Lost my first fish in QT. Uronema? Brook?

[phatduckk]

I put a couple clowns in QT about a month ago. I was just observing for a while and getting them used to me.

All was great till about 2 weeks ago when I saw white stringy poop. So I started feeding GC/focus in their frozen. Things seemed fine, they ate like pigs and 3 days ago I saw the white poop again (even while on Gc food) but this time one clown essentially stopped moving. She’s just sit on the floor of the pvc. She ate a bit but not as much as before.

well... this morning I found her dead. Any chance someone can ID what happened off these pics? Second clown is still in QT, didn’t eat today but is very active.

here’s the second one today. He seems physically ok and able but since im so new to this I’m sure I’m missing something. If he was eating I’d be less concerned but given his buddy died I’m quite concerned.

that discoloration in his head is new. Definitely can’t be a good thing.

any help would be appreciated. I’d love to be able to save this dude

 

[ScottR]

Any medication added to tank? Was it a small QT tank? Did you test for ammonia?

 

[Reesj]

Most fish deaths in QT is due to you dosing medications and creating a stressful environment for the fish!
If the fish looked heathy when you purchased it and it died in QT IMO over 90% chance it was caused by agravated stress levels to create a disease.

 

[phatduckk]

Sorry. Forgot to post the vitals.

10g QT: powerhead, hob w/ sponge, no carbon, Marine pure in a media bag, pvc, heater, thermometer, ammonia badge. Cycled for about 3 weeks before adding fish. Ammonia was tested daily for a while as fish were added, then ammonia & nitrite every other day for the last ~3weeks (Red Sea kit). Salinity chocked with Milwaukee & brs refractometer (always chick with both)

Ammonia & nitrite: zero
Nitrate: 8 or so
Ph: 8.2
Temp: 78/79 slight fluctuations during the day

I’m not a veteran but I’m pretty sure I didn’t Mickey Mouse it either.

I never dosed the QT with anything. I only started feeding them food with General Cure when I saw the white stringy poop. No copper, Prazipro dosing or anything like that. Only gc food because I saw symptoms

 

[phatduckk]

Now the survivor has spent a couple hours swimming at the power head. I think I read that might hint at Brook? Or Velvet?

no massively, obvious, physical symptoms besides the discolored spot on his head that I posted a pic of earlier

 

[phatduckk]

Ok. He’s finally showing some symptoms and it’s starting to look like brook to me. Anyone with more experience care to confirm or correct my observation?

this would imply the coloration issue is a secondary infection. #noobNotAVet

 

[bluprntguy]

Looks like brook to me as well and possibly an infection.

Since you have GC on hand, you should dose that to the water column Immediately. It contains metro. Maybe consider a fresh water dip if you are comfortable with that process. I hate recommending formalin baths, but it might be necessary. See the link below with best treatment practices.

Brooklynella

Brooklynella hostilis What You Need To Know: * This is most often seen in clownfish, but it can afflict any fish. The fish’s skin will appear to be peeling or sloughing off, oftentimes causing excessive white mucous to form around the affected area(s). * Treatment of choice is a 45 minute...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[phatduckk]

Looks like brook to me as well and possibly an infection.

Since you have GC on hand, you should dose that to the water column Immediately. It contains metro. Maybe consider a fresh water dip if you are comfortable with that process. I hate recommending formalin baths, but it might be necessary.

Brooklynella

Brooklynella hostilis What You Need To Know: * This is most often seen in clownfish, but it can afflict any fish. The fish’s skin will appear to be peeling or sloughing off, oftentimes causing excessive white mucous to form around the affected area(s). * Treatment of choice is a 45 minute...

www.reef2reef.com

thanks for chiming in and helping confirm brook. Unfortunately lost him over night.

gonna run my tanks (DT & coral/invert QT) fallow for 6 weeks. I’m worried about cross contamination. In my haste I may or may not have dipped the same pipette in my QT & DT. I can’t be sure so I’ll play it safe.

so toss all gear in a brute with 10% bleach and start over?

 

[bluprntguy]

thanks for chiming in and helping confirm brook. Unfortunately lost him over night.

gonna run my tanks (DT & coral/invert QT) fallow for 6 weeks. I’m worried about cross contamination. In my haste I may or may not have dipped the same pipette in my QT & DT. I can’t be sure so I’ll play it safe.

so toss all gear in a brute with 10% bleach and start over?

Sorry to hear you lost him.

6 weeks fallow sounds like a good plan.

10% Bleach works to disinfect equipment. turn on filters and pumps for a few minutes in the water. Afterwards I usually rinse, refill with water, and then run a heavy dose of prime for a few hours. Follow up by drying everything as thoroughly as possible.

 

[phatduckk]

Ok quick lesson learned for any folks that may stumble upon this thread in the future:

zoom in with your camera take pics of your fish. Personally I couldn’t see the early symptoms of brook with my naked eye. Even towards the end could see the secondary symptoms easily but the “skin falling off” wasn’t evident till I started looking at 3x zoomed in photos.

so maybe that’s obvious but I totally brain farted on that. I’ve never had a problem spotting ick w/ the naked eye so I never thought much of it.

The pics in threads show the worst of brook but I feel like I could have caught on earlier had I taken a closer look.

maybe an obvious thing but thought I’d share in case it helps anyone else.

 

[phatduckk]

Sorry to hear you lost him.

6 weeks fallow sounds like a good plan.

10% Bleach works to disinfect equipment. turn on filters and pumps for a few minutes in the water. Afterwards I usually rinse, refill with water, and then run a heavy dose of prime for a few hours. Follow up by drying everything as thoroughly as possible.

how about nets and other not-in-tank gear? Like my water change hose etc. I’ll restart QT in a couple weeks and want to avoid carry over

 

[ChelseaBidwell]

Sorry to hear. We lost 2 to Brook as well a couple months ago. In my experience and what has worked without fail for us is following @HotRocks QT process - Link:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/page-42#post-6398904
We have only lost 1 fish since (our fault - cross contamination as well). I would definitely start over. Anything associated with touching or even being near the QT should be sterilized unfortunately. Better to be safe than sorry. We don't take any chances anymore when it comes to Brook.

 

[bluprntguy]

how about nets and other not-in-tank gear? Like my water change hose etc. I’ll restart QT in a couple weeks and want to avoid carry over

I always throw everything into the tank and fill that up with the 10% bleach water. That would include water change hoses and nets.

My normal process is to rinse all equipment that might go into another tank (like nets and water change tubing) in the hottest water that comes out of the faucet after every time I use it. That kills pretty much everything we are worried about. Then I don’t have to worry about cross contamination ever.

 

[GR00VY]

I relatively new to this as well. I have a separate syphon and nets for my qt and DT.

I also keep my DT upstairs and qt downstairs. This way all equipment never comes close to the other tank.

 

[phatduckk]

I relatively new to this as well. I have a separate syphon and nets for my qt and DT.

same. Separate gear. Mostly worried about the next time the QT is setup. Some logic says if everything dries out the parasites should all die. But, if it’s just a matter of soaking everything in a garbage can with bleach it’s easy enough to spend 30 minutes of labor & a few days of waiting for it to dry to be super safe

 

[phatduckk]

tossed in some bleach. Gonna let it run through with the filter and power head on for a day then rinse & dry. Maybe by Sunday I’ll have it back up & running -time permitting

 

[Idoc]

If getting clowns again, next time it might be best to initially treat for Brooklynella first, even without symptoms. Clowns are so susceptible to it... and it kills fast. Without the disease presenting, you can treat the water column with Metronidazole directly to knock it before it goes full blown. You can also feed your GC/Focus st the same time to hello with internal parasites/worms. Then after that treatment, start your copper treatment followed by PraziPro.

This is what was recommended to me by Humblefish and my clowns (and all other fish) have been disease free in the display tank since the tank started 2 yrs ago.

 

[phatduckk]

If getting clowns again, next time it might be best to initially treat for Brooklynella first, even without symptoms. Clowns are so susceptible to it... and it kills fast. Without the disease presenting, you can treat the water column with Metronidazole directly to knock it before it goes full blown. You can also feed your GC/Focus st the same time to hello with internal parasites/worms. Then after that treatment, start your copper treatment followed by PraziPro.

This is what was recommended to me by Humblefish and my clowns (and all other fish) have been disease free in the display tank since the tank started 2 yrs ago.

Ya, lesson learned the hard way

I’ve already started speaking to a couple vendors who do actually QT; introduced by Humblefish, of course.

I’m getting my QT ready and will give it a go but I’d like to get started with a few fish in there so I can start enjoying it (got tank aug 1, still empty)

 

[Lol21]

Most fish deaths in QT is due to you dosing medications and creating a stressful environment for the fish!
If the fish looked heathy when you purchased it and it died in QT IMO over 90% chance it was caused by agravated stress levels to create a disease.

You cant just create a disease if it died from a parasite... It died from a parasite.

You can kill a fish from a bacterial infection or from over medicating or from doing hyposalinity if done wrong.