Oodinium

[Navarre]

It seems like i have sadly missed the early signs of Oodinium and now this parasite has a firm hold on my display tank.

I am covinced that the tank has Oodinium, most of the fish are breathing rapidly, the bodies have a dusty appearance and they are constantly itching. The started swimming strangely by keeping to darker areas of the tank and darting quickly from one location to another, they are now taking to swimming directly into my most powerful powerhead as if the extra flow over their gills is of some comfort or something?

Ok well by the time i realised what the tank was infested with (i thought i had a case of whitespot ) many of my fish were already too late to save and sadly i lost them.

Frantically i have added UV and Ozone but this has made little effect or impact on slowing down the infections. I have dosed the tank twice now with Oodinex with no visible effect. I have read the article that you have written and have found it extremly informative and yes, I do wish i had a quarentine tank running

I am now trying a different approach in an attempt to break the cycle of this parasite...

I have removed all the fish from the display tank and have dosed this new tank (now my quarentine tank) with Cuprazin in an attempt to save these fish.
My next step was to remove the corals fromthe main tank and house these in a small tank and then reduce the SG of the main tank but after reading your article it would seem that the parasite is not effected by this?
So perhaps i should just let the tank run with no fish host for the next 4-6 weeks?

Is there anything else i can try? I was going to continue to run Ozone and UV on the main system whilst the fish are in the Quarentine tank, im not sure what else i can try, any suggestions would be very greatly appreciated.

 

[Steven Pro]

So perhaps i should just let the tank run with no fish host for the next 4-6 weeks?

This is what I would do.

I have removed all the fish from the display tank and have dosed this new tank (now my quarentine tank) with Cuprazin in an attempt to save these fish.

I am not familiar with this product. Is it a copper formulation?

By the way, if you can take a picture of any of these sick fish, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Navarre]

Thanks for the reply,

Cuprazin is a copper based product and works on a 7 day treatment, here is the link...

http://www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/cuprazin.htm

I have taken photos of the 2 fish that seem most effected by the parasite.

The 1st is the trigger, sorry the photos are not very clear but you can see the mottling effect on its body, this was a uniform grey but the patches you can see are where its lost alot of mucus and its peeling away from the body.

Sadly this fish is not eating so i am not sure whether its going to fight back this parasite or not.

The next fish is a purple tang, this fish is eating well and the spotty patches are again where its lost its mucus coat, since its been in the quarentine tank its breathing is seeming to be slowing down, this fish has never showed any signs of iching or rubbing itself , it just got this coating and then it stayed at the top of the tank gasping for air in the most shaded area of the tank.

(You can se its eye is also very cloudy also)


My Sohal Tang shows no sign os visible parasite.. the body is coloutful and no spots can be seen. The fish is eating well but it does rub its gills alot so this is obviously where the parasite is effecting it most.

I have a 2nd purple tang that has no signs at all of the disease, no iching, no spots or mucus, it acts perfectly normal.
The same can be said for the 6 line wrasse and the silty wrasse, the single remaining Anthias (all the others died) and my marine betta.

None of these remainig fish show any signs of the disease and eat well with no iching or iritation at all.

I hope this helps in some way. Any advice or suggestions you can give me would be very greatly appreciated.

 

[Steven Pro]

If this is velvet, I would treat all the fish. The early signs of this infestation are subtle and easy to miss. But, this disease is quite contagious and deadly. Treating all the fish is the safest route to go.

 

[Navarre]

This is my intention. I stil have a couple of fish to catch from the main system, then all of these fish wil be treated with a copper based medication. They will then remain in quarentine whilst i alow the tank to fallow.

I will be running UV and Ozone on the fallow tank is this ok?
How long would you recomend keeping the tank free from fish?

I guess there is no way to determine if the tank is free of this parasite before fish are re-introduced to the system?

 

[Steven Pro]

I will be running UV and Ozone on the fallow tank is this ok?

That is fine.

How long would you recomend keeping the tank free from fish?

Six weeks, two weeks of treatment and one month of additional quarantine to make sure the treatment was effective. By that time, any and all parasites should have hatched and died without a fish host.

 

[Navarre]

Thanks very much for your assistance on this.
I only wish i recognised the signs sooner.

Never again will i run my system without a quarentine tank.

Your advice and quick responces in this matter has been greatly appreciated.

 

[Steven Pro]

Never again will i run my system without a quarentine tank.

Quarantine is so critical. It is ashame so many people overlook it or are not informed of its benefits.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm