Clownfish Disease ID (Possible Velvet)

mrsaltwaterguy · Jul 7, 2016

Hello all,

I was hoping some more trained eyes could take a look at the pictures below and ID the disease. He appears to be covered in a white mucus and you can notice some of it coming off of his tail. Thank you in advance for your help.

Humblefish · Jul 7, 2016

Brooklynella: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brooklynella.247938/

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.

melypr1985 · Jul 8, 2016

Classic Brook. You have great info already given so I'll just stop here.

Good luck!

mrsaltwaterguy · Jul 8, 2016

@Humblefish Thank you for the identification. Unfortunately the disease has taken out my clown and dwarf lion in the past 18 hours. I have two eels in the tank, I'm assuming they need to be taken out and put into quarantine correct? I QT'd all fish coming into this tank, how do I prevent it in the future?

Humblefish · Jul 8, 2016

mrsaltwaterguy said:
@Humblefish Thank you for the identification. Unfortunately the disease has taken out my clown and dwarf lion in the past 18 hours. I have two eels in the tank, I'm assuming they need to be taken out and put into quarantine correct? I QT'd all fish coming into this tank, how do I prevent it in the future?

That's a tough call. An eel would be pretty resistant to a surface parasite such as brook. However, because symptoms can be asymptomatic and then return at a future date the only safe route would be to QT/treat & go fallow in the DT. I need to do some research into what meds eels can/cannot handle. In the meantime, let's ask [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] @Duke4Life if they have any experience using formalin, acriflavine or metronidazole on an eel.

As far as how the disease got into your DT in the first place, how long have you had the clown and did you QT her? If so, for how long/describe your QT process.

Duke4Life · Jul 8, 2016

Humblefish said:
That's a tough call. An eel would be pretty resistant to a surface parasite such as brook. However, because symptoms can be asymptomatic and then return at a future date the only safe route would be to QT/treat & go fallow in the DT. I need to do some research into what meds eels can/cannot handle. In the meantime, let's ask [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] @Duke4Life if they have any experience using formalin, acriflavine or metronidazole on an eel.

As far as how the disease got into your DT in the first place, how long have you had the clown and did you QT her? If so, for how long/describe your QT process.

Avoid copper at all cost with eels, I had been wondering if this was the cause for the "eel twitch", but have found out copper causes them to stop eating and wither away. @Humblefish im a step ahead of you on this

considering we are seeing more people with eels on here now and various situations.

Duke4Life · Jul 8, 2016

Just sent a message to someone that has much more knowledge of how to treat eels, as soon as I get a response I"ll respond back.

BoneXriffic · Jul 8, 2016

Not to step on duke, or reefsquads toes. Ive come to understand it is very difficult for eels to succomb to external parasites due to their slime coat. They can how ever possibly carry the disease. Eels also do not do well in any copper based treatment. I dont know much about formalin however.

Duke4Life · Jul 8, 2016

BoneXriffic said:
Not to step on duke, or reefsquads toes. Ive come to understand it is very difficult for eels to succomb to external parasites due to their slime coat. They can how ever possibly carry the disease. Eels also do not do well in any copper based treatment. I dont know much about formalin however.

Bone your right with what you said to a T. Escaping I think is the number 1 cause of death by eels it seems.

Duke4Life · Jul 8, 2016

In doing some digging (not the response) but formalin is what's been used by others in this situation with eels.

Humblefish · Jul 8, 2016

BoneXriffic said:
Not to step on duke, or reefsquads toes. Ive come to understand it is very difficult for eels to succomb to external parasites due to their slime coat. They can how ever possibly carry the disease. Eels also do not do well in any copper based treatment. I dont know much about formalin however.

I think the danger here is the eel will act indefinitely as a carrier, and infect any new tankmates.

BoneXriffic · Jul 8, 2016

Humblefish said:
I think the danger here is the eel will act indefinitely as a carrier, and infect any new tankmates.

Agreed, but if the parasite cant feed will it ultimately die? Ive never heard of an eel afflicted with brook or velvet, only rare cases of ich.

If an eel can stay still, which is unlikley, the best course here may be the daily fw dip followed by transfer to sterile tank. And falow dt

Humblefish · Jul 8, 2016

BoneXriffic said:
Agreed, but if the parasite cant feed will it ultimately die? Ive never heard of an eel afflicted with brook or velvet, only rare cases of ich.

The risk is brook will feed inside the gills, sight unseen, and continue it's life cycle in the tank. Not a heavy infestation, but enough for it to survive. When a new fish is added that doesn't have the same immunity to brook (especially a clownfish), that "fresh meat" will enable the parasite to increase its numbers exponentially.

Duke4Life · Jul 8, 2016

Was told its best in baths and not for an extended period with formalin if this is your method.

Humblefish · Jul 8, 2016

Duke4Life said:
Was told its best in baths and not for an extended period with formalin if this is your method.

30 min bath in formalin should do the trick, provided the fish is transferred into a sterile QT afterwards.

mrsaltwaterguy · Jul 10, 2016

Thank you for all the valuable information, I had to leave town for 2 days and unfortunately the other fish in the tank didn't make it in time for my formalin to arrive. I plan on transferring the eel over to the QT shortly. Based on the above information I'm assuming I should give a 30 minute formalin bath and then QT per normal protocols.

Humblefish · Jul 10, 2016

mrsaltwaterguy said:
Based on the above information I'm assuming I should give a 30 minute formalin bath and then QT per normal protocols.

Yes, just make sure the eel goes into a sterile QT post formalin bath. It doesn't do any good to return the specimen to the same QT he (or another sick fish) came out of.