Please take a look at my clown.

[Salty.Reefer]

Hey everyone. I purchased these two clown fish 3 days ago. They are in a recently cycled tank. For the past two days both have looked healthy and have been eating frozen mysis like hogs. This morning. When the lights came on, one of them appears to have a white film on it and has a long white strand hanging from just above his eye. Does anyone know what this is? It came out of no where and the other clown is still healthy. I have attached a video using the r2r app. Hopefully A) it works and B) it is helpful for diagnosis. Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[Tahoe61]

The looks to have either Brooklynella or Velvet.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-disease-index.247600/

You're going to have to treat the fish as soon as possible.

A still image of the clown would probably of assist to @Humblefish and @melypr1985

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Here is a zoomed in still. I don't have any medications [emoji35]. Should I separate the fish by putting the sick one I the sump or would that be undue stress.

 

[Tahoe61]

Looks like Brook to me but I am not the expert. I suppose it could be a fluke, but there appears to be a mucous coating to the fish as well.

Separating them will not be beneficial as they both share the same water source. The other fish may or may not become symptomatic.

Please read the second link choosing Brooklynella. Unfortunately this disease kills rather fast.

Sorry I can not be the bearer of better news.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

That is quite alright. After some caffeine fueled rapid research I also believe it is brook. Such a bummer. I am going to try to do a fresh water dip now to see if it can improve. How does this happen? Is the LFS at all to blame?

 

[Tahoe61]

Brooklynella is a common disease. In a perfect world all would be quarantined and treated prior to sales but that is not the reality. The swings in water chemistry that go a long with a new tank seem allow the disease to take hold. The stress of a new tank compounds the acclimation process. I would not blame the LFS as much as I would like to.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

He said he had them for over 3 weeks so it is probably just the stress of transferring into a new tank. Just completed the first fw dip and he in back in the DT. He seems weak and searching for low flow areas. It is crazy how quickly this all happened. Good thing is I have the day off to play fish dr. So I need to find a store with medicine. To bad all stores are an hour away and sub prime.

 

[melypr1985]

I agree with brook in this case. Ruby reef rally or if you can find Acriflavin would be best, though metroplex should help as a second choice and formalin baths as a third choice. Definitely treat both clowns -and any other fish you may have- at the same time.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Thank you Meredith! I have to wait for the stores to open then I will start calling to see who has what.

 

[Humblefish]

I believe it is brook as well. Below is a list (in bold) of all available medications I know of you can use to treat brook. API General Cure is probably an option as well, as that contains metro. And sometimes Petco/smart have that medication.

Brooklynella:

Symptoms – This is most often seen in clownfish, but it can afflict any fish. The fish’s skin will appear to be peeling or sloughing off, oftentimes causing excessive white mucous to form around the affected area(s).

Treatment options - Formalin or acriflavine bath, followed by additional baths (as needed - but give the fish a day to recuperate in-between baths). You can use formalin in a QT (at a much lower concentration than the bath), but great care must be taken to provide plenty of gas exchange as formalin will quickly deplete the water of oxygen. For this reason, doing baths is the safer option as the fish can be pulled from the formalin if showing signs of distress. Acriflavine is probably the better option for in-tank QT use.

The following products contain formalin: Formalin-MS (preferred), Quick Cure, Aquarium Solutions Ich-X, Kordon Rid-Ich Plus.

Acriflavine can be found in Acriflavine-MS (preferred) and Ruby Reef Rally.

Metronidazole (exs. Seachem MetroPlex, Metro-MS, Hikari Metro+) is considered an alternative treatment for brook. A freshwater dip may provide temporary relief if you are unable to locate any of the aforementioned medications right away. Some even claim total eradication of the disease is possible just by performing multiple FW dips on the fish.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Thank you @Humblefish. I have been going back to your brook treatment options all morning. How many/often and long do you suggest fresh water dips if it is my only option. I have only done one for 3 mins.

 

[Humblefish]

Thank you @Humblefish. I have been going back to your brook treatment options all morning. How many/often and long do you suggest fresh water dips if it is my only option. I have only done one for 3 mins.

I would do a 5 min FW dip every day if that were my only option. The key here is to transfer the clownfish to a disease-free environment following each FW dip. Practically speaking, this would mean a 5 or 10 gal tank (or bucket) with a heater & air bubbler. You would need to sterilize the tank/heater/air stone & tubing before using again.

If you put the clownfish right back into the same tank they came out of, they will just keep getting reinfected.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

I found a bottle of ich rid plus that has 11.5% formalin. I am planning on doing a 60 minute dip because the fish looks better from the fresh water. A lot less mucus on him. How much ich rid should I dose with the dip?

 

[Salty.Reefer]

So I found some dosing recommendations elsewhere that seemed reliable. I used 5ml per gallon which if I am correct is about 150ppm of formalin. I only did a 30 min bath out of precaution. They handled it great and the heavily effected one looked better right away. The video is about 1 min after the bath. The one who was worse off is the in front in the video. You can also see that it is not using the heavily effected pectoral fin very much and it seems like it can not pull into its body all the way like streamlined. Kinda stuck out. Has anyone seen this before? Will it go back if they make it? Also I think I am going to let them rest tomorrow then do the same formalin bath again the next day if they still show signs. Do you believe this is wise?

 

[Tahoe61]

It's common for a sick fish to clamp down their fins, or carrying them in odd positions. It's likely that if the fish survives the fin will appear more normal over time.

Personally I think you left them in long enough. Problem arise in that the fish were returned to the same taken, I know you can not do anything about that but it's a consideration.

Valiant effort, good luck to you.

 

[BoneXriffic]

I would do a 5 min FW dip every day if that were my only option. The key here is to transfer the clownfish to a disease-free environment following each FW dip. Practically speaking, this would mean a 5 or 10 gal tank (or bucket) with a heater & air bubbler. You would need to sterilize the tank/heater/air stone & tubing before using again.

If you put the clownfish right back into the same tank they came out of, they will just keep getting reinfected.

So in a sense TTM might be a viable cure for brook? With daily fw dips and a different transfer schedule of course.

 

[sNaFu]

HOW DO RECOMEND STERILIZING TANK AND EQUIPMENT FOR MY OWN KNOWLEDGE

I would do a 5 min FW dip every day if that were my only option. The key here is to transfer the clownfish to a disease-free environment following each FW dip. Practically speaking, this would mean a 5 or 10 gal tank (or bucket) with a heater & air bubbler. You would need to sterilize the tank/heater/air stone & tubing before using again.

If you put the clownfish right back into the same tank they came out of, they will just keep getting reinfected.

 

[Humblefish]

So in a sense TTM might be a viable cure for brook? With daily fw dips and a different transfer schedule of course.

Yes. Or dosing formalin or acriflavine 45-60 mins before the transfer.

HOW DO RECOMEND STERILIZING TANK AND EQUIPMENT FOR MY OWN KNOWLEDGE

You can sterilize using bleach, but you must rinse thoroughly afterwards. Or sanitize using vinegar. Either way use a fan for at least 24 hrs to dry everything out.

 

[BoneXriffic]

Yes. Or dosing formalin or acriflavine 45-60 mins before the transfer.

You can sterilize using bleach, but you must rinse thoroughly afterwards. Or sanitize using vinegar. Either way use a fan for at least 24 hrs to dry everything out.

Good info, the more diseases we can treat without medications the better imo

 

[Salty.Reefer]

It's common for a sick fish to clamp down their fins, or carrying them in odd positions. It's likely that if the fish survives the fin will appear more normal over time.

Personally I think you left them in long enough. Problem arise in that the fish were returned to the same taken, I know you can not do anything about that but it's a consideration.

Valiant effort, good luck to you.

Thank you that makes me feel a lot better. It just so happens that I was delivering something to my parents house and my brother had an empty plastic tank (maybe 2 gallons) with a light and hob filter. Should I fill it with tank water and add a filter from my sump? Why is re-entroducing them to the DT bad? If I do set up the plastic tank I should dose that directly and do freshwater dips correct then put them back in the tank when they are cured correct?

Update on the fish. The worse off one looks much better physically since the dip but is hanging out in the back corner of the tank. Still swimming but not exploring. The other is swimming all over the tank and shows no signs of infection but did not eat when I feed the tank.