Cryptocaryon and pigment loss

Myxini · Sep 16, 2021

Hi all,

I believe I have an outbreak of cryptocaryon in my display tank. This includes two clowns, a royal gramma, and a goby. One of the clowns looked pretty thin and ragged with white spots. The other clown looked and behaved normally. The royal gramma was flashing, but no spots. The goby had normal behavior but a couple of visible spots.

I moved all the fish into a hospital system for a hyposalinity treatment at 15ppt. The healthier clown, the royal gramma, and the goby all look good. No more visible spots on the goby.

The clown that looked to be in the worst shape is not doing well. Breathing rapidly, ragged fins, and now patchy pigment loss. Is there something else that this could be besides cryptocaryon? I don’t think this fish is going to recover, but I don’t want to lose the other three fish to something that won’t be affected by the hyposalinity.

I am aware that a skin scrape would be the best diagnosis, but no microscope at home. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 16, 2021

Myxini said:
Hi all,

I believe I have an outbreak of cryptocaryon in my display tank. This includes two clowns, a royal gramma, and a goby. One of the clowns looked pretty thin and ragged with white spots. The other clown looked and behaved normally. The royal gramma was flashing, but no spots. The goby had normal behavior but a couple of visible spots.

I moved all the fish into a hospital system for a hyposalinity treatment at 15ppt. The healthier clown, the royal gramma, and the goby all look good. No more visible spots on the goby.

The clown that looked to be in the worst shape is not doing well. Breathing rapidly, ragged fins, and now patchy pigment loss. Is there something else that this could be besides cryptocaryon? I don’t think this fish is going to recover, but I don’t want to lose the other three fish to something that won’t be affected by the hyposalinity.

I am aware that a skin scrape would be the best diagnosis, but no microscope at home. Thanks in advance for any advice.

That doesn't look like Cryptocaryon to me. It seems a bit emaciated at the head, the body looks splotchy and the caudal fin has some damage. The 15 ppt treatment will really only treat for some species of flukes. It won't treat velvet or brooklynella, and really, for ich, you need to go as low as 1.009.

Have you seen any interaction beytween the other fish and this clown?

Jay

Myxini · Sep 16, 2021

The small white spots that looked like Cryptocaryon disappeared after about 1-2 days in hyposalinity. I agree that the clown’s current appearance doesn’t look like Cryptocaryon at all. The healthy clown is definitely the dominant one and has been aggressive on occasion, but it was only on occasion, both were eating. The badgering has gotten worse in the smaller hospital tank.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 17, 2021

Myxini said:
The small white spots that looked like Cryptocaryon disappeared after about 1-2 days in hyposalinity. I agree that the clown’s current appearance doesn’t look like Cryptocaryon at all. The healthy clown is definitely the dominant one and has been aggressive on occasion, but it was only on occasion, both were eating. The badgering has gotten worse in the smaller hospital tank.

Clowns can be pretty sly when fighting - they often stop when you are in the room. Also, actual contact between the fish may only happen in a split second a few times a day, so you may miss it.
Jay