New Tank - Brooklynella maybe?

krinkldink · Feb 17, 2023

Hello,

I’m returning to the hobby after a 15+ year break. Recently setup a Fluval Marine 32.5. Completed a cycle with a pair of clowns, verified the cycle was complete with water test from LFS. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrates around 8 I believe. We added 5 snails, 5 hermits and a skunk cleaner shrimp and right away the clowns started having problems. I understand it could be coincidental, but its hard to believe that since they were fine prior.

One of them (now deceased) started swimming with its mouth open all the time and quit eating. LFS said maybe it was injured while the two were establishing dominance.

The last one eats sometimes, but rarely. It has white spots on it. See pic And video. Is this Brook? I‘m unfortunately out of town And don’t have a QT setup (lesson learned). I will be setting one up when I return, but in the meantime can I treat our DT (no corals, just the previously mentioned inverts) with something like Reef Rally Pro?

Lastly, my wife sent me a video clip of little white spots on the glass that are moving around, are these some type of pod?

Forgive me if I’m completely overlooking something. Happy to get some good advice from you all. Thanks ahead of time.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 17, 2023

krinkldink said:
Hello,

I’m returning to the hobby after a 15+ year break. Recently setup a Fluval Marine 32.5. Completed a cycle with a pair of clowns, verified the cycle was complete with water test from LFS. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrates around 8 I believe. We added 5 snails, 5 hermits and a skunk cleaner shrimp and right away the clowns started having problems. I understand it could be coincidental, but its hard to believe that since they were fine prior.

One of them (now deceased) started swimming with its mouth open all the time and quit eating. LFS said maybe it was injured while the two were establishing dominance.

The last one eats sometimes, but rarely. It has white spots on it. See pic And video. Is this Brook? I‘m unfortunately out of town And don’t have a QT setup (lesson learned). I will be setting one up when I return, but in the meantime can I treat our DT (no corals, just the previously mentioned inverts) with something like Reef Rally Pro?

Lastly, my wife sent me a video clip of little white spots on the glass that are moving around, are these some type of pod?

Forgive me if I’m completely overlooking something. Happy to get some good advice from you all. Thanks ahead of time.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Yes - that is Brooklynella. Were these wild caught clownfish? I always avoid wild caught clowns, or any clowns that have been housed in with wild caught ones. That helps reduce the incidence of Brook.

Brooklynella is difficult to control without formalin, and that is toxic and highly restricted now. Ruby Reef Rally Pro is really the only option for a tank with invertebrates in it, but it also fails to work in many cases, especially those where fish loss has already transpired.

If the second clown does end up dying, you'll want to leave the tank fishless for 60 days.

Jay

krinkldink · Feb 17, 2023

@Jay Hemdal thank you. I’ll ask the LFS if they were wild caught. My intentions were to not have wild caught, but I honestly forgot to ask them.

I had also posted a second video with some white spots on the glass that are moving all around. Any ideas what those are?

Jay Hemdal · Feb 17, 2023

krinkldink said:
@Jay Hemdal thank you. I’ll ask the LFS if they were wild caught. My intentions were to not have wild caught, but I honestly forgot to ask them.

I had also posted a second video with some white spots on the glass that are moving all around. Any ideas what those are?

Those would be isopods or less likely, copepods. They are not parasitic, but can be a sign of over feeding in some cases.

Jay

krinkldink · Feb 17, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
Those would be isopods or less likely, copepods. They are not parasitic, but can be a sign of over feeding in some cases.

Jay

Thanks!

vetteguy53081 · Feb 17, 2023

krinkldink said:
Thanks!

The LFS may not even know if tank raised or wild caught but as Jay stated- Treatment is warranted. The most significant sign of brooklynella is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus 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 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.
A quarantine system if you dont have one can be as simple as a starter tank kit from walmart which has most of the essentials

krinkldink · Feb 18, 2023

Thank you. I’m planning to setup a QT when I get back. Unfortunately I’m not finding a source for Formalin so I have some Rally Pro arriving today. Will have my family start dosing my DT for the time being. I only have the one sick clown, some snails, hermits and skunk cleaner shrimp in that tank.

Do I need to be concerned about cleaning my net after catching the fish to relocate it to the QT? I’ve seen some different information on these forums about sterilization of equipment - maybe one of you can quickly direct me to something that will help me understand how to transfer fish and sterilize equipment in a way that reduces the potential for inadvertent contamination.

Thank you all - really impressed with the answers and information on this forum!

krinkldink · Feb 20, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
The LFS may not even know if tank raised or wild caught but as Jay stated- Treatment is warranted. The most significant sign of brooklynella is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus 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 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.
A quarantine system if you dont have one can be as simple as a starter tank kit from walmart which has most of the essentials

I just setup my QT, just a simple10 gallon kit. Now I have more questions about cycling the QT:
Do I need to do something to quickly cycle the QT?
Do I just move my clown over and hope it survives the cycle and Rally Pro treatment In the brand new QT?
Or maybe I add a small piece of live rock to the QT? If I move liverock, will I be moving some of the Brooklynella to the QT as well?
Or another option I thought of tonight, assuming the last clown is going to die (I’m told it hasn‘t eaten in a few days)continue to treat with Rally Pro in the DT. Get my new clowns in the QT and watch them while letting the DT go fallow for 6 weeks.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Jay Hemdal · Feb 20, 2023

krinkldink said:
I just setup my QT, just a simple10 gallon kit. Now I have more questions about cycling the QT:
Do I need to do something to quickly cycle the QT?
Do I just move my clown over and hope it survives the cycle and Rally Pro treatment In the brand new QT?
Or maybe I add a small piece of live rock to the QT? If I move liverock, will I be moving some of the Brooklynella to the QT as well?
Or another option I thought of tonight, assuming the last clown is going to die (I’m told it hasn‘t eaten in a few days)continue to treat with Rally Pro in the DT. Get my new clowns in the QT and watch them while letting the DT go fallow for 6 weeks.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Moving some live rock may help, but bacteria in a bottle products work. You need to keep the ammonia level in the tank below 0.25 ppm
No issue about moving Brooklynella on the rock as much more of it is on the fish itself.
Jay

vetteguy53081 · Feb 20, 2023

Follow what Jay just suggested in quarantine and monitor ammonia with a RELIABLE test kit

krinkldink · Mar 4, 2023

Both clownfish ended up dying in the DT, not surprisingly. I have my QT setup now, but it’s not cycled. Is it okay to get another pair of clowns, cycle the 10 gallon QT with them, then follow Jay’s QT process while letting my DT sit fallow? OR should I get a couple black Mollies in the QT to cycle it, then add a couple clowns to it once it’s cycled and follow the QT protocol?
Im hesitant to move anything from my DT to the QT as I know I had brook in the DT - hence the reason it’s not fallow.

Jay Hemdal · Mar 4, 2023

krinkldink said:
Both clownfish ended up dying in the DT, not surprisingly. I have my QT setup now, but it’s not cycled. Is it okay to get another pair of clowns, cycle the 10 gallon QT with them, then follow Jay’s QT process while letting my DT sit fallow? OR should I get a couple black Mollies in the QT to cycle it, then add a couple clowns to it once it’s cycled and follow the QT protocol?
Im hesitant to move anything from my DT to the QT as I know I had brook in the DT - hence the reason it’s not fallow.

Personally, I don’t like cycling with clownfish, but with enough bottled bacteria, it can be done.
Jay

krinkldink · Mar 11, 2023

Would it be a bad idea to add coral to my DT that I’m letting sit fallow due to brooklynella? It’s only been 2 weeks fallow, and won’t be adding fish for awhile. I plan to get another pair of clowns and follow Jays quarantine guide in my QT once it’s cycled.

Jay Hemdal · Mar 11, 2023

krinkldink said:
Would it be a bad idea to add coral to my DT that I’m letting sit fallow due to brooklynella? It’s only been 2 weeks fallow, and won’t be adding fish for awhile. I plan to get another pair of clowns and follow Jays quarantine guide in my QT once it’s cycled.

You just need to try and ensure that the corals are coming from either a fishless system, or one that for sure has no disease issues. Corals can transfer disease organisms just by virtue of them moving water over....

Jay