What am I dealing with

[4girlsreef]

I’ve had this bristletooth for about 5 years now. He’s always been very fat and healthy. About a month ago there was some sort of shift in power and everyone started fighting. I moved the main instigator to the sump (blue spot rabbitfish) and put my sailfin and purple tang in an observation/recovery tank. Everything went back to normal calm and everyone is eating and acting normal. Today I look and see the bristletooth with this.

5-6 year old bristletooth breathing is sporadically rapid but not constant. it was flashing 2-3 times in the past 2 weeks, no swimming into the flow or erratic behavior/head twitching observed. Still eating multiple times per day, and is still socially active.

what can it be? I don’t want to take any drastic action until I know for sure what I’m dealing with.

 

[Unitylover]

seems like brook to me, but what do I know? Ill get the experts. @Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

 

[Unitylover]

QT him, Jay can reccomend a medicine.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Clear case of marine velvet
This will require immediate quarantine as velvet moves quickly. Treatment of choice is coppersafe and you will want a reliable copper test kit- not api with a therapeutic level of 2.25-2.5 at 80 degrees
Do other fish show similar signs?
Coppersafe can be used in conjunction with ruby rally pro which also aids with velvet
Darting-scratching-lethargic behavior- loss of appetite- rapid breathing - swimming into water flow are sure signs of velvet
Increase aeration during treatment
You will have to make decision to go fallow with display tank for 6-8 weeks especially if other tank mates are showing parasites

 

[4girlsreef]

Clear case of marine velvet
This will require immediate quarantine as velvet moves quickly. Treatment of choice is coppersafe and you will want a reliable copper test kit- not api with a therapeutic level of 2.25-2.5 at 80 degrees
Do other fish show similar signs?
Coppersafe can be used in conjunction with ruby rally pro which also aids with velvet
Darting-scratching-lethargic behavior- loss of appetite- rapid breathing - swimming into water flow are sure signs of velvet
Increase aeration during treatment
You will have to make decision to go fallow with display tank for 6-8 weeks especially if other tank mates are showing parasites

None of the tankmates are showing signs of anything. The white spots on the tail and head actually look like they disappeared.

 

[vetteguy53081]

None of the tankmates are showing signs of anything. The white spots on the tail and head actually look like they disappeared.

Can you have someone shine a flashlight on the fish although it will startle it and take brighter pics?
Let’s assure you are getting proper assessment. Not that it’s not sand or lymphocystis.
Very much looks like velvet from current images

 

[4girlsreef]

Can you have someone shine a flashlight on the fish although it will startle it and take brighter pics?
Let’s assure you are getting proper assessment. Not that it’s not sand or lymphocystis.
Very much looks like velvet from current images

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking. Idk if it makes a difference but this tang had lymphocitis in the past which spontaneously resolved twice. I’ll try and get some better pics.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking. Idk if it makes a difference but this tang had lymphocitis in the past which spontaneously resolved twice. I’ll try and get some better pics.

Lympho will fall off as described
Good water quality and diet contributes to lack of lymphocystis

 

[Jay Hemdal]

None of the tankmates are showing signs of anything. The white spots on the tail and head actually look like they disappeared.

When was the last fish you've added to this tank?

Can you post a short video?

Jay

 

[4girlsreef]

When was the last fish you've added to this tank?

Can you post a short video?

Jay

Last fish was a chocolate tang about 1 month ago. It went through 30 day quarantine w copper and prazipro. Before that 3-4 years ago.

 

[4girlsreef]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[4girlsreef]

February 8, 2022

youtube.com

 

[4girlsreef]

February 8, 2022

youtube.com

 

[4girlsreef]

February 8, 2022

youtube.com

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for the extra photos and video. If other fish also had symptoms, I would say this is clearly velvet. With just this tang showing symptoms, it is less clear to me. Trouble is, I don't see what else it could be other than gill flukes, but that would have had to have come in with the chocolate tang, and that doesn't make sense because it doesn't have symptoms.

Is the bristletooth still eating today?
Have you considered a FW dip to try and buy some time?

Jay

 

[Reefahholic]

The clowns appear to have Brooklynella. However, as crippled as the tangs are looking you might have Velvet in there too. That one tang has old penetration points from velvet, so I’m assuming he may have brought it in. Either way…there’s some serious issues in there and it’s surely not ich. I’m about 80% that the clowns have either Brook or Uronema. It’s hard to tell, because at different stage’s they both look similar. Both will cause the fish to have excess mucus, but brook tends to have more of a white covering (like on the black clown) while Uronema will produce a lot of discolored areas exactly like what you see on the orange clown and then they will start have equilibrium issues. Velvet also makes tangs have discolored areas. If I was there I could tell you 100%.