Sampled gills, found Brook.(I think)

DasCamel

Active member
So I took some samples off the dead Royal Gramma, looked like Brook. Under the scope looked like Brook mainly on the gills.

Under the scope, anyone know how to differentiate Brook from other parasites? External symptoms seemed to match, including a cloudy eye.
 
Brooklynella will be ovoid with a notched anterior end, anywhere from 56-86μm in size. Cryptocaryon will be more pear-shaped and much larger - up to 450μm in size. Amyloodinium (velvet) is a bit smaller than crypto, and more irregularly shaped - up to 350μm in size.

Edward Noga's "Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment" has some great micrographs of these parasites if you can find a copy.
 
Ok.

Ok.

Brooklynella will be ovoid with a notched anterior end, anywhere from 56-86μm in size. Cryptocaryon will be more pear-shaped and much larger - up to 450μm in size. Amyloodinium (velvet) is a bit smaller than crypto, and more irregularly shaped - up to 350μm in size.

Edward Noga's "Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment" has some great micrographs of these parasites if you can find a copy.

I'm not sure about the notched anterior , but it is ovoid. I really just want to make sure it's not uronema because that'll increase the fallow period in the main tank. High confidence it's not Ich because of the symptoms,visual appearance and small size. Any tell tale give always for uronema?

I will buy a fish pathology book sooner than later.
 
Brooklynella if you get it on a wetmount slide (scrape with cover slip and put on slide so bugs can still move around) will spiral around like a flying pringles potato chip. If your scope is good you can also see little diagonal lines on them. Uronema is shaped like a pear, moves more like a bumper car, and you can see the cilia (hairs) all around it easily at high mag. Uronema may be present in most tanks and is just opportunistic so be careful with treating and fallow period because it's unsubstantiated I think.
 
Brooklynella if you get it on a wetmount slide (scrape with cover slip and put on slide so bugs can still move around) will spiral around like a flying pringles potato chip. If your scope is good you can also see little diagonal lines on them. Uronema is shaped like a pear, moves more like a bumper car, and you can see the cilia (hairs) all around it easily at high mag. Uronema may be present in most tanks and is just opportunistic so be careful with treating and fallow period because it's unsubstantiated I think.

Very interesting info!
 
Interesting.

Interesting.

Brooklynella if you get it on a wetmount slide (scrape with cover slip and put on slide so bugs can still move around) will spiral around like a flying pringles potato chip. If your scope is good you can also see little diagonal lines on them. Uronema is shaped like a pear, moves more like a bumper car, and you can see the cilia (hairs) all around it easily at high mag. Uronema may be present in most tanks and is just opportunistic so be careful with treating and fallow period because it's unsubstantiated I think.

I used a couple sharp knifes to scrape the different areas, with it a good amount of moisture. Wish I had all this info Saturday morning. I tried looking again last night, everything looked like fish cells that belonged. Ordered the Book that was recommended, expensive but at least it'll be a good future reference.

At this point, really pushing my resources limit. Going to hold out for 4 weeks, treat the fish and call it. Based on the external symptoms on the clown that had it, and the Royal Gramma it presented like Brook.

All I know is, EVERYTHING will get a 8-12 week quarantine before touching the DT from now on.
 
Parasites.

Parasites.

But how do we get this things in the tank?

I learned the tough way, they can come in with anything. I got a great Haddoni carpet from Petco for very cheap. Over a foot in diameter. But their thanks were filthy with suffering clowns. I figured it wasn't a fish, so it was "safe". I even rinsed off him off with fresh saltwater just to make sure.

It wasn't good enough, all it takes is one of the little buggers to tag along and find a fish. Probably got more than one, but you get the idea.

After having to catch all fish, QT, treat, etc the CDC will be proud of my quarantine efforts.
 
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