First Casualty

theron · 07-25-2005, 01:14 PM

Well, I had my first casualty in my tank yesterday. I lost one of my black clown fish. I think he died mainly because of my inexperiance.

We got a pair of them about a month ago. Last week I noticed that he had a light film covering his skin. Other than that he looked ok and eating good. Last night he did not eat so I knew something was wrong. I Was not sure what do to. I was preparing some water to do a FW dip. But he was gone before I could do it.

After researching I know now he probably had some sort of parasite. What is the proper way to deal with this type of situation. I read many things like:
1) Keep in the tank and soak food with galic.
2) Remove from tank and dip in fresh water then back in tank.
3) Remove from tank in a quarantine and treat with copper or some other treatment for weeks.

I was looking that the other clown this morning and I think it might also be showing signs of the same problem, film on the skin.

So, What should I do?

Theron

Twitterbait · 07-25-2005, 02:37 PM

Sound like it may have velvet. instead of the FW dip try dropping the salinity in the tank to 1.019 or 1.018 for a while (30 days or so). the fish won't mind but it should help eliminate the disease. garlic is good. copper and FW dips can cause issues from the stress involved so i never recommend them unless it is getting really bad. (recently had my mind changed abt the FW dip)

theron · 07-25-2005, 03:13 PM

Ok thanks, That is a new one.
4) Lower the salinity of tank.

I suppose if I do this I should place him in a QT with lower salinity? Since I have corals in the tank.

Theron

ron popeil · 07-25-2005, 05:11 PM

more than likely it was brooklynella. in which case, freshwater has limited success in treating. a formalin solution is probably your best bet in treating this in future clownfish.

a 5 gallon bucket with one gallon of the water the clownfish was presently in, a heater, an airstone and 20 to 25 drops of 37% formalin for no more than 60 minutes will help.

i dont have the links handy, but check out RC for tips on a formalin bath and combatting brooklynella.

theron · 07-25-2005, 08:26 PM

Do you know where I can get formalin locally? I tried Upscales and Petco with no luck.

Theron

liquidfunk · 07-25-2005, 09:32 PM

FYI Theron, Ron Popeil (Jordan) is our local clown expert,,,, he isnt as funny as a real clown, but he knows he is loaded with clownage.... take his advice.

Formalin is sold at petco but its under a trade name, go back and look at the
Ingredients, I think its a green bottle... cant think of the name (5 years at petco years ago)

ron popeil · 07-25-2005, 10:51 PM

thanks joel, im not so much of an expert as a sad little man infected with nerd.

youll find rid ich has formaldehyde 4.25%..which is formalin. but...only 4.25%. not very potent. i got my research grade 37% from marinedepot.com...get that. but remember, this is not something you want any where near your fish tank. only use as a bath or in QT.

liquidfunk · 07-25-2005, 11:11 PM

NERD NERD NERD!!!

No really, I greatly respect your clownage.

Reefin' · 07-25-2005, 11:19 PM

heres the link.......just be careful and make sure temp and ph are the same.oh yeah and dont forget the airstone....and acclimate back to tank water after dip...

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...alinbaths.html

roger in albany carries it at Albany Aquarium...made by Aquarium systems...make sure to ask how old it is...it doesnt have a long shelve life especially in the light...potent shizit...becareful....your basically making a weak enough poison to not kill the fish ,but strong enought to kill the brook...good luck...

Reynaldo

theron · 07-26-2005, 01:30 AM

Thanks for all the info guys. I was not able to make it back to Petco before they closed. He will have to wait until tomorrow. He is still eating, so that is good.

Theron

theron · 07-27-2005, 02:07 PM

I finally got some formalin. I went to Petco, but the only thing I could find was rid ich which is not very potent. I found a fish store that had it so I got little from them.

Last night, I put him in a formalin bath for an 60 minutes. Then in a 5 gallon bucket quarentine with heater an airstone. He seems to be doing much better in the bucket. In the display tank there is alot of flow and he never really found a place to hang out in the rocks. He just stayed in the top corner. In the quarenting bucket he found a piece of PVC to hang out in. Maybe I will have to put the PVC in the display tank when I put him back in there.

I will probably put him back in the display tank tonight if I do not think I will have to do another treatment. Do you think I will have to do more than one treatment? How long could I keep him in the quarentine bucket if I did daily water changes?

Theron

ron popeil · 07-27-2005, 06:58 PM

if i were you i would keep an eye on him. while you dont have a conventional QT tank set up, a 5 gallon bucket should work fine, as long as you pay extra attention to your ammonia levels. feeding should be frequent, up to twice a day. in case your fish takes a turn for the worse and stops eating, itll be good to have a nice fat fish. of course this means daily partial water changes...but you should keep an eye on him for the next several days to make sure his symptoms dont return. in bad cases of brook, i used dips every other day. one may be all you need however.

but wait just a bit longer before returning him to your main display. one method im trying to defeat brook is copper and maracyn and formalin dips if necessary. according to Dan on RC, hes had great success with it, and i havent had enough oppertunities to really experiment with it to know on my end.

so if nothing else, just keep feeding your fish, maintaining water quality, and just observe for the next few days. if his breathing is normal, hes eating like hes on the brink of starvation and seems to be swimming well....then return him to your main display.

good luck!

theron · 08-02-2005, 02:25 AM

Update on my fish. Looks like the formalin dip did the trick. He looks very health and is back in the main tank. He is eating a lot more than he did before.

FYI, I ended up diping him in 1 gallon of tank water with .6 ml of formalin for 60 minutes. Observed him in a QT for a few days then back in the main tank. Thanks for the help Ron.

Theron

Loverotties · 08-02-2005, 09:44 AM

Hay thats great!Good luck!

ron popeil · 08-02-2005, 12:45 PM

good to hear theron. good luck the rest of the way!