Brooklynella??

[Sharkbait19]

I suppose you could at least try hypo, then, as a start. However, that would definitely be best in a QT, though, as you don't want to harm the other fish potentially. They may be infected too, though.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I was looking at the photos again and they are a bit misleading. They make it look like opaque white spots on the fish but that is not the case. This is more like small transparent flakes.

Seems like velvet IME

 

[Justin_Reef]

Seems like velvet IME

Alright, thanks.

I am feeling pretty helpless then. I am assuming there is not much chance that she can fight this off on her own and I cannot get meds.

It's pretty discouraging to not add anything to a tank for 6 months and then suddenly this. I purposely was not adding anymore fish (or anything) because things were going so well.

 

[Sam816]

there must be some online retailers that sell copper meds. you need to start treatment soon else you might lose all your fish. they might not be showing symptoms right now but they will in a week or two. one option is ask local reefers if they have copper they can spare .
other option is contact lfs and check if they have oversized UV they can rent out. that might help in delaying the treatment but you will need to treat.

 

[Justin_Reef]

there must be some online retailers that sell copper meds. you need to start treatment soon else you might lose all your fish. they might not be showing symptoms right now but they will in a week or two. one option is ask local reefers if they have copper they can spare .
other option is contact lfs and check if they have oversized UV they can rent out. that might help in delaying the treatment but you will need to treat.

Alright. So you are confident this is velvet then based on the pics and what I am describing?

I might be able to find copper but putting two large (massive) puffers into QT and running them through copper is risky. I just want to be 100% sure before I get to this point. It doesn't make much sense to me that this is velvet but I have never dealt with it before.

 

[Sam816]

Alright. So you are confident this is velvet then based on the pics and what I am describing?

I might be able to find copper but putting two large (massive) puffers into QT and running them through copper is risky. I just want to be 100% sure before I get to this point. It doesn't make much sense to me that this is velvet but I have never dealt with it before.

Actually i am not. I agree with @Jay Hemdal that they don't look like ich or velvet spots. but the second fish that shows symptoms might show clear spots. it will be very late by then. get hold of meds so that you can save some of the fish in case things take downward turn. a large size UV won't do any harm anyways. your photography skills are good. can you take a vid under white light? shoot some footage of other fish as well. it might help identifying the issue or someone might notice issue with them.

 

[Justin_Reef]

Actually i am not. I agree with @Jay Hemdal that they don't look like ich or velvet spots. but the second fish that shows symptoms might show clear spots. it will be very late by then. get hold of meds so that you can save some of the fish in case things take downward turn. a large size UV won't do any harm anyways. your photography skills are good. can you take a vid under white light? shoot some footage of other fish as well. it might help identifying the issue or someone might notice issue with them.

Yes, I can do that tonight. I do agree, I should try and grab some meds just in case. I'll start looking.

They don't look like spots at all. Maybe the video will help.

I am just so hesitant to put the puffers through copper. I have only tried it once many years back and the puffer passed away pretty quickly. It was not pretty.

 

[Sam816]

Yes, I can do that tonight. I do agree, I should try and grab some meds just in case. I'll start looking.

They don't look like spots at all. Maybe the video will help.

I am just so hesitant to put the puffers through copper. I have only tried it once many years back and the puffer passed away pretty quickly. It was not pretty.

with the fish that show symptoms you should up the concentration of copper quickly but for other fish(no spots or scratching)you should start with low concentration and slowly raise it. you should stop as soon as they show sign of distress. use copper power or copper safe instead of cupramine.
the fact that other fish are not showing symptoms means they are happy and healthy. they should be able to take copper treatment like a champ. I hope you are adding some sort of fish vitamins in the frozen food that you feed. if not get a bottle of selcon or fish V. if you are moving all fish to QT for treatment then make sure they are eating again before you start dosing copper. best of luck. I really hope its just a hoax and you don't need to use any med.

 

[Justin_Reef]

Started to drop the salinity last night. It’s around 1.016.

Most of the tangs marks are not visible today, she is still swimming normal, still breathing normal and eating. I would say she is just slightly pale compared to normal.

Might be unrelated but two other fish have a slight fuzzy growth on the edge of their pectoral fins today. I’ve seen this before and usually turn the flow up on my UV and it goes away in a few days.

 

[Sam816]

Pls post a vid or some pics. pale color could be due to mucus secretion or haze due to velvet.

 

[Justin_Reef]

Pls post a vid or some pics. pale color could be due to mucus secretion or haze due to velvet.

I tried to get a video but you can't really see anything. She has little to no more visible marks, is not scratching and is not pale enough to show on video. She just looks like a regular Hippo tang now but is usually incredibly bright blue, more than any other Hippo I have ever seen.

I'll try again later but no way anyone would think anything is wrong with this fish in the video's I made this morning.

EDIT - When I say 'marks' I should be clear. She has never had spots, marks, bumps, ect. It was more like little flakes.

 

[Justin_Reef]

One week later and I don’t feel any closer to knowing what this was / is. No other fish showed symptoms at any point. The Hippo tang has looked normal for the past few days. Still eating well, no heavy breathing, no marks (the flakes never looked attached into the skin, more like something shedding off of her).

I did drop salinity to 1.016 on the way to hypo but stopped since this does not seem like parasites. I’m raising it back to 1.025. I’d just like to try and understand what this may have been.

There was a lot of comments that it was velvet, people seemed so sure but it clearly is not. I’m really happy I did not put these fish through the stress of treating them for something they did not have.

 

[mfollen]

Hey @Justin_Reef
Did you ever find out what this parasite was and how did the fish ended up faring?

 

[eqbal9947]

I can’t QT my puffers (10” and 14”) and I’m not willing to put them through copper anyways.

I can’t get copper anyways so not an option.

You can gets Fritz coppersafe in canada and a chelated copper......