cottony growth on clownfish

kingkai512 · Apr 20, 2018

hello,
can anyone help identify this growth? there are other clowns in this tank and none have this cotton grown. it appeared about a week ago and now developed on another section by his top fin.

at first i thought flukes but the fish are in a hypo treatment, the growth looks like floating cotton by his gills and top fin.

ive noticed a change in appetite and attitude..

HotRocks · Apr 20, 2018

Clownfish are so hard to diagnose in this case.
It could be early stage brook, which is always the first thing that comes to mind with clowns. I doubt its velvet, but cant rule it out. See if we can get you some additional help.
@Humblefish
@Big G
@dwwataz
@Maritimer
@melypr1985
@4FordFamily

deedubz · Apr 20, 2018

Are those faded/sun burn looking lines/blotches on the stomach, or is that an illusion from the camera? I'm also seeing some spots but, again, I'm not sure if that's just glare. Do you by chance have pics of the fish in an aquarium?

By the way, that's one of the nicest looking clowns I've ever seen

Flippers4pups · Apr 20, 2018

Brook. Treat as recommend:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-diseases-101.189284/

deedubz · Apr 20, 2018

Flippers4pups said:
Brook. Treat as recommend:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-diseases-101.189284/

That's where I was leaning too

kingkai512 · Apr 20, 2018

heres one of him in the aquarium, i thought brook was fast acting? there are other clowns in the tank with no symptoms and he had the fuzz for maybe a week

kingkai512 · Apr 20, 2018

i have a large coris wrasse that i feed chopped shrimp, this looks just like shreds of the shrimp pieces but stuck on the scales

Maritimer · Apr 20, 2018

I would lean towards brook as well, with the possible thought of a bacterial infection. This looks like it's setting on the surface of the fish's skin though, whereas most bacteria seem to come from "deeper" in the skin.

~Bruce

kingkai512 · Apr 21, 2018

so i just have him a quick 5 min freshwater dip, i dont know if it provided any relief.

what are my options here? im currently treating my tank for ich so im at 1.009 salinity, should i do a formalin bath on the clown or treat the whole tank? how would the hypo affect the formalin?

also off topic here but i was reading into the tank transfer method, are we putting the fish in new, uncycled water? isnt that bad?

deedubz · Apr 22, 2018

You'll have to treat every fish that's shared a tank with him. Formalin is very harsh... I'd personally recommend using metroplex (dosed directly into qt) since you'll be treating numerous fish. Do you have a powerhead, airstones, or both?

Hypo isn't 100% effective for ich. The reason you use fresh, uncycled, water in TTM is because the fish aren't in the tanks long enough for ammonia to build up...Unless you're stuffing several fish into an undersized tank or overfeeding. As long as you aren't using copper (or any med really), you can use prime to detoxify ammonia should it become an issue. You can even do hypo and ttm simoltaneously.. I just did this a couple months ago(ttm for what I thought was ich and hypo for flukes). You just have to make sure salinity is spot on each transfer.
For the final transfer I use an HOB filter with sponge pad and biomax. I'll soak the pad and biomax in biospira overnight in a Tupperware (and fresh saltwater to completely submerge) and have NEVER had an ammonia issue. I've done this at least a dozen times now.

@Humblefish @Big G do you see an issue with hypo and metro simoltaneously if aerated well?

deedubz · Apr 22, 2018

Had a brain fart.. Alternatively, you can do an acriflavine (Ruby Reef Rally or acriflavine-ms) bath and transfer them to a sterile qt. Acriflavine is MUCH easier on the fish than formalin. I'm unsure as to whether you can do acriflavine in hyposalinity though. That would be a question for the big boys/girls.