Brook, velvet, ich, or something else? Please help!

[crazyclownlady]

I Just discovered this online fish vet that is located 2.5hrs away from me:

Canadian Fish Vet

canadianfishvet.com

I don’t know if its legit but hopefully I can get the proper formalin from them.

The white fish is not eating pellets anymore (maybe he can’t see the pellets due to the slime on his eye?). His swimming looks different. I’m really worried now.

 

[LeftyReefer]

If these infected fish have been in your DT, then it most certainly IS infected.
You will need to remove all fish from your DT, put them in QT, and let your DT sit fallow for a period of time.
You will probably be told to go fallow for anywhere from 6 to 11 weeks, depending on what parasite(s) it is determined that your fish have. There are things you can do to speed this up, like turning up the temp on your DT to 82F+.

As long as you have fish in your DT then fish parasites have hosts to live on and survive on.... you need to remove all fish from the DT and leave it fishless (fallow) for a while. Long enough for all the parasites to die off without any hosts available. Right now your tank has adult parasites, along with eggs which haven't even hatched yet. You need all of those to hatch and then die when they can't find a fish host. Higher temps can speed this process up.

Good luck!

 

[crazyclownlady]

If these infected fish have been in your DT, then it most certainly IS infected.
You will need to remove all fish from your DT, put them in QT, and let your DT sit fallow for a period of time.
You will probably be told to go fallow for anywhere from 6 to 11 weeks, depending on what parasite(s) it is determined that your fish have. There are things you can do to speed this up, like turning up the temp on your DT to 82F+.

As long as you have fish in your DT then fish parasites have hosts to live on and survive on.... you need to remove all fish from the DT and leave it fishless (fallow) for a while. Long enough for all the parasites to die off without any hosts available. Right now your tank has adult parasites, along with eggs which haven't even hatched yet. You need all of those to hatch and then die when they can't find a fish host. Higher temps can speed this process up.

Good luck!

my QT tank arrived yesterday. Its not cycled, actually its not even filled yet. I’m afraid to fill it or seed it using the DT media and/or water because then the QT will be infected too, right?

 

[LeftyReefer]

my QT tank arrived yesterday. Its not cycled, actually its not even filled yet. I’m afraid to fill it or seed it using the DT media and/or water because then the QT will be infected too, right?

Yes, but you are going to be adding non reef-safe meds to the QT tank, which will kill those parasites. You can't add those to your DT or it will kill all the coral and inverts. DT tank is treated with a fallow period, no meds. QT tank is treated aggressively with meds.

You can take some seeded media from your DT or you can quick cycle the new QT using bottled bacteria or something.

Just know that whatever you put in your QT will be subjected to meds like copper, which then makes them non reef-safe also... so don't put anything in your QT that you would want to return to your DT some day.

 

[crazyclownlady]

Yes, but you are going to be adding non reef-safe meds to the QT tank, which will kill those parasites. You can't add those to your DT or it will kill all the coral and inverts. DT tank is treated with a fallow period, no meds. QT tank is treated aggressively with meds.

You can take some seeded media from your DT or you can quick cycle the new QT using bottled bacteria or something.

Just know that whatever you put in your QT will be subjected to meds like copper, which then makes them non reef-safe also... so don't put anything in your QT that you would want to return to your DT some day.

Thank you for your help. I am setting up the QT now.

 

[crazyclownlady]

The white fish deteriorated very quickly and passed away.

 

[crazyclownlady]

I Just discovered this online fish vet that is located 2.5hrs away from me:

Canadian Fish Vet

canadianfishvet.com

I don’t know if its legit but hopefully I can get the proper formalin from them.

The white fish is not eating pellets anymore (maybe he can’t see the pellets due to the slime on his eye?). His swimming looks different. I’m really worried now.

They won’t ship the formalin due to cold weather. Apparently it becomes toxic if frozen?

 

[Lavey29]

The white fish deteriorated very quickly and passed away.

Sad, deepest condolences from the reef community.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

They won’t ship the formalin due to cold weather. Apparently it becomes toxic if frozen?

Yes - that is a little known issue: if frozen or kept cold, formalin reacts to form paraformaldeyde, a white waxy substance that is toxic to fish.

Jay

 

[crazyclownlady]

Just be careful - while you might be inclined to use that product in place of regular formalin (by multiplying the dose by 8.6 times to get full strength formalin) the malachite green in Rid Ich is going to be your limiting factor - 8.6 times the dose of that is probably going to be toxic.

Jay

sooo.. i actually decided to try this on the orange fish that has no tail. The fish’s skin was starting to fall off, like it did on the white fish before it died..

i heated and aerated the bath for 2 hours before putting the fish in. I put a towel on top of the jar so the blue wouldn’t splash on my wall… however i noticed the towel was stained blue before i put the fish in, and the water was less blue (did the medication get pulled out?)

anyways, the fish tolerated the bath seemingly well. I left the fish in for 35 minutes, and then put the fish into my new QT tank. I did not use water from the main tank, but I did use media from the pico tank (that houses the fish that appears to be healthy).

I did this because i got desperate.. All the medications that i ordered online (metroplex, cupramine, prazipro) appear to be ‘stuck’ in transit if you know what I mean… i don’t think they’ll be delivered.

I’m scared to go downstairs and see if the fish is still alive. I will post back after I work up the courage…

 

[crazyclownlady]

Okay the fish is still alive. The skin shedding looks the same as yesterday. You can really see it in the blue light.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay the fish is still alive. The skin shedding looks the same as yesterday. You can really see it in the blue light.

So in the last picture, under white light, it sure seems like this fish could have ich (the spots are the right size this time). I just don't understand why these poor fish seemingly got hit with three diseases; brooklynella, acute fin rot and ich all at once. Any one might be curable, but all three need different treatments, I’m so sorry!
Jay

 

[crazyclownlady]

So in the last picture, under white light, it sure seems like this fish could have ich (the spots are the right size this time). I just don't understand why these poor fish seemingly got hit with three diseases; brooklynella, acute fin rot and ich all at once. Any one might be curable, but all three need different treatments, I’m so sorry!
Jay

Well, if you’d really like to know… its all my fault for not researching. Before this, I never dipped a single coral or quarantined a fish. The First fish was healthy for quite some time but wouldn’t go in the anemone so The fish store told me to buy a wild one. The wild one picked on the little one, and Fish store said i needed to add a third to balance things out. So i bought a 3rd clown and they sent me a different fish than what I ordered and said I could have it for free (after i complained). I introduced the third fish, the white one. The bullying didn’t stop, and then everyone got sick.

I’m sad and embarrassed but maybe someone will read this and learn from my mistakes.

 

[crazyclownlady]

Fish #2 just passed away

I have one more fish left. I’ll post some pics later because the fish does have some small white spots. No slime or tail rot yet though.

 

[crazyclownlady]

Fish #3 is very active and difficult to photograph. Two tiny white spots from what I can see…

 

[crazyclownlady]

My last clown appears to be doing very well. It was exposed to the 2 dead fish before they got sick, but was then living in a separate tank (due to being bullied).

my question is, what do I do next? The fish is in a 3g tank with corals. Eventually it needs to move to my main tank.

Should I move the fish to the hospital tank first and treat it with medications when they arrive on Tuesday? I will
have cupramine, metroplex and prazipro. The main tank should remain fishless for 12 weeks, correct?

@Jay Hemdal would really really appreciate your input.

 

[Lyss]

Omg, I’m so sorry. I cannot believe the LFS told you to add a wild clown, and then a third clown. That is all just the worst advice that could possibly be given — I would stay far away from them in the future!

 

[crazyclownlady]

Omg, I’m so sorry. I cannot believe the LFS told you to add a wild clown, and then a third clown. That is all just the worst advice that could possibly be given — I would stay far away from them in the future!

I have learned to do my own research i am so thankful to this community for all the help. I just upgraded my membership to support the site.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My last clown appears to be doing very well. It was exposed to the 2 dead fish before they got sick, but was then living in a separate tank (due to being bullied).

my question is, what do I do next? The fish is in a 3g tank with corals. Eventually it needs to move to my main tank.

Should I move the fish to the hospital tank first and treat it with medications when they arrive on Tuesday? I will
have cupramine, metroplex and prazipro. The main tank should remain fishless for 12 weeks, correct?

@Jay Hemdal would really really appreciate your input.

Yes, the general process is (especially with unknown disease issues) is to leave the contaminated tank fishless for 11 weeks and treat every exposed fish with copper or hyposalinity and then hold them in isolation for that time. Then, quarantine all new fish going forward.

I can't explain why this fish didn't develop the same disease, but if it was exposed, you need to treat for that.

Jay

 

[crazyclownlady]

My last fish has white spots on him. What do you think it is?