Fish illness

[jd22]

I did a water change on Sunday and something kicked off a chain reaction and I'm losing fish. Here is a picture of what's happening. This spot appears, fish stops eating and dies within 24-48 hrs. Any ideas what it is? I have to believe the water introduced something ( bought from store)

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[jd22]

I should also add that it goes 1x1 not all at once. Thinking it was bacterial or fungal I treated with kanaplex


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[jd22]

Any ideas?


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[civics14]

kind of weird that it would be due to store bought water and bacteria, but anything is possible.

when is the last time you added any live stock, whether it be fish, inverts, or corals?

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

I would consider JennM the resident disease/illness expert. You might sent her an IM.

 

[danh]

I think you should post some of your params. That might help.

 

[jennm]

They never send a message but eventually I see the 'sick' thread

My first thought is Brooklynella from the speed and time of year, but the picture alone is inconclusive.

"Store bought saltwater" - it's new, right, not used out of a system? (Don't laugh - I've seen that happen, so I assume nothing). If it's new saltwater from a mixing station, that's not where it came from.

When did you add the last new fish, and what was it? And do you quarantine fishes first?

IF it's Brooklynella you will need to quarantine ALL fish, even the asymptomatic ones, and treat with a formalin based medicine, either Formalin 3, or Hikari Ich-X saltwater formula. DO NOT TREAT THE DISPLAY.

Brooklynella can kill within hours or it can linger for months, depending on the fish. It's most common in clownfishes, but I've seen it in most commonly kept species, and I've seen carriers infect other fishes, even though they never showed symptoms.

Please do provide the info I've asked for but if it was me I'd assume it is Brooklynella and treat NOW.

Jenn

 

[jd22]

Sorry, I've been busy and working with a LFS to help diagnose and contain. As an update, we diagnosed it as a bacterial infection and I have been treating with Kanaplex by Seachem. I was unable to save the angel but after treating he was able to survive much longer than the other fish which came down with it. This was 5 days ago, since then, The wrasse, firefish and clownfish are all still eating very well and the firefish and clown show no symptoms at all. The wrasse is not showing any signs, however, I have observed him rubbing rocks every now and then which makes me nervous. Last night I did a fairly large water change and dosed the final of the 3rd allowable Kanaplex dosage. I'm worried that once this dose wears off. I could see an outbreak.

The last fish I introduced was a watchmen goby and that was 3 weeks prior to the outbreak. I did not quarantine even though I know better and will in the future. He did not show any signs until about 2 days prior to death. Then the angel got sick immediately afterwards. I'm thinking that with the water change I may have set off a minor spike since I'm using buckets as this was recently moved 2 months ago and haven't bought a pump yet and this maybe shocked their immune systems.

I've gone back and forth on the diagnoses, somethings seem to point to one thing and another something else. One thing I noticed in other threads is that brook usually gets to the clowns first and it kind of takes over their whole body. That's not really what is happening here, it's really a isolated spot it seems.

I've set back up my quarantine tank in case I need to treat for protozoa/parasite, I'm hoping not though since it is difficult to catch everything.

I'll post params tonight. Sorry for the novel!

 

[wannabeeareefkeeper]

porpoiseaquatics;1088912 wrote: I would consider JennM the resident disease/illness expert. You might sent her an IM.

^^^^ I concur of what Jeff has stated above. I would take some sound advice on what JennM says; I have referred others posts to JennM and her advice is great in my opinion. I would have posted here for you to PM JennM; but Jeff has beat me to the punch here. I hope all goes well and everyone recovered from this situation.

Wannabee

P.S. Although JennM will not consider herself an expert in resident disease/illness in a reef tank; there is now two votes that says she's an expert. If someone is counting the votes: Jeff and I have voted; and that makes two votes for expert.

 

[jennm]

I'm not an expert. Just have lots of experience in a commercial setting. Learned a lot of lessons the hard way.

While clownfishes are the most prone to Brooklynella, it's not exclusive to them.

I found out firsthand that watchman gobies can carry it without being symptomatic. I had a blue spotted watchman be Typhoid Mary... and learned to treat ALL exposed fishes, regardless of whether they displayed symptoms or not.

It could well be a bacterial infection - it could also be both. Secondary bacterial infection after wounds are opened by a feeding protozoan (the Brook). Or it could be an infection resulting from mechanical injury but since more than one fish was affected, it's not likely that they all had mechanical injuries.

If you are treating with antibiotics and seeing improvement, by all means, carry on. I don't have all the answers 100% of the time it's my best educated guess.

Jenn