Help with diagnosis

[Danielsj]

Hey guys i have several fish that are presenting with symptoms that i feel could be described by several different dieases so im having a real hard time figuring out what it is and how i should act from here. My Midas has like a white dusting around his head area with white strings coming off, my Hippo has ich like dots, discoloration and cloudy eyes, my clownfish also have a light white dusting. I have attached pictures of my Midas and Hippo tang, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

More background/history is needed here. A short video would also help. Here is a link to how to provide that information:

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

From what I can see, both fish are producing excess mucus. That can be due to Brooklynella, late stage ich or water quality issues.

Jay

 

[Danielsj]

More background/history is needed here. A short video would also help. Here is a link to how to provide that information:

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

From what I can see, both fish are producing excess mucus. That can be due to Brooklynella, late stage ich or water quality issues.

Jay

Hi Jay, sorry for my lack of information i was a bit distressed this morning when i made the post.
So for information...

History
I had 4 fish in the tank for 2 weeks, one of them coming from an older aquarium. They where all doing great showing no signs of sickness or anything. I then added a small hippo tang, which hid for a couple of days but eventually came out and started eating well. After a week the hippo got a few small white dots which i would say looked like ich, this persisted for around 4-5 days, but without bothering the hippo, it was still swimming around and eating. Then its situation got worse it got completely covered in white spots and started looking dusty, also getting cloudy eyes, it stopped eating and hid away for about two days. On the third day it was out and about swimming and eating again looking a lot better, the dots where dissapearing and the dustiness had gone away. Then a couple of days later i started noticing white dots on the fins of my angel and blenny, these didnt get worse and dissapeared again quite quickly, they were also eating fine and swimming around happily. Then about two days ago i noticed one of my clown fish had lost its appetite and was looking a little dusty, and now today my hippo is back with dots, looking dusty, aswell as my midas blenny is looking dusty. And at this point all of the fish has also lost most of their appetite, but are still swimming around, without laboured breathing.

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: Reef tank with both corals, inverts and fish
Aquarium water volume: 300 liters
Filtration type: Filtersocks
Lighting: AI prime hydra 32hd about 350 par at surface
How long has the aquarium been established: A month, but started with live rock coming directly from a 6 year old established tank.

Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using)
Temperature: 26 degrees celsius
pH: 7.8
Salinity / specific gravity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 3-4 ppm
Phosphorus: 0.15 ppm
Copper: 0

In-depth information:
I have not yet lost any fish.
The invertebrates are not affected.
Most of the fish have lost their appetite yesterday with no bettering today.
So far i have not medicated at all

I hope this is more usefull than my initial post, im probably just looking for some sort of idea of what could be wrong with them. Im not sure i will be able to medicate since fish medication is illegal to sell in my country, and its pretty hard to get a hold off trough import sadly..

 

[vetteguy53081]

You have what looks like a couple of things going here and concerning is that you are in the UK and limited to resources.
The clown Does appear to have brook whereas the tang appear to have crypto which is marine ich with mucus spores. So the balance of treatment becomes the challenge. Which do you prioritize as they both can cause havoc and further issues.
You can treat with Formalin 37% or general cure if available and give the clowns and goby a freshwater dip for 5 minutes with temperature the same as display tank to offer them relief and buy some time.
What meds do you have access to?
Typical here is quick cure, coppersafe and similar

 

[Danielsj]

You have what looks like a couple of things going here and concerning is that you are in the UK and limited to resources.
The clown Does appear to have brook whereas the tang appear to have crypto which is marine ich with mucus spores. So the balance of treatment becomes the challenge. Which do you prioritize as they both can cause havoc and further issues.
You can treat with Formalin 37% or general cure if available and give the clowns and goby a freshwater dip for 5 minutes with temperature the same as display tank to offer them relief and buy some time.
What meds do you have access to?
Typical here is quick cure, coppersafe and similar

I am in Denmark, but that does not make the situation better sadly.
I dont have access to any medicins right now, i might be able to have something like cupramine og reef rally imported but it will take a couple of days to get here, and theres also a chance it wont be allowed into the country when going through customs. So im slowly coming to terms with the losses that might be coming in the following days, and i am starting to consider running a fishless tank for a period of time, both to let any disease die out, but also to have time to set up a proper quarantine tank. And then from there on out only add one or two fish to the quarantine tank at a time, and let them chill there for 6 ish weeks, and only then add them to the display tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi Jay, sorry for my lack of information i was a bit distressed this morning when i made the post.
So for information...

History
I had 4 fish in the tank for 2 weeks, one of them coming from an older aquarium. They where all doing great showing no signs of sickness or anything. I then added a small hippo tang, which hid for a couple of days but eventually came out and started eating well. After a week the hippo got a few small white dots which i would say looked like ich, this persisted for around 4-5 days, but without bothering the hippo, it was still swimming around and eating. Then its situation got worse it got completely covered in white spots and started looking dusty, also getting cloudy eyes, it stopped eating and hid away for about two days. On the third day it was out and about swimming and eating again looking a lot better, the dots where dissapearing and the dustiness had gone away. Then a couple of days later i started noticing white dots on the fins of my angel and blenny, these didnt get worse and dissapeared again quite quickly, they were also eating fine and swimming around happily. Then about two days ago i noticed one of my clown fish had lost its appetite and was looking a little dusty, and now today my hippo is back with dots, looking dusty, aswell as my midas blenny is looking dusty. And at this point all of the fish has also lost most of their appetite, but are still swimming around, without laboured breathing.

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: Reef tank with both corals, inverts and fish
Aquarium water volume: 300 liters
Filtration type: Filtersocks
Lighting: AI prime hydra 32hd about 350 par at surface
How long has the aquarium been established: A month, but started with live rock coming directly from a 6 year old established tank.

Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using)
Temperature: 26 degrees celsius
pH: 7.8
Salinity / specific gravity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 3-4 ppm
Phosphorus: 0.15 ppm
Copper: 0

In-depth information:
I have not yet lost any fish.
The invertebrates are not affected.
Most of the fish have lost their appetite yesterday with no bettering today.
So far i have not medicated at all

I hope this is more usefull than my initial post, im probably just looking for some sort of idea of what could be wrong with them. Im not sure i will be able to medicate since fish medication is illegal to sell in my country, and its pretty hard to get a hold off trough import sadly..

Thanks - your text points virtually 100% to an uncontrolled case of marine ich. Once fish loss has begun in an outbreak like this it is difficult to stop it. Do you have a second treatment tank available? You could do a hyposalinity treatment if you can move all of the fish to a tank by themselves.
Jay

 

[Danielsj]

Thanks - your text points virtually 100% to an uncontrolled case of marine ich. Once fish loss has begun in an outbreak like this it is difficult to stop it. Do you have a second treatment tank available? You could do a hyposalinity treatment if you can move all of the fish to a tank by themselves.
Jay

I could get that setup yes, i have a small second tank. But would it not be wise to only move them if they get through this round of the ich cycle, i feel like the added stress of being moved into hypo salinity right now might worsen their chances of surviving this round..

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I could get that setup yes, i have a small second tank. But would it not be wise to only move them if they get through this round of the ich cycle, i feel like the added stress of being moved into hypo salinity right now might worsen their chances of surviving this round..

Agreed - hyposalinity (and copper for that matter) takes at least three days to start to work. Once fish loss has happened, the remaining fish may not have that much time - sorry!

Jay

 

[Danielsj]

Agreed - hyposalinity (and copper for that matter) takes at least three days to start to work. Once fish loss has happened, the remaining fish may not have that much time - sorry!

Jay

Hi Jay i went ahead and acted on your advice, also giving them a freshwater dip to give them a bit of relief before moving them to hospital tank. Sadly my Midas blenny passed shortly after being transferred to the hospital tank, and i loved the little guy... The other four arent doing to well either but im hoping they will still be alive in the morning and that i can save some of them.

Never the less my display tank well be running fallow for a few months now, and then i will be qt'ing future new fish for atleast 5-6 weeks, i cant go through something like this again.