ID of disease/parasite - PICTURE

WhiteTang

New member
Hi!

This is a my second post about my sick clownfish. Whatever he has has progressed and he doesn't look good at all (see attached picture).
I am going to loose the fish so I need to know WHAT it is that will kill him and how long I have to stay fallow until I can safely add another fish.
BTW I do have another fish in the tank. A small yellow goby (Gobiodon okinawae). So far this guy looks ok. Although I rarely see him.

EDIT: The fish died as I was writing this post. :(
 

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It could be Amyloodinium, Brooklynella, Trichodina or Uronema, maybe paired with a secondary bacterial infection.
Amyloodinium and Brooklynella are obligate parasites and require a fallow period to get them out of your system. Uronema marinum and Tricodina are an opportunistic ciliates living of bacteria and decaying matter and are likely always present on your fish or in your tank. It usually only becomes a problem for fish with poor health or weakened immune system.

As for this being a new clownfish and the fact that the goby is doing ok so far I would suspect Brooklynella, but the only way to be sure would be a microscopic examination to identify the pathogen.
 
It could be Amyloodinium, Brooklynella, Trichodina or Uronema, maybe paired with a secondary bacterial infection.
Amyloodinium and Brooklynella are obligate parasites and require a fallow period to get them out of your system. Uronema marinum and Tricodina are an opportunistic ciliates living of bacteria and decaying matter and are likely always present on your fish or in your tank. It usually only becomes a problem for fish with poor health or weakened immune system.

As for this being a new clownfish and the fact that the goby is doing ok so far I would suspect Brooklynella, but the only way to be sure would be a microscopic examination to identify the pathogen.

Thank you for the reply. This is a fish that I had for about 5 months. It is not a new fish! It was thriving and doing great in my tank. He actually grew a couple cm since I got him.

Water params are stable cause I check:
temp, PH daily
Ammonia, nitrates, nitrites every week
Ca, Mg, KH, twice a week
and do 20% water changes every 2 weeks.
 
This clown had brook which was brought in by the coral you put in 3 weeks ago (based on your other thread). Even if the coral came from a fish less tank they can share water with a fish tank or an employee inadvertently transferred contaminated water.
You can either treat the goby with a couple of formalin dips or have him wait it out in a QT and see if anything develops. Either way the main will need to go fallow.
I brought in brook from an unquarantined sea urchin....it happens:(
 
This clown had brook which was brought in by the coral you put in 3 weeks ago (based on your other thread). Even if the coral came from a fish less tank they can share water with a fish tank or an employee inadvertently transferred contaminated water.
You can either treat the goby with a couple of formalin dips or have him wait it out in a QT and see if anything develops. Either way the main will need to go fallow.
I brought in brook from an unquarantined sea urchin....it happens:(

I agree.
 
Thank you for the replies.
This is very frustrating! My very first fish died of Brook right after the agonizing cycle period (you know, the one you want to finish asap so you can start enjoying the tank) . I had to go fallow for 3 months before adding any live stock again. And now only 5 months after that I have to go fallow again because I bought a coral.
What a bummer :(

So, do I have to remove the Gobiodon okinawae that remains in the tank so I can go fallow?
Or will Brook take care of that anyways?

PS: I have a16g nano because I don't have space for something bigger. I know I should QT but that is impossible! I think I'll go LRWCAIO until august :)
LRWCAIO = Live Rock With Corals And Invertebrates Only
 
The tricky thing with brook is that it doesn't have a complicated on-fish-off fish life cycle like Cryptocaryon but rather propagates by simple division on the infected fish. Even more concerning is that Brooklynella can live quite well in your tank for up to 4 weeks even without the presence of a fish.
A fallow period of at least 8 weeks, better more, is required to rid your system of it. The same period goes for quarantining new fish or other wet items.

But even that your fish appeared healthy for several month doesn't rule out a constant presence (actually quite normal with wild clownfish). If the fish is healthy and strong it will be able to keep the infection in check and at a minimum level.
But if a so infected fish gets weakened by poor water quality, hypothermia or any other stress brook can find favorable conditions and starts propagating rapidly. It can overwhelm a fish within days or even just hours, depending on how weakened the fish is. The problem is not only the damage it causes by feeding of the fish's gills and skin but more so the toxins it releases.

Its hidden presence and potential lethality is one of the reasons why Brook is one parasite you should always treat new fish for even if you don't see any symptoms - especially wild clowns.

Here is a pretty good article on Brooklynella and how to get rid of it: http://www.chucksaddiction.com/brookynella.html
 
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