every 2 or 3 days and keep up with my water changes regularly. Recently however, I made a very big mistake. I went to a fish store near my house and ended up leaving with a lyre-tail wrasse. It goes against my better judgment because I was not planning on getting anymore fish. Well I should of known better because this new fish took a decent size chunk out of my poor jawfish's tail. I put my Jawfish in a hospital tank
<Too stressful>
and added some antibiotics to the water (Metronidazole 250).
<... this is NOT an antibiotic, but an anti-protozoal. Of no benefit here, and in fact, deleterious>
I am really hoping he pulls through, I would like to know if his tail will ever grow back?
<If not too badly chewed, placed in propitious circumstances>
What is the likely hood that he will survive?
<Long term, not good>
I feel pretty stupid for not doing my homework prior to adopting this wrasse.. the man at the fish store was not informative at all about this animal, although I accept the responsibility of not doing my research.
<I would return the Lyretail Wrasse to the store, and place the Blue Spot Jaw in the main display, and not "treat" its injury further. Bob Fenner>
Photograph of injured blue spotted Jawfish
Looks like a healthy specimen otherwise! BobF