Brooklynella questions

[Clarinuto]

If you treat Brooklynella with medicated food, is brook still in the water column despite the fish being healthy (and therefore a fallow period required for eradication)? My current understanding is yes?

Also, can someone help me visually distinguish between the white dusting of brook versus the white dusting of velvet? I’ve been trying hard to learn as much as I can about marine diseases and I even watched a YouTube video that had fish actively showing each and still didn’t feel confident I could tell them apart in my aquarium if I needed to. Scary stuff since both can kill so quickly so I feel like being able to ID is key. Thanks!

 

[Crabs McJones]

To my knowledge (i may be wrong) medicated food isn't an effective way to treat brook. The best way is to get a quarantine tank setup, run the fish through a 45 minute formalin bath, and keep in a sterile qt while the tank sits fallow for a minimum of 6 weeks. Check out Humblefish's thread on it here. Lots of good info on brook for you

 

[AcroNem]

Nope, medicated food will not treat brook unfortunately. A formalin bath with a transfer to a sterile system works well, but I do several more doses of formalin (low dose prolonged bath, in QT) just to be sure.

 

[Clarinuto]

I actually was using a Humblefish thread with recommended medications to keep on hand and their potential uses as a guide. The link is: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/medications-to-keep-on-hand.213574/

The sections I’m referencing are:

“Multi-purpose medications:
Metronidazole (treats Brooklynella, Uronema, internal parasites/intestinal worms, some anti-bacterial activity) - Use Seachem MetroPlex or Metro-MS. API General Cure contains both praziquantel & metronidazole.

Medications that are “reef safe”:
Prazipro - may kill tube worms/feather dusters and bristle worms. If you have lots of tiny feather dusters and/or bristle worms in your tank (usually down in the sump), the resulting die-off can lead to an ammonia spike.
Kanaplex, erythromycin, metronidazole and powder praziquantel can all be soaked in fish food. Use a binder, such as Seachem Focus, to prevent the medication from leaching out into the water column.”

So I was thinking it could be less stressful for the fish to use food bound with focus, metro, and Kanaplex. But that could defeat the point if brook can attack new fish added or a stressed existing fish at anytime so fallow is still needed. Hope that makes sense

 

[Clarinuto]

So I guess perhaps the Humblefish medication list might be out of date?

 

[Crabs McJones]

The food soaking he's referring to is for internal parasites and pathogens. Brook is an external, if you feed the food to the fish the medication never gets to the parasite. It'll cure the fish of any internal pathogens though And yes, some parasites can fall off the fish and survive in the display tank, if a new fish is introduced it could latch on and start the cycle all over again

 

[Clarinuto]

The food soaking he's referring to is for internal parasites and pathogens. Brook is an external, if you feed the food to the fish the medication never gets to the parasite. It'll cure the fish of any internal pathogens though And yes, some parasites can fall off the fish and survive in the display tank, if a new fish is introduced it could latch on and start the cycle all over again

Rats. That makes sense. These diseases and parasites are the worst!! Is there an way you can describe to me to tell the difference between brook and velvet visually? I’ve read the Humblefish threads on both and looked at pictures for each in various ID threads and I often can’t tell the difference. :/ the rest of the diseases I feel confident I can ID at some point but these two I am worried about and I know time makes a huge difference in treating both.

 

[Smo]

Early stages of brook and velvet can look very similar. To differentiate you’d be best to take a scraping and look under a microscope. Not practical for most of us.
So, if you suspect brook but are concerned about potential Velvet—best to treat for both since each can be a rapid killer. Suggest a 5 min fresh water dip followed by a 90 min acriflavine bath (for temporary relief) then into a QT with either Cu and metroplex or CP. that way you treat both.
Since the DT needs to remain fallow for at least 6 weeks to rid brook and/or velvet—may as well go to 76 days to ensure ick is wiped out too.

 

[Clarinuto]

Early stages of brook and velvet can look very similar. To differentiate you’d be best to take a scraping and look under a microscope. Not practical for most of us.
So, if you suspect brook but are concerned about potential Velvet—best to treat for both since each can be a rapid killer. Suggest a 5 min fresh water dip followed by a 90 min acriflavine bath (for temporary relief) then into a QT with either Cu and metroplex or CP. that way you treat both.
Since the DT needs to remain fallow for at least 6 weeks to rid brook and/or velvet—may as well go to 76 days to ensure ick is wiped out too.

Thank you so much for the info. Much agreed on extending the fallow time. I’ve had the same thoughts. If I have to go fallow, might as well extend a couple more weeks just in case.