Need Help Treating Clownfish

[ChrisTran]

Hi all,

 

My male clown seems to have brooklynella, and i don't have experience treating the disease. I need help from someone that has the medication and a hospital tank setup that can treat my clown. I will pay in nice sps frags in return.

 

Pls let me know,

 

Thanks in advance

 

Chris Tran

[Tracy G]

Formalin I think is the treatment. Not sure who could treat but I know I would do a freshwater dip and QT and lower the salinity slowly till you can get the med. Bring it down slowly to like 1.012

[Tracy G]

I have a 5.5 gallon tank I'm not using and a air pump and stone. Let me know

[monkiboy]

chris, i'd be glad to help. you need to act asap if this is indeed brook. i imagine this was a wild-caught clown, correct?

 

a formalin bath is likely most highly suggested treatment. just remember it is a carcinogenic and can cause tissue damage.

 

a paraguard bath has worked very well for me as a replacement and has good support from others and has similar active ingredients. it is also much safer for you and the fish.

 

you can do three baths. one every other day then once those are done QT for thirty days looking for re-infection.

 

is there sloughing skin? if so, treatment with an antibiotic that has minocycline will help AFTER treatment with formalin/paraguard - this is pretty easy on the fish.

 

i have a 20g, a filter, a heater, paraguard and some PVC fittings, and some dr. tim's bacteria in a bottle to get you started.

 

if you can get any of this sooner, do it, and act promptly. brook is a nasty parasite.

 

if you would like to take me up on my offer, shoot me a PM.

[zygote2k]

if it's got brook and it's a wild caught fish, it might be better to euthanize it now before it possibly spreads to other fish/tanks.

I don't want to sound callous but it's probably the most humane way of dealing with this disease if it's only on a single clownfish.

in my past experiences with this disease, it has been nearly 100% fatal and can lie dormant for more than 8 weeks, then attack the fish again within days of being re-introduced to the DT. a client recently lost ALL of his fish from brook and several of these fish were kept in QT for 8 weeks while the DT was fallow. apparently it has a longer lifecycle than 8 weeks.

[Jan]

+1 agreed. So sorry Chris.

 

if it's got brook and it's a wild caught fish, it might be better to euthanize it now before it possibly spreads to other fish/tanks.

I don't want to sound callous but it's probably the most humane way of dealing with this disease if it's only on a single clownfish.

in my past experiences with this disease, it has been nearly 100% fatal and can lie dormant for more than 8 weeks, then attack the fish again within days of being re-introduced to the DT. a client recently lost ALL of his fish from brook and several of these fish were kept in QT for 8 weeks while the DT was fallow. apparently it has a longer lifecycle than 8 weeks.

[PK3]

Brook is nasty and is very difficult to cure. I've tried treating wild caught clowns for brook with formalin baths, reduced salinity, and a number of other methods and it resulted in death 100% of the time. With that said, I feel like its always worth a shot to treat and cure the fish. Go with the steps monkiboy listed and cross your fingers. Good luck.

[Spoonman1979]

I have successfully treated clowns on more one occasion using formalin. A FW dip is something you could do right away to buy some time to get treatment plans together, Brook kills quickly...

[ChrisTran]

Thank you everyone for your advices and offers.

I am inexperienced dealing with fish diseases. I got this clown from a vendor who claims it is a Doni’s snowcasso, so it is not a wild-caught.

The fish looks pale and is covered with white-ish slime. The left pectoral fin seems weak, and the fish has some labor breathings. It is much less active but still eats.

He is the newest fish in the tank and the rest of his tank mates seem to be doing well.

Should I give him a quick fresh water dip now, before I get my hand with some medication and treat him? How long should I dip him?

Thanks

Chris

[Jan]

The breathing is the issue. Once it gets to the gills it's a real problem.

FW dip

Water temp and PH MUST match the water the fish is coming from. Water can be slightly warmer.

Add methalyene blue. This calms the fish and helps it's coat.

Once you have the FW identical to the DT water take the fish and place it in the FW.

The fish will appear stressed then relax. Let it stay in the dip for about 15-30 seconds. If it starts to thrash about take it out. It should be placed in another system to avoid reinfection.

 

You'll find more information and details here -

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dips_baths.htm

 

Good luck!

[John]

Personally, I'd take it back to the vendor and let them deal with it...your tank/s are too beautiful to risk it...

Edited March 6, 2013 by John

[Jan]

I agree with this. Your tank is also possably infected.

Personally, I'd take it back to the vendor and let them deal with it...your tank/s are too beautiful to risk it...

[ChrisTran]

Thanks Jan for the tips; based on the symtomps, do you think it may have been brook?

 

John,

 

The vendor is not our lfs. I will attempt to treat it first to see if i could safe him.

[Jan]

Could be. Whitish slime on clown fish is how it is described. Here are links with pics. Formalin is the best treatment for brook.

Quick Clicks below:

Aggression

Bacteria Infection

Black Ich

Brooklynella

Goiter - Sharks and Stingrays

Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE)

Head and Lateral Line Erosion Before and After

Hyper-Melaninization

Ich - Cryptocaryon irritans

Lymphocystis

Pop-Eye Infections

Stress

 

Thanks Jan for the tips; based on the symtomps, do you think it may have been brook?

[monkiboy]

if it's got brook and it's a wild caught fish, it might be better to euthanize it now before it possibly spreads to other fish/tanks.

in my past experiences with this disease, it has been nearly 100% fatal and can lie dormant for more than 8 weeks, then attack the fish again within days of being re-introduced to the DT. a client recently lost ALL of his fish from brook and several of these fish were kept in QT for 8 weeks while the DT was fallow. apparently it has a longer lifecycle than 8 weeks.

if you suspect that your display tank has brook, removing all fish and medicating/treating them with a formalin or paraguard bath, getting them healthy, then treating with an antibiotic (likely necessary for secondary infection), and then QT for at least thirty days is my action.

 

unfortunately, there isn't a way to treat one's display tank for brook. the risk is not work it with this harsh disease and all incoming wild-caught clownfish need to be given a paraguard or formalin bath. i know you mentioned that the fish is not wild-caught so obviously the LFS owner has other issues on his hands.

 

rob, while brook is like ich and velvet in the sense that it's a parasite, brook does not need to leave the fish to metastasize. it can be transmitted directly to other fish. you mention letting the client's tank run fallow, brook differs from ich and velvet in this way too - it survives in an aquarium even without fish. running a tank fallow like one would for ich for eight weeks does nothing for brook. this is why quarantine, brooklynella, and prophylactic treatment i say always should go together with clowns.

 

I agree with this. Your tank is also possably infected.

yes, very likely.

[Huly]

With our case of Marine Velvet treatment and QT came too late! Please do not wait to act.

 

We lost everyone and we went fishless over the reccomended 8-12 weeks to to be safe. I have heard Brook is worse than Velvet so good luck!

[monkiboy]

We lost everyone and we went fishless over the reccomended 8-12 weeks to to be safe.

again, brook is unlike ich in that it does not need a fish to survive. running fallow like one would in dealing with the ich parasite will not guarantee anything against brook. this is why it's so important to prophylactically treat for the most common diseases against the most common carriers - brookylnella and wild-caught clowns for example.

[Muddy357]

When I first started out I had a pair of black and white clowns that died from Brook's and then after running fallow for 4 weeks I put a pair of picasso's in the tank and they got Brook's as well so I ended up breaking down the tank and cooking all of the rock and sand and then restarting the tank.

[marinap]

Sorry to hear about that, Chris. Cold months are bad to have clowns shipped, as stress of shipping often brings on brook.

 

Here is a good link that explains brook, its cycle and treatment options. It is treatable and I even had clowns breed after treatments.

 

http://www.chucksadd...rookynella.html

Edited March 8, 2013 by marinap