Brookynella

Timbo13 · Jan 17, 2024

Hi reef fam,
I noticed one of my clowns looks like it has swan into chalk or something. I've posted a video but the quality isn't great. Is it early stages of Brookynella? I added a new small clown 4 days ago but it seems fine. Also the clown has been swimming around a lot more than usual.
On top of this yesterday I noticed my YWG tail was missing. What is going on? I think the tail thing happened in the last few days. I don't see his tail that often as he hides in a hole with a pistol most of the time.
What should I do. I'm in Japan, it's late at night....

vetteguy53081 · Jan 17, 2024

Timbo13 said:
Hi reef fam,
I noticed one of my clowns looks like it has swan into chalk or something. I've posted a video but the quality isn't great. Is it early stages of Brookynella? I added a new small clown 4 days ago but it seems fine. Also the clown has been swimming around a lot more than usual.
On top of this yesterday I noticed my YWG tail was missing. What is going on? I think the tail thing happened in the last few days. I don't see his tail that often as he hides in a hole with a pistol most of the time.
What should I do. I'm in Japan, it's late at night....

Goby's tail likely bitten off by clowns or other aggressor and needs immediate treatment using seachem Kanaplex in separate tank. The clown does appear to have brook.
The mucus on the clown's body is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin base at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.

Timbo13 · Jan 17, 2024

Thank for the quick reply. I'm making some RODI water now. I won't be able to get any Formalin till tomorrow.

Jay Hemdal · Jan 17, 2024

Timbo13 said:
Thank for the quick reply. I'm making some RODI water now. I won't be able to get any Formalin till tomorrow.

+1, the clown seems to have Brooklynella.

I’m not confident that you will be able to save goby - the tail bone/spine seems to be infected. Once that happens, the fish cannot be saved.

Timbo13 · Jan 19, 2024

I've moved the clownfish into it's own tank. I gave it a FW dip which seemed to help. I got home from work today and now the clown has this. Is it a secondary infection resulting from Brook? Also I could only get seachem metro as mediacation. I gave it a bath in that which got rid of the white coating.

Jay Hemdal · Jan 19, 2024

Timbo13 said:
I've moved the clownfish into it's own tank. I gave it a FW dip which seemed to help. I got home from work today and now the clown has this. Is it a secondary infection resulting from Brook? Also I could only get seachem metro as mediacation. I gave it a bath in that which got rid of the white coating.

Brook doesn’t look like that, it does look like a secondary bacterial infection. Best thing for that would be a gram negative, broad spectrum antibiotic in a treatment tank. Metro doesn’t really work for that. Neoplex is a good choice.