Clownfish Ich or Brooklynella?

snowstormtrachy7 · Mar 6, 2024

This is my new clownfish and unfortunately it's had a crazy few days. A few days ago, I woke up and didn't see the clown in the tank. I then realized it had jumped out and was on the floor. Fortunately I was not too late and after a few minutes back in the tank it was fine. Fast forward to today, I notice white dots all over its fins and body (pic doesn't show it).

Understandably, it has been very stressed and is now sick. Would this be ich or brooklynella? How should I proceed? I've got Paracleanse, malachite green. The clown is still eating and swimming normally. Also, I've got coral in the tank, do I setup a hospital tank?

Jay Hemdal · Mar 6, 2024

snowstormtrachy7 said:
This is my new clownfish and unfortunately it's had a crazy few days. A few days ago, I woke up and didn't see the clown in the tank. I then realized it had jumped out and was on the floor. Fortunately I was not too late and after a few minutes back in the tank it was fine. Fast forward to today, I notice white dots all over its fins and body (pic doesn't show it).

Understandably, it has been very stressed and is now sick. Would this be ich or brooklynella? How should I proceed? I've got Paracleanse, malachite green. The clown is still eating and swimming normally. Also, I've got coral in the tank, do I setup a hospital tank?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The trouble with mostly white clownfish is that they don't show diseases very clearly. In this fish, I can see white spots on the black portions of the fins. That implies there are also white spots on the fish's body, just that I can't see them. I would then conclude this fish has marine ich, Cryptocaryon irritans.

The best treatment for this will require that you move all fish to a treatment tank and medicate with coppersafe. You can also use hyposalinity (low salt levels) but because of your corals, that would have to be done in a treatment tank as well. Then, you need to keep the fish out of your main tank for 60 days to allow the ich to die out. Not an easy task, I know.

Jay