Guys, I thought I share this as it might open up some of your eyes and make understand you guys, what chances we take.
One of my very close friends phoned me on Friday. He told me, that he lost 4 fish so far and a few of the remaining fish are also not looking 100%.
I was aware of the fact, that he bought recently two new fish from one of our sponsors. A powder blue tang and a cleaner wrasse. The powder blue showed some white spots, so he used this product. I think it´s called herbatana. It´s to thread white spots, but it didn´t help. He lost the new arrivals. Then unexpected over night he lost both clowns he had for a long time already. They developed very quick fin rot and died quick as well. He was working on Friday until late afternoon, so I went to his place to check out what´s happen in his tank. I already had brook in mind as the white spot treatment failed.
When I saw his semicirculatus with cloudy eyes and covered with a white slime, his flasher wrasse with white spots around his gills and at the fins, same for the sandshifting goby, bicolor angel and scopas tang, I realised it is brook.
His midas blenny was also missing.
Then I saw his coral beauty. Not beautyful anymore as the eyes are cloudy, the body covered in slime and the fins are rotten. He asured me, this fish was fine the day before my visit. Just as his clowns were the day before they died.
Brooklynella is probably the worst disease you can catch as I usually wipes out all your fish within no time. Threatment is very difficult and not with a very high success rate. Once brook strikes, plenty of other diseases support brook to finish all fish in the same system.
Luckily I had a bucket and some nets with me and I decided quick to break down his beautiful aquascaping to take out all his fish. 90 % of his reef was transfered into a plastic baby bathtub. The Midas blenny jumped out of one of his rocks, so we (his sister and myself) could save the blenny.
Finally I could get hold of Archilles (Thanks for your help, Shawn) and he told me what treatment I should use. Ten minutes before closing the shop, I phoned Sam´s and asked for "Myxazin". I managed to get a small bottle for 70 bucks right in time, as Friday was a public holiday. Back home I realised, I am going to braai next to a petrol pump. How stupid can a person be. Running a hatchery with the world´s only marine albinos and getting 8 brook infected fish into the same room.
So every move has to be very thougtful and I probably washed my hands 20 times on Friday. After in total 5 hours, from arrival at his place, stripping his reef, catching his fish, speeding to Sam´s, rushing back home and putting his fish into my quarantene and treating the water, I decided to post this experience.
I told my friend, that the whole situation is actually his own fault, because he buys as many others of you guys, his fish where he can get what he likes. Due to limited space, he doesn´t have a quarantene tank, so the new arrival ended up very quick in his DT. I told him, that I reckon that the powder blue and the cleaner wrasse were swimming at the LFS together with some wild caught clowns. He told me, that I was right and there were a few clarkiis in the same tank at the LFS.
Brooklynella is also known as clownfish disease. It is very common that imported clowns carry brook, but show no symtoms. Fish like the powder blue, well known to catch white spots when stressed are ideal to take on the parasite and to let it multiply on the body. Once the brook army got enough numbers, they are looking for another host. Nothing better than a nice looking DT with some nice fish as new hosts.
Treatment: Myxazin, a combination of formalin, mallachite green and something else.
The manufacturer recommend 4ml per 60 litre tank volume. Archilles recommended to dose half every 12 hours. Which I did as I trust Shawn.
90% waterchange daily and treatment with Myxazin every 12 hours.
This treatment is for fish only tanks as it is toxic for invertebrates. Overdose of Myxazin will be toxic for fish as well.
My friends fish are swimming in a bare bottom tank with just a powerhead and biological filter. No skimmer! Temperature should be not above 25 degrees as the medication sucks the oxygen. Via venturi from the powerhead, lots of air is added all the time. Treatment for 5 days in total!
Current situation:
After almost 36 hours since I got his brook infected fish, I did not loose one of them.
Besides the coral beauty, all others are recovered from cloudy eyes and slime. Fish are eating, besides the coral beauty, flasherwrasse, midas, sandshifting goby.
All fish are swimming free and they are not hiding since this morning.
The finrot of the coral beauty reached a dangerous stage as the parts of the fins that were infected doesn´t exist anymore. The color faded on the fins and what was seethrough is gone now. The fish is battling to swin as the majority of his fins are gone. Therefore he is breathing faster than normal. Still, I think he might have a chance and hopefully he starts eating.
For better understanding what are we might getting with new arrivals:
We usually keep different fish species together in our DT´s and these fishes we keep are coming from different suppliers and different oceans. Fish from one part of the oceans might be sort of immune to brooklynella, but can carry the parasite. Fish from other parts of our oceans maybe were never exposed to such parasites and therefore they will catch the disease quick with a quick victory for brooklynella.
It is like, if I would go with a slight pneumonia into the deepest south american rainforest to vistit some tribes over there. I might not even know about my pneumonia infection, but as soon as the first tribe members catches my infection, the whole tribe will be wiped out and I would be the last man standing as my immune system is good enough to win the battle against pneumonia without medication.
This tribe story already happened donkey years ago!
My friend is stupid, I´m stupid and many MASA members as well!
Why:
Every hobbyist who buys his fish from different places is taking the chance of getting a coral only tank. My friend learnt his lesson, I hopefully know exactly what I´m doing with brook in my hatchery. So for me it´s more or less a calculated risk. Still stupid of myself to get some nice brook into my hatchery.
So if you buy your fish where it´s cheap and you don´t quarantene your new arrival, please allow myself to call you stupid. I don´t want to be rude or to provoke you guys, but I want to make you guys think!
At the end of the day you stocked your tank with fish for a couple of thousand rands and the last new fish comes with some nice brooklynella.
Is it really worth it? Stripping the reef, catching the remaining fish and to find somebody who is stupid enough to put your infected fish into his own quarantene tank?
What I´m not going to do:
Don´t expect me to play your trouble shooter. I did this once, because my friend is one of three guys, who can always count on my help! But only once for the same stupid mistake.
I don´t mind to help with some advice here, as that is the main purpose for this forum.
That is what the coral beauty looked like yesterday. Today she looks even worse. Maybe I can get some better shots tomorrow.
One of my very close friends phoned me on Friday. He told me, that he lost 4 fish so far and a few of the remaining fish are also not looking 100%.
I was aware of the fact, that he bought recently two new fish from one of our sponsors. A powder blue tang and a cleaner wrasse. The powder blue showed some white spots, so he used this product. I think it´s called herbatana. It´s to thread white spots, but it didn´t help. He lost the new arrivals. Then unexpected over night he lost both clowns he had for a long time already. They developed very quick fin rot and died quick as well. He was working on Friday until late afternoon, so I went to his place to check out what´s happen in his tank. I already had brook in mind as the white spot treatment failed.
When I saw his semicirculatus with cloudy eyes and covered with a white slime, his flasher wrasse with white spots around his gills and at the fins, same for the sandshifting goby, bicolor angel and scopas tang, I realised it is brook.
His midas blenny was also missing.
Then I saw his coral beauty. Not beautyful anymore as the eyes are cloudy, the body covered in slime and the fins are rotten. He asured me, this fish was fine the day before my visit. Just as his clowns were the day before they died.
Brooklynella is probably the worst disease you can catch as I usually wipes out all your fish within no time. Threatment is very difficult and not with a very high success rate. Once brook strikes, plenty of other diseases support brook to finish all fish in the same system.
Luckily I had a bucket and some nets with me and I decided quick to break down his beautiful aquascaping to take out all his fish. 90 % of his reef was transfered into a plastic baby bathtub. The Midas blenny jumped out of one of his rocks, so we (his sister and myself) could save the blenny.
Finally I could get hold of Archilles (Thanks for your help, Shawn) and he told me what treatment I should use. Ten minutes before closing the shop, I phoned Sam´s and asked for "Myxazin". I managed to get a small bottle for 70 bucks right in time, as Friday was a public holiday. Back home I realised, I am going to braai next to a petrol pump. How stupid can a person be. Running a hatchery with the world´s only marine albinos and getting 8 brook infected fish into the same room.
So every move has to be very thougtful and I probably washed my hands 20 times on Friday. After in total 5 hours, from arrival at his place, stripping his reef, catching his fish, speeding to Sam´s, rushing back home and putting his fish into my quarantene and treating the water, I decided to post this experience.
I told my friend, that the whole situation is actually his own fault, because he buys as many others of you guys, his fish where he can get what he likes. Due to limited space, he doesn´t have a quarantene tank, so the new arrival ended up very quick in his DT. I told him, that I reckon that the powder blue and the cleaner wrasse were swimming at the LFS together with some wild caught clowns. He told me, that I was right and there were a few clarkiis in the same tank at the LFS.
Brooklynella is also known as clownfish disease. It is very common that imported clowns carry brook, but show no symtoms. Fish like the powder blue, well known to catch white spots when stressed are ideal to take on the parasite and to let it multiply on the body. Once the brook army got enough numbers, they are looking for another host. Nothing better than a nice looking DT with some nice fish as new hosts.
Treatment: Myxazin, a combination of formalin, mallachite green and something else.
The manufacturer recommend 4ml per 60 litre tank volume. Archilles recommended to dose half every 12 hours. Which I did as I trust Shawn.
90% waterchange daily and treatment with Myxazin every 12 hours.
This treatment is for fish only tanks as it is toxic for invertebrates. Overdose of Myxazin will be toxic for fish as well.
My friends fish are swimming in a bare bottom tank with just a powerhead and biological filter. No skimmer! Temperature should be not above 25 degrees as the medication sucks the oxygen. Via venturi from the powerhead, lots of air is added all the time. Treatment for 5 days in total!
Current situation:
After almost 36 hours since I got his brook infected fish, I did not loose one of them.
Besides the coral beauty, all others are recovered from cloudy eyes and slime. Fish are eating, besides the coral beauty, flasherwrasse, midas, sandshifting goby.
All fish are swimming free and they are not hiding since this morning.
The finrot of the coral beauty reached a dangerous stage as the parts of the fins that were infected doesn´t exist anymore. The color faded on the fins and what was seethrough is gone now. The fish is battling to swin as the majority of his fins are gone. Therefore he is breathing faster than normal. Still, I think he might have a chance and hopefully he starts eating.
For better understanding what are we might getting with new arrivals:
We usually keep different fish species together in our DT´s and these fishes we keep are coming from different suppliers and different oceans. Fish from one part of the oceans might be sort of immune to brooklynella, but can carry the parasite. Fish from other parts of our oceans maybe were never exposed to such parasites and therefore they will catch the disease quick with a quick victory for brooklynella.
It is like, if I would go with a slight pneumonia into the deepest south american rainforest to vistit some tribes over there. I might not even know about my pneumonia infection, but as soon as the first tribe members catches my infection, the whole tribe will be wiped out and I would be the last man standing as my immune system is good enough to win the battle against pneumonia without medication.
This tribe story already happened donkey years ago!
My friend is stupid, I´m stupid and many MASA members as well!
Why:
Every hobbyist who buys his fish from different places is taking the chance of getting a coral only tank. My friend learnt his lesson, I hopefully know exactly what I´m doing with brook in my hatchery. So for me it´s more or less a calculated risk. Still stupid of myself to get some nice brook into my hatchery.
So if you buy your fish where it´s cheap and you don´t quarantene your new arrival, please allow myself to call you stupid. I don´t want to be rude or to provoke you guys, but I want to make you guys think!
At the end of the day you stocked your tank with fish for a couple of thousand rands and the last new fish comes with some nice brooklynella.
Is it really worth it? Stripping the reef, catching the remaining fish and to find somebody who is stupid enough to put your infected fish into his own quarantene tank?
What I´m not going to do:
Don´t expect me to play your trouble shooter. I did this once, because my friend is one of three guys, who can always count on my help! But only once for the same stupid mistake.
I don´t mind to help with some advice here, as that is the main purpose for this forum.
That is what the coral beauty looked like yesterday. Today she looks even worse. Maybe I can get some better shots tomorrow.
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