What disease do my clowns have?

markus902 · Apr 30, 2021

Hi everybody,

after going a while corals only, I added 2 clownfish to my tank. Unfortunately they came down with some sort of parasite, I cannot identify (see pics attached). My guess is brooklynella though the symptoms don't fit exactly. It is like white, transparent sheets of slime hanging out of the gills and right on the underside of the gills. No white spots or skin defects on the bodies. It is just around the gills. Breathing is accelerated.

I gave them a freshwater water dip and treated with Malachite green for 4 days and it was gone and they seemed much happier. After 2 days without medication the whitish stuff hanging out of their gills is back. Now they are back in QT and got the same treatment again.

Does anyone know what that is. My next step would be to get some copper and have them for longer in QT. Please let me know how you would treat this. Thanks for your input.

BeltedCoyote · Apr 30, 2021

Let’s get some help in here.

@ReefSquad @Jay Hemdal

Jay Hemdal · Apr 30, 2021

That could be Brooklynella. I also see some stringy feces in one of them. Copper doesn’t work well on Brook. I’ve never used malachite green on it, so don’t know if that or the FW dip helped. Do you have access to formalin? If not, you might consider repeating what you did since it provided some relief.
Jay

markus902 · May 1, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
That could be Brooklynella. I also see some stringy feces in one of them. Copper doesn’t work well on Brook. I’ve never used malachite green on it, so don’t know if that or the FW dip helped. Do you have access to formalin? If not, you might consider repeating what you did since it provided some relief.
Jay

Thank you for the input, now a day later they are again totally fine and hungry. White stuff is gone and breathing normal. I can order some formalin and try that too. I read that can be used in combination with Malachit green. Would you do an intense formalin dip, or low dose longer term. And how long should they stay in QT. I’m afraid if I put them back it comes back after two days.

If it was brook it technically should have killed it all at the first treatment. Can that really come back that fast?

N3mo · May 1, 2021

Interested to know, I had a clown with the exact same thing. No treatment helped.

Jay Hemdal · May 1, 2021

markus902 said:
Thank you for the input, now a day later they are again totally fine and hungry. White stuff is gone and breathing normal. I can order some formalin and try that too. I read that can be used in combination with Malachit green. Would you do an intense formalin dip, or low dose longer term. And how long should they stay in QT. I’m afraid if I put them back it comes back after two days.

If it was brook it technically should have killed it all at the first treatment. Can that really come back that fast?

At this point, I would just watch them in QT for at least 2 weeks to ensure the symptoms don't return. Sometimes, fish develop mucus for no serious reason: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/mucus-the-slime-that-binds.793/

Formalin is combined with malachite green, but that is mostly a freshwater fish treatment. Also, both chemicals are toxic and carcinogenic, so I don't like to use them too often, and even less in conjunction.

Dips can only fully control Brooklynella if you "dip and move" the fish to a clean tank. Sometimes you need to do that twice. Otherwise, returning the fish to the infected tank often gets the fish reinfected.

Jay

markus902 · May 1, 2021

N3mo said:
Interested to know, I had a clown with the exact same thing. No treatment helped.

That doesn’t sound great

. I mean I seem to be on the right track. Did you treat it and it came back, or did he just die?

markus902 · May 1, 2021

Thanks Jay, I guess I leave them in there for 5 weeks, if it’s brook, it should have completed its life cycle in the main tank and be gone. My only concern is not to kill them with ammonia poisoning in QT. What is the best method to control that?

I’ll keep you posted.

Jay Hemdal · May 1, 2021

markus902 said:
Thanks Jay, I guess I leave them in there for 5 weeks, if it’s brook, it should have completed its life cycle in the main tank and be gone. My only concern is not to kill them with ammonia poisoning in QT. What is the best method to control that?

I’ll keep you posted.

Ammonia control is tough, but the three basic methods are: water changes, ammonia detoxifiers and bacteria cultures. I prefer the latter. I find that ammonia detoxifiers work well at first, but then they seem to lose effectiveness. Water changes are great, but take a lot of effort and people underestimate the need for them (like doing a 25% water change and think that will take care of a 1 ppm ammonia issue - when it actually just takes you to 0.75 ppm and then in 24 hours, its right back to one again!).

Jay