Clownfish has white patches!

[Krysbam]

I'm fairly new to this. I previously had a thriving saltwater tank for 3 years. This one is fairly new, approximately 6 months now. In the past week 4 of my 7 fish have died after doing a water change. I purchase premixed ro/di from my lfs. I should have done this before but after losing fish so quickly I decided to test their water and found amonia. Then tested salinity and it was over 1.032. The last fish to go was one of my clowns and I noticed both looked like they had a film on them and losing patches of color on their stripes. Lfs gave me ichx to treat for brook in my QT. I just lowered salinity in QT to 1.020 but any advice would be appreciated because I'm not sure if I'm doing the right things or even doing them correctly. I posted a slomo video because it was hard to gwt a good picture with him moving. Side note...female died male moved to QT and I just found clownfish eggs in a rock in my DT!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can’t open video on my phone
Any still pics under white lighting?

 

[Euphyllia97]

Can't see the video, but from your description and the fact it is killing your fish, I bet you have brooklynella in your tank. Google for Brooklynella or clownfish disease. Treatment is required and might not be able to help your fish anymore. You will have to run your tank for a certain amount of days (3 months I believe) without any fish to get rid of it.

You will have to use formalin to treat your fish, otherwise I do not give them a high chance of survival

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I was able to view the video, but actually, slow motion makes it impossible to judge the fish's breathing rate, and that is a major diagnostic tool.

Losing 4 out of 7 fish is obviously a major problem. It may be because of the salinity issue, but it is more likely a disease issue. The clownfish *may* have Brook, but it could also be marine ich.

What fish did you lose and what fish remain?
What ammonia level did you test at?

Here is a post about other background information that is helpful for us to respond:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Krysbam]

Can't see the video, but from your description and the fact it is killing your fish, I bet you have brooklynella in your tank. Google for Brooklynella or clownfish disease. Treatment is required and might not be able to help your fish anymore. You will have to run your tank for a certain amount of days (3 months I believe) without any fish to get rid of it.

You will have to use formalin to treat your fish, otherwise I do not give them a high chance of survival

The stuff the lfs gave me has formaldehyde...just a lower concentration then formalin (that's not easy to get here) my DT is now fishless and they said 6 weeks, I'm gonna wait 7 just to be sure

 

[JJ"sSouthernAquatics]

This looks like brooklynella aka clownfish disease. I've had this twice, one was sick from the LFS (i was new to salt at the time and didnt notice) and the other was from stress i believe. i wasnt able to treat them since it kills the fish rather quickly, i dont have the meds for it, and it would be dead by time the meds got here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Krysbam]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I was able to view the video, but actually, slow motion makes it impossible to judge the fish's breathing rate, and that is a major diagnostic tool.

Losing 4 out of 7 fish is obviously a major problem. It may be because of the salinity issue, but it is more likely a disease issue. The clownfish *may* have Brook, but it could also be marine ich.

What fish did you lose and what fish remain?
What ammonia level did you test at?

Here is a post about other background information that is helpful for us to respond:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Thank you so much, I tried to get all the information you asked for...the amonia level was 0.4-0.8. The first fish lost was a lemon peel angel, then 2 liartail anthias, then one of my clowns. I have a clown, 1 lairtail anthias (the smallest) and a diamond goby in QT. All snails, crabs, cleaner shrimp and rbt anemone are all healthy in DT. I can't see my clowns respiration because he's moving so much but today is 3rd day in QT, last night I lowered salinity (basically removed 3 gal from 10gal QT added 3 gal of freshwater to get salinity to .020) and added another 3ml of the ichx. Clown did eat for the first time in 4 days this morning

 

[Euphyllia97]

The stuff the lfs gave me has formaldehyde...just a lower concentration then formalin (that's not easy to get here) my DT is now fishless and they said 6 weeks, I'm gonna wait 7 just to be sure

Sounds like you are doing the right thing! Fingers crossed and I hope your fish make it

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you so much, I tried to get all the information you asked for...the amonia level was 0.4-0.8. The first fish lost was a lemon peel angel, then 2 liartail anthias, then one of my clowns. I have a clown, 1 lairtail anthias (the smallest) and a diamond goby in QT. All snails, crabs, cleaner shrimp and rbt anemone are all healthy in DT. I can't see my clowns respiration because he's moving so much but today is 3rd day in QT, last night I lowered salinity (basically removed 3 gal from 10gal QT added 3 gal of freshwater to get salinity to .020) and added another 3ml of the ichx. Clown did eat for the first time in 4 days this morning

Keep an eye on the ammonia level in the QT, you need to keep it below 0.25 ppm, and no higher than 0.50

Ich-X is widely prescribed, but really does not work well for marine protozoan diseases. It may work from Brooklynella because it has formalin in it, but malachite green is toxic to fish with repeated doses.

Jay

 

[Krysbam]

Can’t open video on my phone
Any still pics under white lighting?

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is the importance of photos. As suspected, your clown has brooklynella which is a typical clown disease especially with wild caught clownfish.
The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus on its body is a second sign which 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) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.

 

[Krysbam]

This is the importance of photos. As suspected, your clown has brooklynella which is a typical clown disease especially with wild caught clownfish.
The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus on its body is a second sign which 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) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.

Thank you. I lowered the salinity in my QT and I've been treating with ichx which has formaldehyde just lower percentage. The QT has the other 2 fish in it as well... goby and liartail anthias. They both seem healthy. Should I dose more ichx then 10ml for the 10 gal since it is lower formaldehyde?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you. I lowered the salinity in my QT and I've been treating with ichx which has formaldehyde just lower percentage. The QT has the other 2 fish in it as well... goby and liartail anthias. They both seem healthy. Should I dose more ichx then 10ml for the 10 gal since it is lower formaldehyde?

No. I can assure you IchX is malachite green containing up to 5% formaldehyde and wont do much with this condition and is not close to what you need which is formalin base ay up to 37% concentration.
FW dip will buy you time but you want to use the meds described dosed at one milliliter ml per 10 gallons