Brooklynella-the chances we take...

This is a sad thread, but... One of the best, informative threads I have evere read. Thank you LUCKYFISH AND ACHILLES

Pleasure Sean. Sometimes images like the coral beauties finrot, makes us more thinking about what could happen, than just dry scientific words. The best teacher in life is your own experience. I'm also one of the special people who dont believe what others say, but after I've seen how quick brook and the attached diseases are stricking, I see things differently. A few weeks ago a had a couple of albino batches completly wiped out over night. To see this as the first thing in the morning, made me think and change things. Now that I put more effort into hygiene, I didn't loose any.
Just the best way to learn!
 
Luckyfish, any knowledge/experience on how effective would strong UV sterilisation be in preventing the spread of this disease in a system?
 
Luckyfish, any knowledge/experience on how effective would strong UV sterilisation be in preventing the spread of this disease in a system?

UV is very effective if you change the bulb every 3 months, like I do. If you have more than one tank in a system, it won't spread from tank to tank. But to prevent brook from spreading in a DT, there is no solution. Once a brook infected fish is introduced to a DT, it will multiply very fast on the hosts skin and spread from there into the water column, looking for another host. When you can see, one of your fish has got brook, it will be to late. All fish have to be treated immediately. The only prevention is to put every new arrival into a QT and treat it with half the dosage myxazin for a few days. If after 2-3 weeks no visible signs of diseases can be noticed, the fish can be introduced to the DT.
Think about it, adding a new fish to your DT without having the fish in a QT first, is like sleeping around without a condom. Every time you take a deadly chance.
 
Last edited:
Yes, but if you buy good stock from the right source, one can lessen the risk;):lol:

If one buys his stock from a LFS who is trustworthy and quarantines his new arrivals, than the risk is close to zero. Just like sleeping always with the same woman. I know, it get´s boring after a while and you need to have a look what others got to offer. I mean other LFS.;)
 
also sum fish are carriers of disease and show no visible signs of it
so a fish can look fine but can infect your tank so no mater where a fish is from it must be quarantined
 
The remaining picasso finally died as well!:(

Really sorry to hear Marcel , you are dead right no shop that I have been into has proper QT facilities, just "keeping the fish for a week" doesnt mean anything , a lot of diseases will only become apparent after that period once the fish's natural defence is exhausted.

Also once a new shipment comes in they might bring the disease and affect old stock etc etc

I am not saying this is a lack of trying from LFS side, many other factors such as space (retail space is expensive), money , time etc also has to be taken into account but yes maybe more care could / should be done from all LFS's.

Here I would also like to point the finger at the hobbyist , look at the threads regarding new stock arrivals. The stuff hasnt even landed and booked ! We are creating the circle where it becomes easy for the LFS to make a quick buck...especially on rare / expensive species. So I think MASA members should adhere to a code of cunduct similar to MAC ;)
 
also sum fish are carriers of disease and show no visible signs of it
so a fish can look fine but can infect your tank so no mater where a fish is from it must be quarantined

I think this is exactly what happened in my tank. I introduced a fish 3 weeks ago, and only now have the signs started showing. But the fish which was introduced, is fine. It's a 6 Line Wrasse...

So far, the losses are: Powder Brown and 4 Anthias. Looked at the Anthias when I got home from work, and 3 of the remaining 5 now are infected.

So there are only 2 anthias and a Yellow Tang and a 6 Line Wrasse that are uninfected so far...

This sucks.

@LuckyFish

Thanks for the info and this Thread Marcel. But where can I get Myzaxin from?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@LuckyFish

Thanks for the info and this Thread Marcel. But where can I get Myzaxin from?

In Cape Town I could tell you, but over there? I would say every good stocked LFS should have it. Ask the sponsors.

Threating brook at a early stage with myxazin will give you top results. Also decrease salinity in QT. That will make it easier for the infected fish as they musn't osmoregulate that much.
 
Oh, maybe good timing to add this.

After all fish that have survived the brook infection, the QT was running empty for a lot of weeks. I made a big mistake with not cleaning, disinfecting the QT and keeping the filtermedia going in there. I had a white spot break out, which I was going to treat with Herbatana, but anybody was sold out that time. Even Henk didn't have stock.
So I decided to put all fish from my cube into the QT. Treating them with hyposalinity was always a 100% success. It never crossed my mind during the first two days of hypo, that there might be some brook left in the QT. In the morning of day 3, all fish were dead, besides one clown.
So brook can survive probably for months in a tank without a host. After any treatment, the complete QT has to be sterilised. Pumps, heaters, tank itself, nets, etc.
 
I have them at a Lower salinity at the moment. Well, the Clowns. The anthia I had managed to catch died, but the other anthias I can't get out the DT...

What about the display tank though? Surely you can't do that to the display tank? Maybe the use of a UV filter may help?

I'm so upset about this. The risks we take with livestock is absolutely insane. I'll never ever go without an adequate QT tank ever again.
 
What about the display tank though? Surely you can't do that to the display tank?

NO

Maybe the use of a UV filter may help?

NO

I'm so upset about this. The risks we take with livestock is absolutely insane. I'll never ever go without an adequate QT tank ever again.

We all have to learn and sometimes the hard way. I went through it, so do you.:(
--
 
Marcel, only saw this thread now. Really sorry to hear of your losses from the lingering brook... But a huge kudos for helping out a fellow reefer - even at the risk of your own broodstock.

Thanks for a detailed and informative thread. As always, learning a stack through your experiences.

D
 
Back
Top Bottom