Sick clown

[Cheems]

29 gallon that has been set up for ~10 months, lots of softies, only a lawnmower blenny, fire shrimp, and 1 current longfin clownfish, I’m going to check all my parameters but I’m assuming they are fine


So I recently got a new clown and I added it to my tank without going through quarantine because the seller was only selling captive bred fish so I assumed this would be relatively safe and so I took the risk

But the new clown ended up getting sick then completely disappearing before I could treat it. I assume my cleanup crew ate it overnight before I could find it

Anyways, it got my other clown in the tank sick and I’m wondering what you all would diagnose it as. I’m thinking brooklynella

im going to try to get a scrape sample and try to identify it, but assuming it is brook, im going to treat with ruby rally pro in the tank, and do daily formalin baths along with antibiotic food. Also im going to install a UV light

I’m hoping with all of this I can rid the tank of brook without a quarantine because my current quarantine is occupied.

Thoughts? Will I be making a mistake by not using a quarantine?

 

[crazyfishmom]

Poor guy looks rough. @Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 cna hopefully help.

 

[vetteguy53081]

29 gallon that has been set up for ~10 months, lots of softies, only a lawnmower blenny, fire shrimp, and 1 current longfin clownfish, I’m going to check all my parameters but I’m assuming they are fine


So I recently got a new clown and I added it to my tank without going through quarantine because the seller was only selling captive bred fish so I assumed this would be relatively safe and so I took the risk

But the new clown ended up getting sick then completely disappearing before I could treat it. I assume my cleanup crew ate it overnight before I could find it

Anyways, it got my other clown in the tank sick and I’m wondering what you all would diagnose it as. I’m thinking brooklynella

im going to try to get a scrape sample and try to identify it, but assuming it is brook, im going to treat with ruby rally pro in the tank, and do daily formalin baths along with antibiotic food. Also im going to install a UV light

I’m hoping with all of this I can rid the tank of brook without a quarantine because my current quarantine is occupied.

Thoughts? Will I be making a mistake by not using a quarantine?

Looks like a nick ot injury and body and fins show signs of aggression likely from another clown or occupant. Fish also looks a tad thin likely from being deprived of food from aggressor
What other fish are in with it?

 

[Cheems]

Looks like a nick ot injury and body and fins show signs of aggression likely from another clown or occupant. Fish also looks a tad thin likely from being deprived of food from aggressor
What other fish are in with it?

I already said what other fish are with it, (a lawnmower blenny and shrimp) and I just did a scrape under the microscope and here are the results, if anyone knows, can you confirm that this is brooklynella? Im thinking it’s brook but a second opinion would be nice as this is only my second time using a scrape for diagnosis.

Edit: after doing some more research it also could be uronema, which I am inexperienced with

 

[vetteguy53081]

I already said what other fish are with it, (a lawnmower blenny and shrimp) and I just did a scrape under the microscope and here are the results, if anyone knows, can you confirm that this is brooklynella? Im thinking it’s brook but a second opinion would be nice as this is only my second time using a scrape for diagnosis.

Edit: after doing some more research it also could be uronema, which I am inexperienced with

This is quite interesting as its representative of brook (see pic below). With no noticeable signs, give the fish a 60 minute bath with ruby rally pro then at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank or display. The longer the fish is exposed to the treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
Since a formalin solution is often not available for 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. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.

 

[Cheems]

This is quite interesting as its representative of brook (see pic below). With no noticeable signs, give the fish a 60 minute bath with ruby rally pro then at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank or display. The longer the fish is exposed to the treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
Since a formalin solution is often not available for 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. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.

I’ve already got both 37% formalin and ruby rally pro on hand along with practically every other medication I could need

And I’m thinking it might be uronema due to it being very sporadic and having very high numbers. Also there are some light signs of sickness if you look closely on the fish, there’s some slight buildup of slime above the eyes, and some light injuries too.

edit: here’s a YouTube video of one of the videos I took of the scrape just in case it doesn’t load for anyone

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve already got both 37% formalin and ruby rally pro on hand along with practically every other medication I could need

And I’m thinking it might be uronema due to it being very sporadic and having very high numbers. Also there are some light signs of sickness if you look closely on the fish, there’s some slight buildup of slime above the eyes, and some light injuries too.

edit: here’s a YouTube video of one of the videos I took of the scrape just in case it doesn’t load for anyone

Clowns rarely if ever acquire uronema but lets get a second opinion
@Jay Hemdal

 

[PharmrJohn]

Just tossing this out there, but the shadowing suggests an honest to God blunt force trauma head injury.

 

[Cheems]

Just tossing this out there, but the shadowing suggests an honest to God blunt force trauma head injury.

Yeah but then what would explain the results from the scrape, it seems like something is going on. To be fair though the clownfish is quite active and doesn’t seem to be too hurt

 

[PharmrJohn]

First thing I thought of was just normal bacteria. Fish, like humans, have a healthy microbiome on their skin. Lots of bacterial colonization. As to what those bacteria look like under a microscope, I have no clue. None at all. So identifying those you provided would need to be done by someone more knowledgeable than myself.

 

[Cheems]

First thing I thought of was just normal bacteria. Fish, like humans, have a healthy microbiome on their skin. Lots of bacterial colonization. As to what those bacteria look like under a microscope, I have no clue. None at all. So identifying those you provided would need to be done by someone more knowledgeable than myself.

The thing is, I was only at 10 x 10 zoom so whatever was there, wasn’t tiny (I may have briefly been on 10 x 40 zoom, I should have kept track better)

 

[PharmrJohn]

The thing is, I was only at 10 x 10 zoom so whatever was there, wasn’t tiny (I may have briefly been on 10 x 40 zoom, I should have kept track better)

Ohhhhh! Then that wasn't bacteria. If memory serves, you need about 1000x magnification for bacteria. But don't quote me. Its been 40 years since my last biology class!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The thing is, I was only at 10 x 10 zoom so whatever was there, wasn’t tiny (I may have briefly been on 10 x 40 zoom, I should have kept track better)

Just seeing this now. That is a huge number of ciliates to see on one slide, so those are definitely causing an acute infection.

Identifying ciliate protozoans isn’t always easy unless you fix and stain some. I use shape, motility and source of the sample to try and sus it out. In this case, I’d lean towards Brooklynella over Uronema.

Formalin would be your best bet in treating that - a 150 ppm one hour dip with good aeration and then move to a new tank if you can do it. Then, dosing 25 ppm formalin daily for 3 to 5 days to finish the infection.

Formalin is toxic of course, you need to use PPE. Dosing is critical, there are some people out there that suggest a much higher dose (250 ppm) but that is wrong.