Acriflavine

[mvm]

I'm currently treating a clownfish pair with brook. I have acriflavine, formalin, and a host of other medicines. It seems the acri is the best, safest. The instructions on the bottle don't say anything about length of treatment or number of treatments. I followed the instruction of 1 tsp per 10 gallons and have done that twice, two days in a row. I plan to move them to another sterile tank. Is if safe to assume the brook has been killed with the two treatments? Do I need to move them to another sterile tank, or should I just begin water changes on the current tank. One of the two clowns was on his last leg, but seems to be recovering. How long does my friends display tank need to remain fallow to ensure brook life cycle has completed and that it's gone?

 

[Diesel]

@Humblefish @melypr1985 can give you the best of all answers

 

[mvm]

After closer inspection, they seem to still have signs of the disease, or al least they don't look "clean." Is that just tissue damage from the brook?

 

[mvm]

 

[mvm]

 

[mvm]

I'm giving them a formalin bath as we speak.

 

[Diesel]

Looks to me tissue damage, are you fish eating and breathing normal?

 

[Diesel]

I'm giving them a formalin bath as we speak.

Don't stress them out to much from one treatment to another.

 

[mvm]

The one that was in terrible shape prior to treatment has slightly rapid breathing. They both eat, but the one most affected doesn't eat aggressively.

 

[Humblefish]

Formalin is the most effective at treating brook, but acriflavine is the safer option IME. With formalin, you only want to do a 45-60 min bath max and then transfer the fish into a sterile QT. But when doing an acriflavine bath, you can leave the fish in it for 90 mins or longer. I prefer bath treatments over QT treatment for brook because while both chemicals are good at forcing the parasites off the fish, I am less confident in their ability to eradicate the free swimmers (prevent reinfection). So, this is why you want to transfer the fish into a sterile QT post bath. Sometimes one bath treatment is enough to dislodge all the trophonts, other times multiple baths are required. Dosing the sterile QT with metronidazole is probably the best way to finish brook off and prevent reinfection, as that drug should be capable of zapping any free swimmers. Its a 1-2 punch really... Formalin/acriflavine provides immediate relief by removing the surface parasites, but in reality it probably doesn't always get them all. So you then dose metro in a sterile QT as a long-term treatment to finish brook off and sanitize the QT of brook. ;)

 

[mvm]

What are your thoughts on the pictures? Damage post parasite or still active parasite?

 

[mvm]

And what about fallow period.

 

[Humblefish]

What are your thoughts on the pictures? Damage post parasite or still active parasite?

Looks mostly like skin damage to me. But if you've already begun the formalin bath, I'd give them at least 30 mins in it to be sure.

And what about fallow period.

6 weeks for brook.

 

[mvm]

Thanks. What about fallow period?

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks. What about fallow period?

Six weeks