What's on my clown?

aandfsoccr04

Active member
I noticed my clown had some weird markings on it tonight. None of the other fish in the tank seem to have anything going on with them. Anyone know what this is and how to remedy it? Clowns have been in the tank a year or so. Thanks

007-2.jpg


006-2.jpg


002-4.jpg


001-2.jpg
 
Looks like it could be the start of brooklynella or velvet. Most likely the former. Formalin baths are in order I believe. I'm blanking on what the treatment is right now so someone else will chime in.
 
Thank you for the replies and information. Can anyone else comment on this and confirm this? Right now my QT is in use by a pair of lineatus wrasses. I'm assuming that all of my fish which include:
Atlantic blue tang
Pair of bipartitus leopard wrasse
pair of clowns
starry blenny
yellow watchman goby
black cap basslet
bangaii cardinal

are not all going to fit into my 30 gallon. I'm kind of at a loss on what to do here. Anyone with experience want to chime in? How fast does this advance? What are my options?
 
If it is brooklynella or velvet the time line is quick, more so the former but both kill quickly. Both are highly contagious and deadly.
 
You are looking at something around a 9-10 day timeclock. My clown pair and pylei contracted brook (wasn't sure how to tell if it was brook or velvet until it was too late) and were only alive 9 days after noticing symptoms.

Do you have any extra heaters and air pumps laying around? If you do I would see if you could use them and put your fish in clean Brute or Rubbermaid cans for treatment.
 
How do you tell which one it is or does it not matter since they are both treated the same way? I have heaters and air pumps laying around. Should I just take one clown out of the tank or both? I need to treat with formalin, correct?
 
I think is brooklynella too. But I can't tell for sure; other parasites can look similar. Does the fish have peeling or sloughing skin, that's a big indicator of brook? All fish exposed to him must be treated in a QT with Formalin ASAP. Formalin is getting hard to find, but there are a couple of meds that contain Fomalin and something else (meth. blue or mal. green, I think.) These will work. This is a very fast acting parasite, once it begins to spread. Is this clown the only fish to show symptoms? Any recent additions to the tank?
 
I think is brooklynella too. But I can't tell for sure; other parasites can look similar. Does the fish have peeling or sloughing skin, that's a big indicator of brook? All fish exposed to him must be treated in a QT with Formalin ASAP. Formalin is getting hard to find, but there are a couple of meds that contain Fomalin and something else (meth. blue or mal. green, I think.) These will work. This is a very fast acting parasite, once it begins to spread. Is this clown the only fish to show symptoms? Any recent additions to the tank?

Thank you for your response. The clown is the only one that is showing any signs like that yes. It's going to be a challenge to catch all my fish and there is already a pair of lineatus wrasse in my QT tank which is only 30 gallons. I can try and setup a 10 or 20 gallon for the clown and treat with formalin and see what happens. What a bummer. I haven't added anything to the tank in a few months and the clowns have been in there for a year and then anemone 6 months.
 
Also, Formalin can work with velvet too. It is not a 'gentle' med; but brook & velvet are not gentle parasites. Assuming it is one of these; it may be unrealistic to think you van save all of your fish. Not trying to make things worse, just a warning.

Edit: The above did't post right away, no idea why.

The product you have has used successfully by several folks on this forum. It's unusual for brook or velvet to show up without a fish bringing it in. Anything wet; LR,corals, etc, could bring it along; but that would be rare.

Is this fish eating, gasping for breath, scratching on rock or substrate, etc.? Again, any skin peeling or sloughing? This looks exactly like brook, but if it isn't showing up on other fish, I just can't be sure. Clowns are the most frequent carriers of brook. Some folks think tank-bred clowns, like yours are immune; but they are not, just less likely to have it than wild clowns. If the fish doesn't have any other symptoms, then I'm just guessing. I guess anemone or serious coral stings are possible. Fish with brook or velvet look and act very "sick". If this is still the only fish showing symptoms, you may want to just be ready with a HT. Just watching the all the fish closely goes against everything I know about treating parasites; but this could be something else. As long as no other fish are showing any signs of a disease/parasite; they won't be hurt any more if you just watch a while. If it is brook or velvet, it will show up on other fish soon.
 
Last edited:
That's the weird thing about it. No other fish are showing any signs of disease and the clowns are constantly swimming right next to each other. I have added corals in the past few months as I'm constantly adding coral and removing it from my display tank. The fish doesn't seem to be getting worse as far as I can tell and is swimming in the nem just like normal as it has been for the past six months. It is still eating with vigor and acting normal with no scratching on rocks or anything like that. The fish isn't gasping for breath and seems to be normal as far as breathing goes ( I will observe closer tonight as I wasn't sure what to look for last night).
 
Good luck. My gut feeling is that the fish will recover and doesn't have anything contagious. Any fish that is infected with brook or velvet to this extent would be near death.
 
Good luck. My gut feeling is that the fish will recover and doesn't have anything contagious. Any fish that is infected with brook or velvet to this extent would be near death.

IME if brook is the case, there is still a week left if the fish is otherwise healthy. The clowns I had didn't act or seem ill other than the parasites taking hold, eating and otherwise behaving normally. If his are as healthy as my pair was the clown could survive for awhile longer... Just thought I would share this.
 
I picked up quick cure from the fish store and plan to set up a 10 gallon hospital tank and treat the clown. The active ingredients in quick cure is formalin and malachite green. Should I treat the one clown showing symptoms or do you think I should treat both clowns as a precaution? Ugh I hate this.
 
IME if brook is the case, there is still a week left if the fish is otherwise healthy. The clowns I had didn't act or seem ill other than the parasites taking hold, eating and otherwise behaving normally. If his are as healthy as my pair was the clown could survive for awhile longer... Just thought I would share this.

Glad to hear it. I guess this another "individual fish" thing. I've seen brooklynella take a fish from fine to dead in a day.
 
Update:

Its been about a week and I decided to just leave the clown in the display tank since he was acting normal and eating as well. He seems to have kicked whatever was going on with him.

0012.jpg


002-5.jpg


005-1.jpg



My Male M. Bipartitus leopard wrasse has this odd white spot on one of his sides. Is this just from scratching it swimming into a rock or something to be concerned about?

0072.jpg


011-2.jpg


Thanks
 
Back
Top