Help ID "plaque" on maroon clownfish body

[drolmaeye]

Noticed what looks like "plaque" on one side of my maroon clown's body. Tried to grab a few stills from videos that hopefully show the approximate distribution and appearance. No noticeable change in fish behavior (usual activity level, enthusiastic eater, etc.) Would be grateful if some experienced eyes could have a look and give some feedback. In past days/weeks I thought I may have seen similar (although not so much) but could only see it under blue light, seemed to be invisible under white light. I have added much additional info below pics in case it is helpful.

70 gallon reef tank, running for 3 months, maroon clown purchased exactly two months ago and introduced into DT roughly one month ago (following copper-only QT). Fish came from therapeutic copper (2.4-2.5 ppm, Hanna) in QT and received one dose of Prazi in DT tank immediately after transfer.

Clown is the first and only fish in the tank. Other livestock includes:

1x Blood/Fire shrimp (29 days ago)
3x frags (Acan, Hammer, Zoa, 11 days ago)
11x snails (5x Cerith, 6x Astrea, 6 days ago)
1x Tuxedo urchin (1 day ago)

All corals/inverts introduced directly into DT (corals were dipped and rinsed, inverts were acclimated in a first container, rinsed in DT water in separate container, then placed in DT).

Water:
Ph, ammonia, nitrite untested
temp. 77.5-78 F
salinity 35 ppt
nitrate 0.4 ppm
phosphate 0.02 ppm

I have a QT tank up and running. It currently has a Royal Gramma that is past copper and just received 1st Prazi 3 days ago.

Thanks in advance for any insight. Please let me know if additional info. would be helpful.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Noticed what looks like "plaque" on one side of my maroon clown's body. Tried to grab a few stills from videos that hopefully show the approximate distribution and appearance. No noticeable change in fish behavior (usual activity level, enthusiastic eater, etc.) Would be grateful if some experienced eyes could have a look and give some feedback. In past days/weeks I thought I may have seen similar (although not so much) but could only see it under blue light, seemed to be invisible under white light. I have added much additional info below pics in case it is helpful.

70 gallon reef tank, running for 3 months, maroon clown purchased exactly two months ago and introduced into DT roughly one month ago (following copper-only QT). Fish came from therapeutic copper (2.4-2.5 ppm, Hanna) in QT and received one dose of Prazi in DT tank immediately after transfer.

Clown is the first and only fish in the tank. Other livestock includes:

1x Blood/Fire shrimp (29 days ago)
3x frags (Acan, Hammer, Zoa, 11 days ago)
11x snails (5x Cerith, 6x Astrea, 6 days ago)
1x Tuxedo urchin (1 day ago)

All corals/inverts introduced directly into DT (corals were dipped and rinsed, inverts were acclimated in a first container, rinsed in DT water in separate container, then placed in DT).

Water:
Ph, ammonia, nitrite untested
temp. 77.5-78 F
salinity 35 ppt
nitrate 0.4 ppm
phosphate 0.02 ppm

I have a QT tank up and running. It currently has a Royal Gramma that is past copper and just received 1st Prazi 3 days ago.

Thanks in advance for any insight. Please let me know if additional info. would be helpful.

Pics are a bit fuzzy but appears to be secondary bacterial lesions associated with Brooklynella which is also called clown disease and often affects wild caught clownfish. The thick mucus on its body which 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.
You will want to do this in your quarantine system

 

[drolmaeye]

Pics are a bit fuzzy but appears to be secondary bacterial lesions associated with Brooklynella which is also called clown disease and often affects wild caught clownfish. The thick mucus on its body which 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.
You will want to do this in your quarantine system

Thank you. As always, the more I learn, the more questions I have:

Is it normal that it would take this long to present, in the absence of any other fish?

I can get some formalin at my LFS and do a dip. Following that, and considering I have a gramma in my QT system:

Do I put my clown in the QT w/ the gramma? If yes, would I continue to treat the QT with formalin? Or could I use metroplex only and not add formalin to the QT?

*OR*

Would I move the gramma to the DT? so I could treat the clown in the DT with prolonged formalin bath?

Would formalin (or formalin + metroplex) treat everything (Brook + secondary infection)? Or would I need to treat in multiple stages?

Finally, considering the fish looks as it does but is exhibiting normal activity and feeding behavior for the moment, what would the typical prognosis be for survival?

Sorry for so many questions, still learning, and would like to keep this one afloat if I can.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you. As always, the more I learn, the more questions I have:

Is it normal that it would take this long to present, in the absence of any other fish?

I can get some formalin at my LFS and do a dip. Following that, and considering I have a gramma in my QT system:

Do I put my clown in the QT w/ the gramma? If yes, would I continue to treat the QT with formalin? Or could I use metroplex only and not add formalin to the QT?

*OR*

Would I move the gramma to the DT? so I could treat the clown in the DT with prolonged formalin bath?

Would formalin (or formalin + metroplex) treat everything (Brook + secondary infection)? Or would I need to treat in multiple stages?

Finally, considering the fish looks as it does but is exhibiting normal activity and feeding behavior for the moment, what would the typical prognosis be for survival?

Sorry for so many questions, still learning, and would like to keep this one afloat if I can.

Don’t need metroplex
Formula in based or ruby rally. FW dip alone will improve its appearance
You can place both in quarantine. Survival good when caught early and there is no timeline for any fish to get this onset

 

[drolmaeye]

Don’t need metroplex
Formula in based or ruby rally. FW dip alone will improve its appearance
You can place both in quarantine. Survival good when caught early and there is no timeline for any fish to get this onset

Okay, LFS said they had formalin, got there to discover what they had/meant is Hikari Ich-X (<3% formaldehyde). There is dosing for a dip at 10mL per gallon (compared to 0.6 mL per gallon formalin), so that kind of jibes in terms of concentration of formaldehyde. The whole-tank dose is 5 mL per 10 gallons (so seems a little weaker than recommendation).

The MSDS for Ich-X saltwater lists only formaldehyde and methanol as ingredients, so I am working under the assumption that it is simply very dilute formalin (it is described as this in the MSDS). Proper formalin (37% formaldehyde) would arrive via amazon middle to end of next week, so I'm inclined to use the Ich-X product unless you and other experienced forum members would specifically recommend against it because: 1) It will be harmful for the fish, or 2) It will be ineffective.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Okay, LFS said they had formalin, got there to discover what they had/meant is Hikari Ich-X (<3% formaldehyde). There is dosing for a dip at 10mL per gallon (compared to 0.6 mL per gallon formalin), so that kind of jibes in terms of concentration of formaldehyde. The whole-tank dose is 5 mL per 10 gallons (so seems a little weaker than recommendation).

The MSDS for Ich-X saltwater lists only formaldehyde and methanol as ingredients, so I am working under the assumption that it is simply very dilute formalin (it is described as this in the MSDS). Proper formalin (37% formaldehyde) would arrive via amazon middle to end of next week, so I'm inclined to use the Ich-X product unless you and other experienced forum members would specifically recommend against it because: 1) It will be harmful for the fish, or 2) It will be ineffective.

Yes- this is very diluted formalin and not a good product. Formaldehyde at 37% solution is good but tricky to achieve and Ruby Rally is slower but works.