Rea17
New member
Ok here we go...
I have scoured the internet trying to identify this parasite which I have personally experienced twice now, on a powder brown and powder blue. I am hoping some experts can chime in and shed some light on the subject for me.
These fish were both purchased years ago from the same LFS (possibly the source, if this thing was able to lie dormant), but kept separately by different hobbyists. They were both kept in established tanks and exhibited no symptoms of this parasite until they were moved and stressed. Neither hobbyist quarantined or treated the fish upon purchasing them.
The first fish, a powder blue tang, I got while doing a tank tear-down. I made the mistake of not quarantining this fish, since I figured he had been established for years and had never shown symptoms of anything. The day after introducing him he began showing signs of this mystery disease. At first they showed up as spots, but then these "spots" grew out and became stringy. I caught the fish and treated him immediately with PraziPro (since they appeared worm-like) and cupramine for good measure, separately. Once the fish completed treatment and was no longer showing signs I reintroduced him and BAM, there it was again. My heart fell, but I did what I felt I needed to do. I was unable to ID this back then, so I yanked all of my fish out of my display and let it sit fallow for 10 weeks just for good measure. The powder blue was the only fish showing symptoms, but I know that even fish that appear healthy can often be carrying nasty things. All fish responded well to treatment, powder blue appeared clean again, and I reintroduced everyone. To my dismay, the PB broke out in these stringy-spots again. I removed him and attempted to eradicate this thing with freshwater dips with methylene blue, praziquantel soaked food, nothing worked. Even my previous treatment methods stopped affecting the symptoms and the fish just got worse. Eventually the PB succumbed. I should add that I was guided through this ordeal by leebca. Everyone was stumped.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago... a friend of mine gets an Achilles tang and puts it through QT before adding it to her display. Once added, her powder brown gets very aggressive and has to be removed for a time-out while the Achilles gets his bearings. The AT and PB were relatively small fish (~4") in a 350g tank. Once on time-out in a fresh QT tank, the powder brown started to break out in the same stringy spots as my powder blue did almost a year ago.
Here are some pictures of both for your reference:
The powder blue is long gone, but there is still hope to save this powder brown. Does anyone have any experience with this? Have you hit the same dead ends? What is the best treatment method that you can recommend? Sorry to write a novel about this, but I felt some backstory may have been necessary. Thanks in advance for any replies
I have scoured the internet trying to identify this parasite which I have personally experienced twice now, on a powder brown and powder blue. I am hoping some experts can chime in and shed some light on the subject for me.
These fish were both purchased years ago from the same LFS (possibly the source, if this thing was able to lie dormant), but kept separately by different hobbyists. They were both kept in established tanks and exhibited no symptoms of this parasite until they were moved and stressed. Neither hobbyist quarantined or treated the fish upon purchasing them.
The first fish, a powder blue tang, I got while doing a tank tear-down. I made the mistake of not quarantining this fish, since I figured he had been established for years and had never shown symptoms of anything. The day after introducing him he began showing signs of this mystery disease. At first they showed up as spots, but then these "spots" grew out and became stringy. I caught the fish and treated him immediately with PraziPro (since they appeared worm-like) and cupramine for good measure, separately. Once the fish completed treatment and was no longer showing signs I reintroduced him and BAM, there it was again. My heart fell, but I did what I felt I needed to do. I was unable to ID this back then, so I yanked all of my fish out of my display and let it sit fallow for 10 weeks just for good measure. The powder blue was the only fish showing symptoms, but I know that even fish that appear healthy can often be carrying nasty things. All fish responded well to treatment, powder blue appeared clean again, and I reintroduced everyone. To my dismay, the PB broke out in these stringy-spots again. I removed him and attempted to eradicate this thing with freshwater dips with methylene blue, praziquantel soaked food, nothing worked. Even my previous treatment methods stopped affecting the symptoms and the fish just got worse. Eventually the PB succumbed. I should add that I was guided through this ordeal by leebca. Everyone was stumped.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago... a friend of mine gets an Achilles tang and puts it through QT before adding it to her display. Once added, her powder brown gets very aggressive and has to be removed for a time-out while the Achilles gets his bearings. The AT and PB were relatively small fish (~4") in a 350g tank. Once on time-out in a fresh QT tank, the powder brown started to break out in the same stringy spots as my powder blue did almost a year ago.
Here are some pictures of both for your reference:
The powder blue is long gone, but there is still hope to save this powder brown. Does anyone have any experience with this? Have you hit the same dead ends? What is the best treatment method that you can recommend? Sorry to write a novel about this, but I felt some backstory may have been necessary. Thanks in advance for any replies
