Re: Acclimation failure

Glad to hear you discovered the cause. Nothing worse than not knowing what to do. I've read somewhere that mandarins are less prone to parasites because they have a thicker mucous coat than other fish so keep your fingers crossed.

Thankyou for sharing your findings. I've saved your post hoping that I will never need it.

Good luck
miskairal

Don Geddis wrote:
Don Geddis <don@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote on Mon, 27 Mar 2006:

So, one theory is that the first black clown was sick from the beginning, the
other three noticed, and that's why they shunned it.


If anyone's following my clownfish death(s), I've got some new information.
I've now lost two (a new black one, and a orange, both ocellaris). Plus a
second black ocellaris was looking very sick last night. The most obvious
sign, besides swimming/breathing distress, is a white mucus coating of some
kind across about the bottom half of the fish. The same thing happened to the
first black clown to die.

I now suspect that my recent clown addition(s) were infected with the
Brooklynella parasite. From Wilkerson's "Clownfishes" book, I see:

...Brooklynella is comtimes called clownfish disease, angelfish
disease, or "turbidity of the skin" and is caused by a protozoan
known as Brooklynella hostilis. It is particularly associated with
imported Maroon Clownfish, but other clownfish species can be
affected as well. Symptoms are a thick, whitish mucus coat, rapid
respiration, loss of appetite, open-mouth gasping, and faded body
color in advanced cases. Affected fishes are usually found either
lying on the bottom or staying near the surface of the water.

Treatment is a full 15-minute freshwater dip to remove the parasites
from the fish. [...] Today's clownfish hatcheries have eradicated
this disease from their stock, and buying captive-raised fishes is one
reasonably sure way to steer clear of this problem.

My own problems started with the addition of two captive-raised clowns (along
with some shrimp and snails), so I guess that's not a guarantee. Oh well.

Took all three of my remaining ocellaris clowns out last night and gave them
a 15-minute freshwater dip. Incredible on the black clown: after 5 minutes,
white flakes started peeling off his skin and falling down in the water.

Looks much better (color) this morning, although still not much appetite, and
one fin is mostly glued to its body, so it swims kind of lame. But far better
than last night.

Hopefully it will recover, and the other two clowns won't catch the parasite.
Although at this point perhaps the parasite has established itself in my reef
tank as a whole. That would be sad. If I'm lucky, I killed it by putting the
clowns into a freshwater dip.

(I also hope that Brooklynella doesn't/didn't spread to other species: there's
no way I can catch my mandarin dragonet or purple tang without taking all the
rock out. So those two aren't going to be getting a freshwater dip.)

-- Don
_______________________________________________________________________________
Don Geddis don@xxxxxxxxxx http://reef.geddis.org/
Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking
through your stuff. -- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Acclimation failure
    ... If anyone's following my clownfish death, ... Treatment is a full 15-minute freshwater dip to remove the parasites ... My own problems started with the addition of two captive-raised clowns (along ... and the other two clowns won't catch the parasite. ...
    (rec.aquaria.marine.reefs)
  • Re: Acclimation failure
    ... proper zap of that particular protozoan might be in order. ... If anyone's following my clownfish death, ... Treatment is a full 15-minute freshwater dip to remove the parasites ... My own problems started with the addition of two captive-raised clowns (along ...
    (rec.aquaria.marine.reefs)