Clownfish Illness

[Dl0reef]

Help I’ve noticed these white spots on my clowns. They are eating still and have been in quarantine for about 10 days. They are swimming normal but these spots concern mean. What do they mean?

 

[Wen]

Bump

Difficult to see, maybe Lympho?

 

[Big G]

With clownfish, we always think Brooklynella aka "clownfish disease" when we first see spots.
The problem is that early Brook and ich and velvet can initially present similarly.

What kind of quarantine are you doing? Meds? Copper?

 

[Dl0reef]

Bump

Difficult to see, maybe Lympho?

I gave them a freshwater dip last night and this morning the bumps were gone. The clownfish just had white dots all on them, but I don’t believe they were bumps

 

[Dl0reef]

With clownfish, we always think Brooklynella aka "clownfish disease" when we first see spots.
The problem is that early Brook and ich and velvet can initially present similarly.

What kind of quarantine are you doing? Meds? Copper?

As of right now I’m just surveying the fish so no meds as of right now. Last night I had them a freshwater dip and the spots went away by the time I was up this morning, but I believe they will come back. I want to practice ich eradication if it is ich so I want to ensure they are healthy when I put them in my display tank.

 

[JoshO]

How are they behaving? Any gasping?

 

[Big G]

I gave them a freshwater dip last night and this morning the bumps were gone. The clownfish just had white dots all on them, but I don’t believe they were bumps

Just so you know, some have treated Brook by doing just freshwater dips once a day for 7 days. The trick is that after the dip the fish has to go into a clean, sterile tank, otherwise the parasites that would be still in the tank will re-infect the fish. So the absence of spots today could be from the dip removing the Brook parasite's spots.

 

[Dl0reef]

How are they behaving? Any gasping?

they are gasping but very lightly

 

[Dl0reef]

Just so you know, some have treated Brook by doing just freshwater dips once a day for 7 days. The trick is that after the dip the fish has to go into a clean, sterile tank, otherwise the parasites that would be still in the tank will re-infect the fish. So the absence of spots today could be from the dip removing the Brook parasite's spots.

How long should I keep them in the freshwater dip and I believe my tank is clean. Any way I can find out if it is or isn’t ?

 

[Big G]

Temperature match the dip water to the tank. Aerate the water for 30 minutes before doing the dip. During the dip usually at around the 3 minute mark you'll see the flukes coming off. Dips last around 5 minutes. Best to use a dark container so you can look for the little fluke bodies on the bottom. They look like white-ish sesame seeds.
It's normal for some fish to initially struggle a bit so don't be surprised. But if you see a fish truly experiencing difficulties, remove immediately.

Here's a thread for more info: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

 

[Dl0reef]

Temperature match the dip water to the tank. Aerate the water for 30 minutes before doing the dip. During the dip usually at around the 3 minute mark you'll see the flukes coming off. Dips last around 5 minutes. Best to use a dark container so you can look for the little fluke bodies on the bottom. They look like white-ish sesame seeds.
It's normal for some fish to initially struggle a bit so don't be surprised. But if you see a fish truly experiencing difficulties, remove immediately.

Here's a thread for more info: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

thank you for the help on how to freshwater dip. I bought some copper from my lfs as he told me that he believed it was ich. Can I dose copper in the system while giving them freshwater dips ?

 

[JoshO]

Don't dose copper in a display. If you have corals or inverts or intend on keeping them you'll likely always have residual copper that will cause difficulty or fatalities

 

[Big G]

No don't add copper to the dip. It greatly increases the lethality of the copper to dangerous levels or to the Display tank.
If you think it is ich, do the following:

Give the fish the freshwater dip. This will remove some of the parasites that may be attached to the fish, especially the gills.
Next place the fish into a Quarantine Tank. You want to keep the water quality in the QT nice, so the following is helpful.
1. Use a HOB filter. Soak the foam pad from the filter in something like Biospira, Dr. Tim's, etc. Add a mesh bag of ceramic media like Seachem's Matrix or Fluval's BioMax to the HOB. Soak the mesh bag of ceramic media also in the Biospira, etc.
2. Use a bubble filter. Soak the foam pad from the bubble filter also in the Biospira, etc.
3. Use a small powerhead. Aim it up to where it is actively rippling the water's surface. This will greatly increase O2 in the water column.
4. Use a Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge to keep an eye on ammonia levels.
5. Heater
6. A bit of sand on the bottom, a couple of large PVC fittings, a couple of plastic aquarium plants.
7. I like to cover the end glass panels and the back panel with blue or black paint or paper. It helps the fish relax a bit.
All of the above greatly increase the health and ultimately survival rates in a QT.

After the FW dip into the QT. Using a chelated copper like Copper Power or Coppersafe is best. Slowly over 3-5 days raise the copper to the therapeutic range 1.5-2.0 ppm. I try to hit 1.75 right in the middle. Hold the copper at therapeutic for 30 days.

Have some sort of antibiotic on hand in case the fish develops a bacterial infection. Copper suppresses the fish's immune system. Sometimes infections set in.
Kanaplex, Furan2 are excellent and easily found.

 

[JoshO]

Just rechecked the thread and realised they're already in QT. It's worth doing the copper after......
@Big G has just nailed it

 

[Dl0reef]

No don't add copper to the dip. It greatly increases the lethality of the copper to dangerous levels or to the Display tank.
If you think it is ich, do the following:

Give the fish the freshwater dip. This will remove some of the parasites that may be attached to the fish, especially the gills.
Next place the fish into a Quarantine Tank. You want to keep the water quality in the QT nice, so the following is helpful.
1. Use a HOB filter. Soak the foam pad from the filter in something like Biospira, Dr. Tim's, etc. Add a mesh bag of ceramic media like Seachem's Matrix or Fluval's BioMax to the HOB. Soak the mesh bag of ceramic media also in the Biospira, etc.
2. Use a bubble filter. Soak the foam pad from the bubble filter also in the Biospira, etc.
3. Use a small powerhead. Aim it up to where it is actively rippling the water's surface. This will greatly increase O2 in the water column.
4. Use a Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge to keep an eye on ammonia levels.
5. Heater
6. A bit of sand on the bottom, a couple of large PVC fittings, a couple of plastic aquarium plants.
7. I like to cover the end glass panels and the back panel with blue or black paint or paper. It helps the fish relax a bit.
All of the above greatly increase the health and ultimately survival rates in a QT.

After the FW dip into the QT. Using a chelated copper like Copper Power or Coppersafe is best. Slowly over 3-5 days raise the copper to the therapeutic range 1.5-2.0 ppm. I try to hit 1.75 right in the middle. Hold the copper at therapeutic for 30 days.

Have some sort of antibiotic on hand in case the fish develops a bacterial infection. Copper suppresses the fish's immune system. Sometimes infections set in.
Kanaplex, Furan2 are excellent and easily found.

Okay as of right now I have them in a quarantine tank that has been dosed with biospira. I don’t have any power heads in the tank at the moment so I’ll be sure to purchase them soon. The lfs owner recommended me cuparmine and the bottle says to maintain the level at .5 not 1.75 as it says it will kill fish past .8, so I’m concerned if that’s a little too high. What do you think? Also I plan on doing a fw dip every 3 days while they’re in quarantine or is that to harsh? Also if it is ich, do I wait the full 76 days for them in quarantine or will the parasite be gone by then? I’m sorry for so many questions these are my first ever fish so this is all very new to me.

 

[Big G]

Fo

Okay as of right now I have them in a quarantine tank that has been dosed with biospira. I don’t have any power heads in the tank at the moment so I’ll be sure to purchase them soon. The lfs owner recommended me cuparmine and the bottle says to maintain the level at .5 not 1.75 as it says it will kill fish past .8, so I’m concerned if that’s a little too high. What do you think? Also I plan on doing a fw dip every 3 days while they’re in quarantine or is that to harsh? Also if it is ich, do I wait the full 76 days for them in quarantine or will the parasite be gone by then? I’m sorry for so many questions these are my first ever fish so this is all very new to me.

For ionic coppers like Cupramine and Brightwells the therapeutic level is 0.50
For chelated coppers like Copper Power and Coppersafe the therapeutic level is 1.5-2.0

The trick to dosing Cupramine is to NOT follow the directions to do two big doses. It can be very harsh on fish. So what you do is calculate out the total number of drops required for your gallon size of tank. Keep in mind for example a 20 gallon tank is usually not 20 gallons. They often are a bit smaller in reality. So don't be surprised if you reach therapeutic level before dosing all of the drops.

So once you know how many drops you need. Spread the drops out over 4-5 days. If you can, doing some in the AM, and some in the PM. This will allow you to observe for the occasional "copper sensitive" fish.

Do you have a Hanna HL Copper Checker to measure the copper level? Highly recommend them. Especially with Cupramine as the therapeutic range is kinda narrow. And it lowers stress on the fish and you!

I wouldn't do any freshwater dips once the fish are in the copper. It's best to do before the copper to help them breathe better. It removes some of the parasites from the gills.

 

[Dl0reef]

Fo


For ionic coppers like Cupramine and Brightwells the therapeutic level is 0.50
For chelated coppers like Copper Power and Coppersafe the therapeutic level is 1.5-2.0

The trick to dosing Cupramine is to NOT follow the directions to do two big doses. It can be very harsh on fish. So what you do is calculate out the total number of drops required for your gallon size of tank. Keep in mind for example a 20 gallon tank is usually not 20 gallons. They often are a bit smaller in reality. So don't be surprised if you reach therapeutic level before dosing all of the drops.

So once you know how many drops you need. Spread the drops out over 4-5 days. If you can, doing some in the AM, and some in the PM. This will allow you to observe for the occasional "copper sensitive" fish.

Do you have a Hanna HL Copper Checker to measure the copper level? Highly recommend them. Especially with Cupramine as the therapeutic range is kinda narrow. And it lowers stress on the fish and you!

I wouldn't do any freshwater dips once the fish are in the copper. It's best to do before the copper to help them breathe better. It removes some of the parasites from the gills.

I do not have a Hanna checker and instead have an API copper test kit. Do I maintain the copper level at .5 or between .25-.5? Thankyou so much for all your help

 

[Big G]

Unless something has changed, you need a Seachem or Salifert copper test kit for Cupramine. The API works on chelated coppers like Copper Power or Coppersafe.

 

[Big G]

Seachem makes Cupramine. Their test kit works OK, but it still is a challenge to read the colors.

 

[Dl0reef]

Seachem makes Cupramine. Their test kit works OK, but it still is a challenge to read the colors.

okay I will see what they sale at the store later today