Ich or Velvet?

[Andy Reed]

Hi All,

Its been a bit of a disastrous two weeks. I first saw salt-like white spots on my Power Blue Tang just over two weeks ago and started treating with Polyplab Medic in the display tank. Then blennies started flashing. After a week the PBT and Yellow Tang started to get lethargic and were easily caught so I got them and the cleaner wrasse into a QT tank with Cuppramine. Unfortunately the PBT died after a day. So far the yellow is looking good which is the one positive.

I managed to get all but one fish out into the start of a weak Cupramine QT but since then I've lost a coral beauty, midas blenny and linear blenny. My two clowns are currently looking the worst. It kind of looks like they have peeling skin but I'm wondering whether what I initially thought was Ich is in fact Marine Velvet. Does that fit or does it look like something else?

Much appreciated,
Andy.

 

[Sharkbait19]

The clown looks like it has brooklynella. It’s possible the other fish did have ich or velvet though.
Treatment for brook is formalin.
What level was the cupramine at? It needs to be 0.5 ppm to be effective.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Looks like brooklynella. Formalin or Ruby Reef Rally Pro will treat it. Suggest Hydroplex for 10 minute saltwater dip to kill bugs also. @Jay Hemdal

 

[Andy Reed]

The yellow tang is in one Cupramine QT at 0.5ppm but the rest are in another which hasn't yet done 48 hours so is at 0.25ppm

I hadn't considered Brooklynella. Isn't that a form of Dino? I had a Dino outbreak on the sand about 3-4 weeks ago that seemed to get sorted by a three day lights out.

Thank you,
Andy

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The clownfish in the lower picture has a classic Brooklynella look to it. Brooklynella is a protozoan that lives directly on the fish's skin, it doesn't need to leave the fish for part of its life cycle. It is really common in clownfish.

While it isn't impossible for an aquarium to get ich and Brooklynella at the same time, it is a bit rare. The trouble is, they have two different treatments - copper for ich and formalin for Brook.

One possibility is that the clownfish have had ich so long that they have developed the mucus as a result of that, and not from Brook. If that is the case, then going forward with full 0.50 Cupramine would be called for.

So you have just a yellow tang and the two clownfish left?

Jay

 

[Andy Reed]

Hi Jay,

The smaller clown in the lower photo didn't make it unfortunately. He deteriorated very quick.

I now just have the Yellow Tang, a Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse, a Chalk Goby, 4 Chromis and the larger clown. I doubt the other clown will make it TBH as its looking pretty poorly.

I'm still struggling to understand how this happened as I've quarantined all incoming fish. I'm not setup to QT coral and just dip them so I guess that's a possibility?

Thanks again, Andy

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Jay,

The smaller clown in the lower photo didn't make it unfortunately. He deteriorated very quick.

I now just have the Yellow Tang, a Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse, a Chalk Goby, 4 Chromis and the larger clown. I doubt the other clown will make it TBH as its looking pretty poorly.

I'm still struggling to understand how this happened as I've quarantined all incoming fish. I'm not setup to QT coral and just dip them so I guess that's a possibility?

Thanks again, Andy

Sorry to hear. You might try a FW dip on the remaining clown - a last ditch effort, but if it survives that, you might consider Ruby Reef Rally pro dips for the clown, in conjunction with the copper.

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry for your disaster. Agree with Jay

 

[jvfarrell]

I had something very similar hit my tank, and I lost all fish! We guessed it to be brooklynella. I ended up letting my tank go fallow for about 7 weeks to kill it off. I’ve since added a few fish, and they seem to be doing well.