Clownfish with white mucus

[Pachiman]

Hey everybody. One my friends is leaving the hobby and he has a pair of clowns, I took them and didn't quarantine them as they have been with him for 3+ years disease free.

In my tank there are only a sixline wrasse and a blenny, it is an 80 gallon with lots of corals, pretty established.

I drip acclimated the clownfish pair for 2 hours and put them in my display tank on Sunday. On Tuesday there were alright but in the night I noticed some white mucus near the belly/gills of the fish. The male is alright looks disease free, the picture is the female which is bigger.

I looked around and maybe it is brookynella? Its been a day now and the fish looks healthy and eats normally, not shy at all. I dont see any heavy breathing just that alarming white mucus.

Does anybody know what it might be?

 

[Pachiman]

This is a video I took yesterday, maybe it is more clear like this?

 

[Pachiman]

#fishmedic

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everybody. One my friends is leaving the hobby and he has a pair of clowns, I took them and didn't quarantine them as they have been with him for 3+ years disease free.

In my tank there are only a sixline wrasse and a blenny, it is an 80 gallon with lots of corals, pretty established.

I drip acclimated the clownfish pair for 2 hours and put them in my display tank on Sunday. On Tuesday there were alright but in the night I noticed some white mucus near the belly/gills of the fish. The male is alright looks disease free, the picture is the female which is bigger.

I looked around and maybe it is brookynella? Its been a day now and the fish looks healthy and eats normally, not shy at all. I dont see any heavy breathing just that alarming white mucus.

Does anybody know what it might be?

In addition to this fish being thin and likely weakening, it has clown disease known as Brooklynella. The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus on its body is a second sign which is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin base at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.
A quarantine system if you dont have one can be as simple as a starter tank kit from walmart which has most of the essentials

 

[Pachiman]

In addition to this fish being thin and likely weakening, it has clown disease known as Brooklynella. The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus on its body is a second sign which is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin base at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.
A quarantine system if you dont have one can be as simple as a starter tank kit from walmart which has most of the essentials

Thanks for the response. I'm looking into formalin and everything right now.

Question, where do you think the disease came from? My tank has been run disease-free for 6 months+ (started it 6 months ago), and my friend's tank has been disease free as well for 3 years+. He still has a lot of fishes in the DT, 2 tangs, a dottyback, and a lot more.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for the response. I'm looking into formalin and everything right now.

Question, where do you think the disease came from? My tank has been run disease-free for 6 months+ (started it 6 months ago), and my friend's tank has been disease free as well for 3 years+. He still has a lot of fishes in the DT, 2 tangs, a dottyback, and a lot more.

This is often more on wild caught clowns versus tank raised and its a protozoan which often gets to the gills of the fish first. It is contracted from other fish, water and poor water quality

 

[Jay Hemdal]

+1, this sure looks like Brooklynella - the fish is swimming all wobbly, and the mucus is pretty evident. I don't see this very often in long term captives, but its possible I guess.

Jay

 

[Pachiman]

#reefmedic

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

An update. Couldn't get formalin and dipped the clownfish in FW dip and bought metronidazol (as it was suggested on my LFS). Used a bucket instead of a display tank with water taken from the DT.

In my LFS they told me that it was not necessary to put all my fish in the QT as long as they are healthy, not to use live rock (I have a few in my sump that I could use) and do a 10% water change each day which is around 1-2 liters.

What do you guys think? I can try to get some formalin during the weekend and dose both metronidazol and formalin at the same time, or just stick with metronidazol. Should I put all my other fish in the bucket? Should I get some LR from my sump and put it in the QT bucket as well?

 

[vetteguy53081]

#reefmedic

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

An update. Couldn't get formalin and dipped the clownfish in FW dip and bought metronidazol (as it was suggested on my LFS). Used a bucket instead of a display tank with water taken from the DT.

In my LFS they told me that it was not necessary to put all my fish in the QT as long as they are healthy, not to use live rock (I have a few in my sump that I could use) and do a 10% water change each day which is around 1-2 liters.

What do you guys think? I can try to get some formalin during the weekend and dose both metronidazol and formalin at the same time, or just stick with metronidazol. Should I put all my other fish in the bucket? Should I get some LR from my sump and put it in the QT bucket as well?

What do I think- Metro as a bath in bucket, yes for 60 minutes But Not as a treatment. You can do bath and treat with ruby Rally Pro or do Tank Transfer Method which can stress out the fish.
Ask your LFS if he will stand behind your fish if they become infected because he said To leave fish in display. As with this clown which first showed no signs, the same can occur with others. I would not say its highly contagious but there is RISK.
I would NOT mix metro and formalin at same time. While they can be mixed can alter oxygen levels when mixed

 

[Lavey29]

Just on a side note an interesting observation. OP I'm sorry your fish are ill and hope they pull through for you.

Previous owner had fish for 3 years with no disease issues. OP gets the fish and brook immediately develops.

Jay, did the fish always have brook in their systems and the stress of the new tank environment made the disease become active instead of dormant?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Brrok can be caused by poor water quality as this is a bacteria, contaminated water (which it may have come from) and hostillis took its hold), stress and fish already sick when it was acquired.
QT is best prevention as well as good water quality.

 

[Pachiman]

Brrok can be caused by poor water quality as this is a bacteria, contaminated water (which it may have come from) and hostillis took its hold), stress and fish already sick when it was acquired.
QT is best prevention as well as good water quality.

I want to assume my water quality is as good as it gets. I do a 10% water change using 0 TDS RODI water I test monthly, and I have all parameters in check (10 NO3, 0.03 phosphorus, 8.3-8.0 KH, stable temperature, automatic auto top-off). I took really good care of my tanks.

I can't find Ruby Rally PRO in Argentina (where I am from) no one seems to import it.

I have copper tests and I can get cupramine, is it a good alternative? I can also get Polyp Lab Medic.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I want to assume my water quality is as good as it gets. I do a 10% water change using 0 TDS RODI water I test monthly, and I have all parameters in check (10 NO3, 0.03 phosphorus, 8.3-8.0 KH, stable temperature, automatic auto top-off). I took really good care of my tanks.

I can't find Ruby Rally PRO in Argentina (where I am from) no one seems to import it.

I have copper tests and I can get cupramine, is it a good alternative? I can also get Polyp Lab Medic.

Ahhh, Argentina- Waterlife Myxazin

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Just on a side note an interesting observation. OP I'm sorry your fish are ill and hope they pull through for you.

Previous owner had fish for 3 years with no disease issues. OP gets the fish and brook immediately develops.

Jay, did the fish always have brook in their systems and the stress of the new tank environment made the disease become active instead of dormant?

IDK - that’s the confusing aspect of this case. Brook almost always is seen with newly added clownfish, but I don’t see how that works in the case of a long term captive like this.
Jay