Velvet... I think...

[Indytraveler83]

Just lost a seaweed blenny, and at first I placed him in QT thinking he’s gotten into a powerhead or got caught by my maxi mini

He had quite a bit of skin and fin damage that appeared overnight. Once he passed away, I looked closer at him and noticed the white fuzziness on him (his color pattern made this difficult)

I examined everyone else in the DT and found that my two clowns and two black mollies appear to be showing beginning signs, with find a bit ragged on the edges and small white spots (smaller than ick) concentrated heavily in a few places.

The two wrasses, two chromis and yellow watchman goby seem unaffected. No fish are acting unusual yet, all are eating and acting normal.

I have a 10 gallon qt setup, but I’m a little concerned over temp, as it’s in the garage and is subject to getting over 80f on hot days (DT is kept at 78)

My DT is mixed reef with plenty of coral and inverts.

Medication/treatment on hand is as follows:
Cupramine
I have a copper test kit
Ruby kick ick
Ruby reef rally
Kanaplex
Metroplex
Focus
General cure

I think I can catch the 4 afflicted fish quite easily, but especially the wrasse and goby would be nearly impossible to remove immediately, without crazy luck.

I was thinking of a freshwater dip, followed by cupramine treatment in the qt for the fish I can catch immediately. For the fish I can’t, would reef rally and/or feeding metro/focus bound food be effective, especially since they are not yet showing signs? I’m also extremely hesitant to use copper on the wrasses as anything but a last resort.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Just did a freshwater bath on the 4 (2 clowns, 2 mollies) and nothing came off into the bath as far as I can tell. I don’t see white spots on the black mollies anymore, but it’s hard to tell with the platinum clowns, and no longer being under blue light.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I’m also second guessing myself here... the clowns have been engaging in that jostling pairing behavior, and the mollies constantly get themselves into trouble (converted from freshwater, don’t understand what an anemone is), and I wonder if I’m way overreacting.

Here’s one of the clowns:

 

[Indytraveler83]

Anyone got any thoughts?
#reefsquad ?

 

[Auto-pilot]

Hey I have some experience with velvet and can help with what I know. The white spots on velvet are actually from insertion points where the parsite has burrowed into the fish and they don't disappear when dipping the fish. It looks like your fish also has a bacterial infection due to damage on his fin. I would fresh water dip all of your fish and then dip them in a formaldehyde solution(I use Ich-x). That should get rid of most of the parasites. I would then treat them with copper in a separate quarantine. I would also use a broad spectrum antibiotic to help the fishes fins heal and gills. I can't tell by the picture if you actually have velvet or not. Maybe a better pic showing the actual white dots would be helpful

 

[Indytraveler83]

I'm wondering if maybe what I'm seeing is bacteria/fungas?

I can't find white spots in the qt, they only appeared as spots under blue light in the DT, and everything I was seeing was near the fin damage. Is it possible that's what I'm seeing? And if so, does the treatment plan differ? The other clown looks much better than this, and the white dissapeared from the mollies altogether. I'm confused...

 

[Scurvy]

Not sure if the #reefsquad tag is working, I know it wasn’t immediately after the upgrade.

Let’s tag some of the disease experts since this wasn’t posted in that forum.

@HotRocks @4FordFamily @ngoodermuth

 

[HotRocks]

It's probably Brook being clownfish/mollies. White fish make it even harder to diagnose.

I would place them (all of your fish) in QT and treat with Metroplex for 10 days.

DT will need to be fallow for 6 weeks to erradicate Brook.

Brooklynella

Brooklynella hostilis What You Need To Know: * 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 of choice is a 45 minute...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Auto-pilot]

I'm wondering if maybe what I'm seeing is bacteria/fungas?

I can't find white spots in the qt, they only appeared as spots under blue light in the DT, and everything I was seeing was near the fin damage. Is it possible that's what I'm seeing? And if so, does the treatment plan differ? The other clown looks much better than this, and the white dissapeared from the mollies altogether. I'm confused...

Yeah an infection can make white cloudy spots of the fins of fish. It could be brooklynella especially if the clowns are effected. Have you added anything new recently

 

[Indytraveler83]

Yeah an infection can make white cloudy spots of the fins of fish. It could be brooklynella especially if the clowns are effected. Have you added anything new recently

The blenny that died was a newish addition. I usually do a 2 week quarantine, but had shortened it to 1 week due to the heat last month. He’s been in the tank a few weeks, and did well, but he wasn’t always easy to see.

 

[Indytraveler83]

It's probably Brook being clownfish/mollies. White fish make it even harder to diagnose.

I would place them (all of your fish) in QT and treat with Metroplex for 10 days.

DT will need to be fallow for 6 weeks to erradicate Brook.

Brooklynella

Brooklynella hostilis What You Need To Know: * 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 of choice is a 45 minute...

www.reef2reef.com

If I’m struggling to catch fish in my DT, would metro laced food be of any help while I try to catch them? I know I can bind it with focus to keep it from leeching too much into the water.

 

[4FordFamily]

If I’m struggling to catch fish in my DT, would metro laced food be of any help while I try to catch them? I know I can bind it with focus to keep it from leeching too much into the water.

I’d remove the rock and coral to remove the fish. It may take 30-60 minutes but it’s somehow far less aggravation. Sorry for the trouble!

 

[Indytraveler83]

I’ll watch this carefully and let you guys know how it turns out. The clownfish pictured is the most afflicted animal currently, but is currently acting normal, so I feel like there’s hope.

Appreciate the advice, as some of these treatments aren’t completely obvious and I’m still struggling to gauge symptoms. I likely wouldn’t have noticed at all if it weren’t for the dead blenny

 

[Auto-pilot]

Good luck! I hope they get better. Treat that clown with metroplex and see what happens. Like you said watch everything and if everyone is getting sick you might have to do a complete quarantine of all your fish.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Good luck! I hope they get better. Treat that clown with metroplex and see what happens. Like you said watch everything and if everyone is getting sick you might have to do a complete quarantine of all your fish.

Me too. So far so good... the clowns have started hosting the pvc elbow in qt, so at least I’m getting “normal” behavior from the most afflicted fish.

The mollies look 100% better after the FW dip, which I find strange. They are black, so I wonder if I was just seeing sand or debris on their slime coat. The clowns are the only fish with any physical damage I can see.

 

[HotRocks]

FW dips will provide quite a bit of temporary relief for Brook or velvet. It probably removes 90-95% of the attached parasites.

 

[Indytraveler83]

FW dips will provide quite a bit of temporary relief for Brook or velvet. It probably removes 90-95% of the attached parasites.

Good to know! Hopefully with that, and the fact that the fish are acting normal, they’ve got a good chance of getting better with medication.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Morning update:

The mollies look/act wonderful, no signs of illness this morning.

The clowns look ragged, but still act ok. I saw more white on their fins, but it’s still impossible to tell on the white bodies.

I gave the clowns a reef rally bath, and they looked somewhat better after that. I’m really hoping when I get home they will at least look steady and not declining.

No signs of illness from anyone else... yet.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Evening update/log:

To back up a bit: yesterday I dosed 1 scoop of metro into the tank (instructions say 1-2 scoops). I was alarmed this morning that it appeared things were getting worse, so I added the second scoop in this morning.

This evening all fish were hungry, the clowns looked a tad better, but the mollies looked stressed and blotchy. I’ve also been feeding them food with metro/focus, hoping that extreme aggression on treatment will help.

No one else is showing signs of illness, and I’m really hoping that maybe this is a bacterial infection as a result of aggression from/to the new fish (dead blenny).

We will see what the morning brings....

 

[Indytraveler83]

Today is the day for the "second" dose of Metro, which I dosed in one measure.

Both mollies are showing quite a bit of healing, and the little bit of fraying on their fins is gone. The clown that looked worse at first (pictured above) actually looks quite a bit better, with just a little bit of discoloration on fins, and his body looks good as far as I can tell.

The larger clown still looks a little ragged, though she doesn't look as "fuzzy" as she did before. I've also noticed that the hard breathing of all afflicted fish has calmed down considerably, and appears to be nearly normal now. The clowns continue to be in high spirits, weaving in and out of the PVC, bobbing around like little goofballs. The mollies are more irritated and are more or less swimming in place, out of the current.

I'm still not 100% sure what I'm battling, but between today and yesterday the disease progression has appeared to have halted, and I think some healing is beginning to occur. Still no signs/symptoms on any other fish to this point.

Still a long road, but I'm going to be posting daily updates no matter the outcome, as hopefully this thread will be able to help myself and others.

So far we have a freshwater bath at hour 0, a reef rally bath at 24 hrs, 2 measures of Metro to start, and 1 measure of Metro after 2 days.