Help Identifying white spots on Clownfish

[platinummonkey]

Hello there, brand new to sw tanks and I need some help maybe identifying an issue on a clownfish. We've had this little guy for almost 2 months now and around a couple weeks ago I don't know if I noticed a couple white spots or if they were just always there. He seems to be swimming along just fine, no noticeable change in behavior or eating habits and the other tank mates (bicolor blenny, royal gramma, peppermint shrimp) all seem healthy and no spots.

Tank is about 4 months old now, 36g, some live rock some reef-rock. Peppermint shrimp was the first arrival to finish the cycle then followed by a clownfish pair a week later (one got bullied badly and I was too late). Blenny and Royal Gramma are relatively recent but seem pretty happy.

I've tried to look at this guide but I'm quite frankly not great a differentiating yet or if I'm just being paranoid. Definitely appreciate any help.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello there, brand new to sw tanks and I need some help maybe identifying an issue on a clownfish. We've had this little guy for almost 2 months now and around a couple weeks ago I don't know if I noticed a couple white spots or if they were just always there. He seems to be swimming along just fine, no noticeable change in behavior or eating habits and the other tank mates (bicolor blenny, royal gramma, peppermint shrimp) all seem healthy and no spots.

Tank is about 4 months old now, 36g, some live rock some reef-rock. Peppermint shrimp was the first arrival to finish the cycle then followed by a clownfish pair a week later (one got bullied badly and I was too late). Blenny and Royal Gramma are relatively recent but seem pretty happy.

I've tried to look at this guide but I'm quite frankly not great a differentiating yet or if I'm just being paranoid. Definitely appreciate any help.

This is brokklynella and likely the lesions associated with brook.
The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus on its body is a second sign which is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin base at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.
A quarantine system if you dont have one can be as simple as a starter tank kit from walmart which has most of the essentials

 

[platinummonkey]

Well Fun. But thank you so much in addition to the guidance!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I cannot tell if this is marine ich, excess mucus or Brooklynella. The third picture looks more like ich, but the first picture could be Brooklynella.

Can you post a video taken under white lights?

Jay

 

[platinummonkey]

Certainly!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well, looking at the video, now there is a third possibility - the lesions on the leading edges of the pelvic (bottom) fins looks like viral Lymphcystis. That means that the spots on the edge of the caudal (tail) fin is probably also that. Lymphocystis will go away on its own (but might get worse at first) over 4 to 8 weeks.

However, fish can have multiple issues at the same time. The fish looks pretty good in the video though. I would just watch it for now. If it starts acting mopey and the skin mucus gets worse, that points to Brooklynella. If you see little white grains of salt coming and going on its skin, that is ich.

Jay

 

[platinummonkey]

Update before I saw Jay's response, went with @vetteguy53081 's response. This morning we woke up and this guy was breathing hard and looking lethargic. Along with this is a red-ish mark along the side. The white spot on the other top side seems to be gone, the pelvic fins I can't really see.

He moves around occasionally but seems pretty lethargic and always breathing hard. The other two fish seem fine, but hiding.

I couldn't get any formulin yesterday only reef-rally-pro

 

[vetteguy53081]

Update before I saw Jay's response, went with @vetteguy53081 's response. This morning we woke up and this guy was breathing hard and looking lethargic. Along with this is a red-ish mark along the side. The white spot on the other top side seems to be gone, the pelvic fins I can't really see.

He moves around occasionally but seems pretty lethargic and always breathing hard. The other two fish seem fine, but hiding.

I couldn't get any formulin yesterday only reef-rally-pro

I do see lympho on the tail, still see signs of brook and inflamed gill plate. Also in the video, fish seems to be battling the current which may be a little strong

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I would go with the Ruby Reef right away, the rapid breathing is serious. I would treat it with copper, but that requires a seperate tank.

Jay

 

[platinummonkey]

Sorry to say that this guy did not live through this. Sucks that I didn’t see this until way late, hard lesson learned.

The other two fish are hiding away in the QT tank and seem otherwise fine. Any pointers going forward here for the long haul in QT and running fallow in the DT?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Can you describe your QT setup?
Jay

 

[platinummonkey]

10gal Walmart kit, bubble stone. Salinity 1.024, pH at 8, temp 79F. Dosed cupramine at ratio, sechem copper test says right at ~0.5. Couple cheap Walmart aquarium decorations for hiding.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

10gal Walmart kit, bubble stone. Salinity 1.024, pH at 8, temp 79F. Dosed cupramine at ratio, sechem copper test says right at ~0.5. Couple cheap Walmart aquarium decorations for hiding.

O.K., how do you intend to manage the ammonia? Does the tank have any biofilter? You’ll need to control the ammonia well since these fish will need to reside here for quite some time. You options are; bacteria in a bottle or moving biological media over from your display tank.
Jay

 

[platinummonkey]

I can do either, have both rock and porous media I could pull over

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I can do either, have both rock and porous media I could pull over

Non-calcareous media would be best. You need to keep the ammonia level below 0.25 ppm long term and below 0.50 short term.

Jay

 

[platinummonkey]

Non-calcareous media would be best. You need to keep the ammonia level below 0.25 ppm long term and below 0.50 short term.

Jay

got it, thank you both!