Uronema marinum or brook, and my experience.

[triggreef]

I recently received an exquisite fairy wrasse from an online vendor. This would be my 3rd attempt at this (Easy, supposedly) wrasse.

First attempt, straight to display, before I used a proper qt. Great for a few days before developing a whitish patch that spread a lot by the next day and he perish that fast.

2nd attempt, DOA.

3rd attempt, arrived looking healthy. In qt with several others. After a few days of eating well out of nowhere one morning he was near death, with a whitish haze similar to what my first one had. He was acting lethargic and did not eat. I had done a lot of research recently and thought this to be Uronema Marinum or Brook. I also found an article I really liked here: http://www.ultimatereef.com/articles/brooklynella/

I gave him a freshwater dip that day for about 4.5 minutes in temp and ph matched water. Here is a photo of him during that dip. You can see the fuzziness sort of haze on him, the scales appear to have curled up, and even part of his upper lip was eaten away as well as much of his dorsal fin. He was in very bad shape.

After this bath (a couple hours after) he was relieved enough to eat again.

Next day I did another fresh dip, followed directly by a 45 minute bath in tank water with a double dose of Maracyn Two.

I also dosed the entire qt system with a double dose of Metrodinazole. No other fish showed symptoms. Wrasse looked better too and was eating well again.

Next day I did nothing.

Next day I did another double dose of metro.

I waited a couple more days and did about a 5th water change.

Here he is about 2 weeks later in these pics.... another week has gone by since and he seems about all healed up. I just wanted to share what I did here which I claim as a victory whether my methods were proper or not. I've had several fish now show similar signs and this is the only victory I have (Mostly green chromis which I gave up on).

 

[Psionicdragon]

so what has happened since your post

 

[vitz]

it was the fw dip, not the maracyn, that did the trick, and my money is on brooklynella, for which a series of fw dips is the guaranteed spot on cure. maracyn has no effect on brook, or nearly anything else, for that matter, and i've seen it ruin dozens of people's tanks. it's a product, along w/ the rest of the 'mardel' line, that i've always told folks to steer clear of, based on the large number of incidences where i've seen it used to no benefit at all, to causing tank crashes.

some words on fw dipping:

if the temp and pH are matched, most fish can take a dip far longer than 4-5 minutes. my 'record' is over 1/2 hr for some clown species.....but there's a 'trick' to knowing how long is too long....

when 1st placed in fw, alot of sw fish will go into 'shock' (fish starts to list to one side while resting on bottom of container)...if they do, usually a light poke/prod w/ a finger will wake them up from the 'stupor', and they'll start swimming/staying 'right side up'...

now comes the 'trick'.....

after the 1st shock, if it occurs right after the transfer to fw, you want to wait for the 2nd 'shock' (might take 4 min, might take 1/2 hr). THAT's the 'cutoff' point at which the fish may go, if not transferred back to sw. (if no 1st shock upon transfer to fw, then just wait for the shock when/if occurs-if it doesn't, i wouldn't go over 15 min./dip, initially)

having said that-if a fish is unusually weak, shorter but frequent dips may be the way to go-the q being will the dip knock back the infection enough to allow the fish to start regaining health before the next one ? each situation is a bit different.

i've had multiple species of sw fish in fw dip buckets eat, fight, and even court each other (clowns) while dipping, and i used to offer dipping for certain species to customers before they took their fish home. after i've seen how relatively simple it is, and the results, after dipping hundreds and thousands of nearly every species that lands in the u.s. on a regular basis, i wholeheartedly recommend it as s.o.p. for all 'incoming' fish.

hth

 

[triggreef]

so what has happened since your post

Wow I forgot to come back to this thread until now. The wrasse is doing great and has been in my display ever since his stint in quarantine. He is actually the ruler of the fairy wrasses in my tank.

Also I believe it was the metronidazole that saved him. I used the maracyn in this case, only to help prevent a bacterial infection. Metro is also listed by several sites as a proven treatment for brook.

Either way in this case it worked, and I have used metro multiple times since on dying fish that it has basically brought back from the dead as far as I'm concerned. The latest a Caribbean tang that was near death and stopped eating. He is enjoying my display now as well.

A pic of the wrasse I just took today, coincidentally:

 

[Akrite]

Where did you get the metronidazole?

 

[triggreef]

Lfs should carry it. I usually buy from drsfostersmith though.

 

[mattcoug]

...
I also dosed the entire qt system with a double dose of Metrodinazole. No other fish showed symptoms. Wrasse looked better too and was eating well again.
...

Sorry to bring up this old thread, but when you mean double dose, does it mean 1 gram for 20 gal water?

-Matt

 

[triggreef]

No sorry should have clarified. I meant 2 separate doses. Yikes I hope no one tried to double the dose at one time, They'd likely have some dead fish.

 

[triggreef]

No sorry should have clarified. I meant 2 separate doses. Yikes I hope no one tried to double the dose at one time, They'd likely have some dead fish.

After re-reading this and looking back at the meds I used at the time, I would have dosed about 200mg per 10g of tank water. I used seachem brand metronidazole which calls for between 100mg to 200mg per 10g, and claims little danger of overdosing on the container.

I should have clarified that some time ago :debi: but I figured I would come back to this for anyone doing a similar treatment that may look this up.

 

[Newms118]

Where did you get the metronidazole?

Metro-Plex is metronidazole.

 

[Newms118]

After re-reading this and looking back at the meds I used at the time, I would have dosed about 200mg per 10g of tank water. I used seachem brand metronidazole which calls for between 100mg to 200mg per 10g, and claims little danger of overdosing on the container.

I should have clarified that some time ago :debi: but I figured I would come back to this for anyone doing a similar treatment that may look this up.

If you dont mind me asking, how did you make your freshwater dips. How do you match the pH? What product you use and how much? I've tried and it ends up either way to high or too low in pH.