Is this fungus?

[j2me5ku]

I am having trouble discerning whether these white marks are from my clown sleeping on the sand bed and roughing up her scales or if they are fungi.

The picture is horrible but it is the best I can conjure up. The white marks I am referring to are located near the 3rd stripe. One up on the upper left of the 3rd stripe and one on the right bottom of the third stripe. What should I do? I'll try to take pictures of her when she's not as active.

thanks

 

[SAT]

Well, it's almost certainly not fungus (external fungal infections are rare to non-existent in saltwater). Worms are somewhat unlikely, although possible, particularly if was recently wild caught. The photo isn't close enough for a good diagnosis. It could be a scrape, although probably not from sleeping on the sand. It could be a sign of Brooklynella ("clownfish disease"). It could be a bacterial infection fostered by poor water conditions.

It might help if you could provide some history of this clown and the tank. Was the fish newly acquired? Have you tested the water parameters (particularly ammonia if this is a new setup)?

 

[j2me5ku]

My clown (WC) hasn't shown any signs of brook. such as breathing heavily and swimming toward the top to gasp for air. I got her about a month ago and she's been eating like a pig.
My params are
Ammonia:0
Nitrites:0.05 (working to get it down to 0)
Nitrates:15
pH: 8.2
Ca:430
SG: 1.026

Just to be safe, I am planning to set up a QT this weekend, but I am quite unsure what I will need.

I have a 10gal tank on hand but I will need to get some medication this weekend.

Can the tank and HOB filter be reused to start a 10 gal nano or will the medication leave traces in the tank that will not allow any further use except as a QT?

Before I set it up, I want to ask some questions about QT's. What kind of biological filtration will i need? I've read about filter floss or biowheels to seed the QT. Will I need to do that if I use tank water?
If I do how long will I need the QT running before I can put the fish in there?

How would you dose the QT with all the different medication? would the water become a medicine soup for the fish to swim in? does some of the medication do the same thing such as formalin be used to treat ich and copper to treat ich and vice versa?

what would be the bare minimum of medication i would have to buy to cover the majority of marine diseases?

would this be good enough?
1. formalin
2. Cupramine (copper)
3. Marcyn (gram positive)
4. Marcyn II (gram negative)
5. Prazi Pro

Also, what concentration percentage of formalin should I buy? At petsolutions.com they offer one that is 3% and another that is 37%.

Thanks for the reply. I am still trying to learn as much as I can.

 

[SAT]

To start with, here's a couple of articles on quarantine tanks that may be useful:
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/quarantinetanks.html
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

If you don't have time to condition a filter (and you don't if you intend to start treatment immediately) then you should assume a need to change large amounts of water on a daily basis for a week or two. 50% daily is fairly standard. You can use an ammonia test kit as a guide.

I dislike the shotgun approach to mediation for a variety of reasons. You should try to get a better diagnosis first. At the moment I'm not even convinced the fish is sick. All those medications are potentially useful if you are just stocking up, except the regular maracyn: few saltwater diseases are susceptable to it.

Either of the formalin solutions is fine... you just need to adjust the dosage accordingly. The label directions for Kordon formalin-3 are basically correct. In any case, however, I believe you should only use formalin as a bath, not by adding it to the tank.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/formalinbaths.html

Tanks and filters will have minimal residual medication after you clean them, so no problems reusing the equipment for something else. However, I find it's very useful to maintain a quarantine tank all the time.

 

[j2me5ku]

Thanks for the help SAT

I will continue to observe my fish and see if symptoms arises.