Newbie with first case of ich?

melypr1985 · Apr 17, 2016

Brooklynella:

Symptoms – 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 options - Formalin bath, followed by additional formalin baths (as needed - but give the fish a day to recuperate in-between baths). You can use formalin in a QT (at a much lower concentration than the bath), but great care must be taken to provide plenty of gas exchange as formalin will quickly deplete the water of oxygen. For this reason, doing baths is the safer option as the fish can be pulled from the formalin if showing signs of distress. Formalin-MS is preferred, as that contains 37% formaldehyde. However, in a bind, any medication containing formalin (ex. Quick Cure) is better than nothing. Alternative treatments for brook include metronidazole (ex. Seachem MetroPlex) and acriflavine (ex. Acriflavine-MS). A freshwater dip may provide temporary relief if you are unable to locate any of the aforementioned medications right away.

I'm thinking 6 weeks would be more than enough to rid your tank of brook, though I can't remember the exact number. If it were me, I'd go the full 76 days to be sure there is nothing left in my tank that could cause trouble in the future.

Steve Jones · Apr 17, 2016

Thanks!

Steve Jones · Apr 17, 2016

Ok. Some follow up questions since I am new to this. Bath - as in fill a container with the Formalin-MS and place the fish in it one at a time? 100% Foramalin or do I dilute it or are instruction on the bottle when it gets here? Dip fish one at a time. I assume. How long to leave in the bath? Do you toss the Formalin after each fish or can you use the same bath for each? And after the bath into QT tank.

Steve Jones · Apr 17, 2016

Sorry to keep asking so many questions. Will the fish exhibit the other symptoms that the clowns did as well? The one I noticed first on the clowns was the "staying in one place" followed by loss of appetite. The mucous didn't really present until just a few hours before death. The other symptoms started about 36 hours before.

melypr1985 · Apr 17, 2016

Steve Jones said:
Ok. Some follow up questions since I am new to this. Bath - as in fill a container with the Formalin-MS and place the fish in it one at a time? 100% Foramalin or do I dilute it or are instruction on the bottle when it gets here? Dip fish one at a time. I assume. How long to leave in the bath? Do you toss the Formalin after each fish or can you use the same bath for each? And after the bath into QT tank.

A bath consists of a small-ish container (large enough for the fish to fit in of course) will tank water and the formalin in it. Use an air stone to pump oxygen in the water before and during the bath. The fish goes in then goes into the QT. I've used one bath for several fish before without problems. Follow the dosing directions on the bottle when it comes in. It may have directions on the length of the bath, but I'd say 5-10 minutes would be good. Follow the directions on the bottle though.

Steve Jones said:
Sorry to keep asking so many questions. Will the fish exhibit the other symptoms that the clowns did as well? The one I noticed first on the clowns was the "staying in one place" followed by loss of appetite. The mucous didn't really present until just a few hours before death. The other symptoms started about 36 hours before.

Yes they could start showing the same symptoms. It's weird, that some fish just never show any signs of being effected. Though in the "better safe than sorry" column it's best to go ahead and treat them all as if they have it and get it out of your head.

Steve Jones · Apr 19, 2016

Well, ordered the Formalin and a pump / air stone for oxygen as I didn't have one to use for the bath. Formalin arrived today. Pump arrives tomorrow. Been watching the fish and sure enough tonight the Flame Angel starts gasping and gets whiteish coat developing. Crap! No choice but to do the bath without pump. Of course, he doesn't want to come out of the tank. I figure I'm just adding stress chasing him around so I get a 20 gallon tub out of the garage and pull out the rocks.

I get the Flame and the Coral Beauty into the bath. The bottle says 20 drops per gallon so I did that. I'm watching them like a hawk as I have no pump for adding oxygen. The bottle says bath for 50 minutes. After 10 I can tell the Flame isn't going to make 30 let alone 50. So I do 5 more minutes and pull the Flame out. The Coral Beauty seems to be ok so I leave him be while I move the Flame to the QT tank. Come back and move the Coral Beauty to QT about 5 minutes later as he's starting to struggle. Then put the rock back in the Biocube. I'll fine tune it tomorrow as it isn't set up quite like it was before. So now I guess the counter starts for a 76 day countdown. Once the pump gets here tomorrow I'll do another treatment if I see any problems. Holy crap. What a night. One good thing is that I don't have a lot of coral yet and most are on their own rock and not attached to the live rock so I was able to leave them in the tank even after I yanked the rock. So not too stressed of corals while I dealt with the fish.

Just wonder how hard it's going to be to keep this QT tank balanced for 76 days. The 30 gallon Biocube was hard enough. Now everyone's crammed in 10. Ugh.

Been 30 minutes. They don't look happy in QT. Coating is gone from the Flame. Still seems to be breathing hard. But not much else I can do right now. I thinks another bath today will be too stressful.

melypr1985 · Apr 19, 2016

I'm sorry the fish had a hard time with the dip. Dont be afraid of doing another. They had a hard time with this one because of two reasons 1. They didn't have enough oxygen during it 2. It's a harsh med in the first place. I wouldn't have tried the dip without the added air in the dip, but since you did dont let it scare you away from it. Let them have a couple days breather to get over the first one before trying another. Also, the QT should stabilize after a couple weeks with regular water changes to keep the ammonia in check in the mean time.

Steve Jones · Apr 19, 2016

Yeah. I understand. Felt I needed to make a call. Would rather go out trying something rather than let it die tonight in the tank gasping. When the pump gets here tomorrow will look at another bath WITH adding the oxygen so hopefully less stressful. For us both. LOL

Steve Jones · Apr 23, 2016

How many times should the fish get a "bath"? I looked some online and all I could find is one source recommend baths on days 1, 3, 5 , 7 and 11. Then monitor after that. I don't want to overdo it as it is hard on the fish but I don't want to under treat either.

melypr1985 · Apr 23, 2016

I would do 1, 3 and 5 then monitor after that. If it's showing symptoms after that then continue the dips as you outlined.

Steve Jones · May 1, 2016

Update: Well, so far so good. The Coral Beauty, the Melanurus Wrasse and the Pajama Clownfish (or "Survivors" as I now call them) have survived through 4, 50 minute Formalin baths. Each one seemed to be easier on them. So I "just" lost 2 Clowns, 1 Pajama Clownfish, and 1 Flame Angel.

I have also set up a second 10 gallon hospital tank and am moving them to this after they finish their last bath today. I would like to use the old QT tank as a QT tank still for incoming livestock. That way I can have one tank for dedicated QT and one tank for dedicated hospital. My question is, I'd rather not throw away all the old QT tank stuff. If I toss the filter media and replace with new and soak/scrub the tank and all equipment in a 10% bleach solution and let it soak for a few hours, then rinse, rinse and RINSE all the equipment - is the tank OK to use? I just want NO CHANCE that the Brooks is anywhere in the revived QT tank. Does bleach kill Brooks? The equipment is a hang on filter, some PVC pipes for shelter, and a heater. Buying all new is not an option right now after all this recent expense.

Steve Jones · May 1, 2016

Here's a vid of The Survivors in the new hospital tank. I'm picking up some new PVC pieces for shelter in a few minutes.

melypr1985 · May 1, 2016

Steve Jones said:
Update: Well, so far so good. The Coral Beauty, the Melanurus Wrasse and the Pajama Clownfish (or "Survivors" as I now call them) have survived through 4, 50 minute Formalin baths. Each one seemed to be easier on them. So I "just" lost 2 Clowns, 1 Pajama Clownfish, and 1 Flame Angel.

I have also set up a second 10 gallon hospital tank and am moving them to this after they finish their last bath today. I would like to use the old QT tank as a QT tank still for incoming livestock. That way I can have one tank for dedicated QT and one tank for dedicated hospital. My question is, I'd rather not throw away all the old QT tank stuff. If I toss the filter media and replace with new and soak/scrub the tank and all equipment in a 10% bleach solution and let it soak for a few hours, then rinse, rinse and RINSE all the equipment - is the tank OK to use? I just want NO CHANCE that the Brooks is anywhere in the revived QT tank. Does bleach kill Brooks? The equipment is a hang on filter, some PVC pipes for shelter, and a heater. Buying all new is not an option right now after all this recent expense.

You can certainly sterilize all the equipment and let it dry completely before using again. I usually use vinegar and water to do that and the drying time, but bleach works as well.

Steve Jones · May 14, 2016

So here's the final setup. The HOSPITAL tank is on top with the remaining fish, and the QUARANTINE tank is below for holding new stock. I've got both tanks going and cycled and airstones in both for plenty of oxygen and have a stock of Formalin and other medicines now. HopefullyI won't need them - but I don't want to be stuck 2 hours or overnight shipping from treatment again.