Brook or Velvet?

[OneArmedBandit]

While feeding my tank today, I noticed that my Burgess Butterfly was missing, upon close inspection of my Lemon Butterfly I noticed that it was covered in a thick whitish substance as it was swimming into the current from my powerhead (witch I've never seen it do before. Looking at my Midas Blenny and Clownfish I've noticed it on them too. My Copperband and Latticed Butterflies look OK at the moment but I know it's just a matter of time before something shows up. I know I don't have much time and need to know how to treat the tank as I will not be able to remove these fish. I have a 150 gal. FOWLR with a 75 gal. sump. I run a Reef Octopus 200 recirc skimmer and no other filtration than the 400 (or so) lbs. of LR. I introduced the Latticed Butterfly about a month ago after 6 weeks in QT but all other inhabitants have been together for about a year. Thanks for any guidance you can provide. -Steve

 

[OneArmedBandit]

CBB has it too, can't tell on the Latticed...

 

[Passer203]

Is it like a dull sheen a dusting or a heavy slime? Where there any signs before heavy breathing rubbing against rocks etc?

 

[OneArmedBandit]

They look dull and maybe like they've been dusted with a white powder. No "scratching" or gasping for air and all the fish are still eating well.

 

[Passer203]

LOOK LIKE THIS???

 

[Passer203]

Not velvet then. So prob brooks. You can do formalin baths they seem to work the best. If not try malachite green.

 

[OneArmedBandit]

Yep, looks like that clown. -Steve

 

[steelhead77]

That is definitely Brooklynella aka Clownfish disease. I've heard it compared to when humans have 3rd degree burns all over their body.

Unlike ich, the fish cannot fight this off and get better on their own. Formalin is the only thing that will fix it. You MUST get them into a hospital tank immediately and follow the instructions on the bottle exactly. A fresh water dip will certainly help, but you must keep an eye on the fish and if they show distress, quickly put them back in the HT. Be sure to use an airstone when using Formalin as it depletes oxygen from the water.

Now, I am not one who says you must remove and treat fish at the first sign of anything wrong (espcially ich), in fact quite the opposite, but in this case you must remove and treat now, otherwise your fish will die.

 

[popsicle]

I'm pretty sure my fish have this as well. I thought it was ich and had been treating it as such,until I saw this thread. Can the formalin bath be done in the regular tank as we only have one seperate tank for new additions and they are still there because the fish in the show tank started getting sick.

 

[Passer203]

You can take the fish out and do formalin dips.

 

[OneArmedBandit]

So far I've lost a Latticed Butterfly, Burgess Butterfly, a Golden Midas Blenny, an Occy Clown and my Copperband and Lemon Butterfly look like they'll croak during the night. That'll leave me with a lone Firefish... I'm planning on leaving this tank fishless untill the first of the year. I do have some inverts but will keep fish out of there for a while. Thanks for the info on treating this disease, I will add Malachite Green to my Aquaria RX stash, the Formalin has already been there... -Steve

 

[steelhead77]

I'm pretty sure my fish have this as well. I thought it was ich and had been treating it as such,until I saw this thread. Can the formalin bath be done in the regular tank as we only have one seperate tank for new additions and they are still there because the fish in the show tank started getting sick.

You MUST take the fish out and treat in a hospital tank. Formalin will kill most everything else in your display tank. I'm sorry to say that if you don't your fish WILL die. Unlike ich, this disease is pretty much 100% lethal without treatment. They cannot fight this off like they can with ich.

 

[OneArmedBandit]

Definately get the affected fish out of the display at all costs ASAP or risk ending up like me and losing everything but a Firefish (that I couldn't care less about losing) which doesn't seem to have been bothered at all. I lost everything within 24 hrs. -Steve