Treating brook with metro

[coverdog]

I had a Brook outbreak and put the fish in a hospital tank and treated with metro. They looked pretty bad and lost two before being able to transfer them all. After only a couple hours in the tank with meds they looked healthy with no apparent disease. Their appetite had decreased somewhat but are still eating some. I was shocked at the quick response to the metro.

My question is should I dose a second time as the symptoms are gone? I did run some carbon after two days to remove some of the metro. They still look very good after three days. I have learned a hard lesson about doing a quarantine for snails. I have always done so with fish and am still learning I guess. Thanks for any insight.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Good info here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2388437

I've only treated brook with formalin dips so I'd be interested in your outcome. I feel your pain on the unquarantined snails. I brought brook in on an unquarantined urchin. I now quarantine inverts and corals longer than fish.

 

[coverdog]

Thanks news, I read that thread before treatment and to look at the fish today they don't need another dose. I want to be safe and am curious about removing the metro or the need for another dose. The fish look like they have fully recovered by outward appearances.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

If you've followed the treatment/dosage recommendation you should be ok to remove meds via water change and/or carbon. I would just keep a very close eye and observe for a few weeks.

 

[coverdog]

Well on the fourth day my black oc. clown looks like he has some back so I dosed again last night. The rest look good and all ate good in the afternoon.

I hope I didn't misdiagnose, but all symptoms look like brook and not velvet so much. The fish were definitely whitish, not tan or gold and the tang was pale as well as a bi color blennie. The blennie also looked like he had a small patch of skin peeling off. He was the first causality along with a orchid Dottyback which looked very healthy in the evening and dead in the morning.

 

[coverdog]

The clown has what looks like a small amount of white dust speckled on him.

 

[snorvich]

The clown has what looks like a small amount of white dust speckled on him.

white dust is most likely velvet; white salt would be ich (cryptocaryon irritans)

 

[coverdog]

Thanks for the response. Would velvet also make a Kole tang and a bi color blennie look pale? The fish responded very quickly to metro with the clown remaining with the few very small white sprinkles of dust. He is not covered, just small specks on his body. So I may need to go to copper for velvet then it looks like?

Edited, I just came home and he is clear except a couple specks barely visible. Would metro clear up velvet? I have to admit I was leaning towards brook by the symptoms when they got sick as two fish got very pale. I just don't know.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Unfortunately brook and velvet symptoms can initially appear the same. Read the stickies on velvet that Snorvich prepared. I believe copper or CP are recommended treatments.

 

[triggreef]

I almost didn't post here as it seemed well covered, but I just wanted to add something. Metro IMO and IME is not very harsh on fish at the proper dosage levels suggested. I've only lost one fish that I could see possibly having to do with metro but it was a potters wrasse so it may have very well just died anyway for no apparent reason, and that was a full week after treatments so I doubt it was from the metro.

Anyway, if it is brook you would need more than one treatment. Probably a couple days apart. You can also treat brook with a series of freshwater dips but again, its going to take more than one.

As others stated if it is velvet your dealing with, then cupramine.

 

[coverdog]

Thanks for the help all. I dosed a second time and all including the clown look good now. So unless metro suppresses velvet I have to believe it was brook, we'll see. Thanks again.

 

[coverdog]

Okay, tonight the Kole tang looked faded again. Fins clamped somewhat as well. I think I may need to try copper as it may well be velvet. He was swimming a bit erratic too. He has no specks or salt like spots at all. He also looks like he's breathing a bit rapid.

I hope he pulls through and wish I new what he had so I could determine a fallow period for display.