Disease

[cwatts2003]

So this is a little embarrassing. I’ve been around the hobby my entire life because my dad owns a fish store. I’ve started numerous tanks with him but when I start my own…disaster. I Cycled the tank and had two clowns in it. Everything was going fine and then bam brook or velvet wiped it out. I know the fish didn’t have it at the store because I know where they came from. At that point I let the tank fallow for 6 weeks to wipe out brook if that was it and when I restarted it happened again so I believe it was velvet. At that point I was like I’m gonna completely restart. Drained the tank for 2 weeks, let the rock dry out, and new sand. Fast forward 2 more weeks and the clowns have it again. I’ve determined it’s an outside factor but I can’t figure out what it could be. Help

 

[Janet Belanger]

I think we need a lot more data to help.

Parameters, and size of tank?
Any other inhabitants at all?
How long were the clowns in the tank before disease took hold?
What did this disease look like?
Was there flashing, or odd behavior at all before virus/disease struck?

I think I've read that both brook and velvet produce heavy slime coat. There are many reasons for slime coat on our fishy friends.

 

[cwatts2003]

Parameters are normal morning crazy out of wack. It’s a 40 gallon cube and there are no other inhabitants at all. No CUC or anything. Honestly no flashing. I still have two storm clowns from the full restart. They swim in front of the powerhead occasionally but not all the time.

 

[cwatts2003]

Just some quick pictures of them currently

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Need pictures in white light. Do you have a hospital tank?

 

[Janet Belanger]

Looks like something going on but hard to tell. Do they eat? Can you treat the whole tank since there is nothing else in there?

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Hard to tell from the pictures but it does look like a parasite. Rally Pro will kill all parasites and flukes. Copper Power is preferred for ich. I would set up a hospital tank. Suggest you quarantine future new fish.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Suggest you use Hydroplex or Rally Pro for a dip. It is low stress, will kill the bugs and give relief. Still need to do longer treatment.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I have bought fish from 4 LFS. Almost all have come to me with a disease. I think it is more the rule than the exception.

 

[cwatts2003]

I don’t have the space for a hospital tank. I’m more about managing disease but sometimes I guess it’s inevitable that you have to set up a hospital tank. My thing is I know it’s the same disease as the last two times. Completely restarted the tank so I think it’s an outside factor. Anything you could think of that would stress the fish out enough to induce ick?

 

[vetteguy53081]

So this is a little embarrassing. I’ve been around the hobby my entire life because my dad owns a fish store. I’ve started numerous tanks with him but when I start my own…disaster. I Cycled the tank and had two clowns in it. Everything was going fine and then bam brook or velvet wiped it out. I know the fish didn’t have it at the store because I know where they came from. At that point I let the tank fallow for 6 weeks to wipe out brook if that was it and when I restarted it happened again so I believe it was velvet. At that point I was like I’m gonna completely restart. Drained the tank for 2 weeks, let the rock dry out, and new sand. Fast forward 2 more weeks and the clowns have it again. I’ve determined it’s an outside factor but I can’t figure out what it could be. Help

These clowns look to have brooklynella- a common disease with clowns, mainly wild caught. 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.

 

[MnFish1]

One issue with 'disease management' is that Moving a fish from point A to B is stressful - and stress can lead to underlying disease popping up. If I were going to use any kind of disease management technique, I would always set up the fish in a separate tank, observe them for any disease and feed them well before going to the trouble of adding them to a display (where treatment is much more problematic).

PS - It certainly does look like brooklynella - but - I wonder if there is also another problem/parasite.