is it possible for fish to become immune to brooklynella? about a month ago i purchased a t.perc pair for my 30 gallon tank. in the first week the female clown died from brooklynella. the male clownfish and the six line wrasse that was in my tank have been doing well and there have been no signs of brooklynella. I assumed that brook was no longer in my tank so i added a picasso clownfish to pair with the surviving percula. they paired just fine but the picasso clownfish is starting to have symptoms of brooklynella. is it possible that my t.perc and sixline wrasse have brooklynella but have become immune to its symptoms? if so would i need to treat them for brook in a qt tank?
fish immune to brooklynella
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MrTuskfish
Team RC
Many fish can develop TEMPORARY (IMO) immunity to many parasites. Temporary, of course, is the key word. many folks believe that tank-bred are immune to brook; but I think they are just far less likely to carry it than wild-caught. As soon as the tank-bred clowns are exposed to it in the LFS, or wherever, they are vulnerable. Any fish that has been exposed to brook, or similar parasites, needs to be treated in a QT and the tank left fishless for 8 weeks or so. Just because a fish isn't showing signs doesn't mean it isn't carrying the parasite. If your clown is showing signs of brook, you need to treat ith formalin NOW; there is no grace period with brooklynella. This stuff can go from showing a tiny symptom to dead overnight. Its also vital that you're sure its brook and not ich or velvet. What are the symptoms? A pic would help.
sandwi54
New member
^^^ What MrTusk said.
Your experience validates the necessity of removing ALL of the fish from the system when there's ANY parasite in it, and leaving the DT fallow for 8-10 weeks. The fish may be strong enough to fight off most of the parasite attack but usually still get mildly infected with little or no symptoms.
You will need to get all of the fish out for formalin treatment and leave the DT fallow for 8-10 weeks. In the future, never introduce new fish into DT without proper QT procedure, and then you'll never have to deal with this again.
Your experience validates the necessity of removing ALL of the fish from the system when there's ANY parasite in it, and leaving the DT fallow for 8-10 weeks. The fish may be strong enough to fight off most of the parasite attack but usually still get mildly infected with little or no symptoms.
You will need to get all of the fish out for formalin treatment and leave the DT fallow for 8-10 weeks. In the future, never introduce new fish into DT without proper QT procedure, and then you'll never have to deal with this again.
sandwi54
New member
I would start with a 30 min dip, and if he looks ok then try to shoot for 1 hour. by the way, do the formalin dip in a bucket heavily aerated (formalin reduces the oxygen level drastically), not in the QT.
also, start the treatment now. the picasso will likely not make it through today without treatment. usually by the time the skin is falling off, it's hours away from death.
also, start the treatment now. the picasso will likely not make it through today without treatment. usually by the time the skin is falling off, it's hours away from death.
I think the natural immune system of a fish can keep a parasite/disease at bay, but only for so long. This is why people who soak their fish food in garlic/selcon think they've beaten Ich. If garlic/selcon does indeed bolster the immune system, then they've temporarily won the battle but being the parasite is in an enclosed environment they will eventually lose the war. All it takes is for one of their fishes immune systems to weaken a bit (stress), that gives the parasite the opportunity it needs and then BAM!
About the Formalin bath: I think most people just do 15 min baths in a small bucket or something until the visible symptoms go away. Of course, you still want to QT while doing this. I'm no expert on Brook, so here are two articles I found for you on it:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_1/brooklynella.htm
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2037295&highlight=brooklynella
About the Formalin bath: I think most people just do 15 min baths in a small bucket or something until the visible symptoms go away. Of course, you still want to QT while doing this. I'm no expert on Brook, so here are two articles I found for you on it:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_1/brooklynella.htm
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2037295&highlight=brooklynella
The problem with treating the QT, as sandwi54 stated above, is that Formalin tends to drastically reduce oxygen levels. I wouldn't try it. I would give them two 15 min Formalin baths, two days apart, and then observe. You're gonna have to leave your DT fallow for 8-10 weeks anyway, so you'll have plenty of time to observe and see if your fish show any symptoms of Brook after the Formalin treatments.
I see, but what im asking is that since they do not have any visible symptoms of brooklynella, how will i know if i need to treat them longer or not? I am planning on using a powerhead in my qt tank will that help? and if they have brook and i do formalin baths outside of my qt tank, wont the brook still exist in my qt tank?
This is what I would do: Setup your QT with fresh s/w or at least s/w from another tank, but don't use anything from the DT. Make sure all the QT parameters (pH, temp, SG) match the DT perfectly. Catch all the fish and give them a Formalin bath before putting them in the QT. This way there's a good chance IMO that you won't transfer the Brook to the QT. But if you do, and symptoms appear, we'll go from there.
I'm not saying you can't and in the end you still might have to, but I wouldn't treat a QT with formalin unless I had no other choice.
Is the wrasse in the QT or still in the old DT? You might have dodged a bullet, as a fish infected with Brook should have shown symptoms and probably even died by now. However, being that Brook is a parasite like Ich it's very possible that it's still active in your DT's water column and could still infect the wrasse, or more likely, that clown if you add him straight to the DT.
both my wrasse and clownfish are in the dt right now but I'm planning on moving them over to the qt either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I'm just worried that they might still have brook and just be symptomless. if this is the case, when will i know that it is okay to move them back to the dt? I am breaking down my dt once i move the fish over and letting it re-cycle.
I would put them both in QT, give them both a few Formalin dips. It's fairly safe. Probably safer than a f/w dip, just use the same water they're in to do the dip.
I did a little research about Brook and I found this (see link at the bottom):
"Most experts advise 4-6 weeks of running your tank 'fallow' before returning livestock."
So, according to that Brook can remain active in your water column for up to 6 weeks without a host (fish) being present. So, I would say if your fish don't show any symptoms after 6 weeks you are good to go because they would need a host to feed on to survive beyond that. Likewise, you can just leave your DT fallow (fishless) for 6 weeks to starve out any remaining Brook parasites. Personally, I would rather do that than break down and re-setup my DT.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brooklynfaqs.htm
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