Something on Clown

penguinexdeus · Jan 18, 2023

Just noticed some white stuff on one clown today mainly around eyes and pectoral fins maybe a little on sides. Clowns been in tank for about 6 months. No other fish have anything on them that I can see. Last fish in were a pair of Bangaii cardinals over a month ago. Last addition beside coral was a starfish last week. Fish acting normal and eating today. Just looking for ideas of what it might be and course of action. Sorry for somewhat junky photos.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 18, 2023

penguinexdeus said:
Just noticed some white stuff on one clown today mainly around eyes and pectoral fins maybe a little on sides. Clowns been in tank for about 6 months. No other fish have anything on them that I can see. Last fish in were a pair of Bangaii cardinals over a month ago. Last addition beside coral was a starfish last week. Fish acting normal and eating today. Just looking for ideas of what it might be and course of action. Sorry for somewhat junky photos.

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The fin show what may be fin damage or nick but the fish in whole has a heavy buildup of mucus and displaying brooklynella which affects mainly wild clowns. 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) 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