Aracana Ornata and Uronema

[StAiden]

My coldwater Boxfish has been in qt since he arrived in Sept with a cloudy eye (lympho) and a lump on his pectoral fin.
The cloudy eye cleared up, but the lumps last week spread to all his fins while we had a tank sitter watch our tanks while we were away.
We have been running an oversize skimmer, UV and practise daily 5% water changes that allow us to clean up excess food off the bottom of the qt tank since he is a messy eater. I fear that while we were gone, the tank wasn't being cleaned which gave the uronema someplace to thrive. (Uronema confirmed via biopsy).
We also give the fish vit c, Zoe, and Zoe-con to help him fight off the lympho, which seemed to work.
We are now faced with formalin treatment, which brings me to the questions:
We have a new, sterile qt being cycled however have to move the chiller to this tank so need to clean the chiller before moving it from one tank to the other. Best cleaning method?
Our plan is to either do a treatment program for the Boxfish with formalin in his current qt tank and then move him to new qt tank, or treat in formalin dip bucket for a shorter period of time and then move him to clean qt tank. Is there a preferred option?
The fish doesn't have any open sores, no wounds and the uronema is contained in white lumps on his fins. He eats well, swims well and is generally fine, except for the appearance of the lumps. Would there be a different treatment option, such as a freshwater dip, that might be better for him?
Does anyone have any advice for treating scaleless fish, or coldwater (61 degrees) fish that might help me avoid pitfalls?

[fessoclown]

Hopefully Snorvich or ThRoewer will jump in here to help you out. I know ThRoewer has mega experience with formalin dips.

[StAiden]

Over the holidays I did 2 treatments of formalin on the box fish. One at half strength and one at full strength. At 24 hours I did a 50% water change and added carbon to the tank.
Unknown to me, 4 large margarita snails had been left in the tank, hiding in the overflow. All of them have live barnacles on their shells. All the snails, barnacles, and fish survived both treatments.

Which leads me to 2 questions:
1. Should I have turned off the skimmer and uv filter with the formalin treatments? Did leaving them on reduce the effectiveness of the formalin?

2. Does anyone have comments on the use of metroplex to treat uronema? Especially on scaleless fish and at 61 degrees?

The reason I ask is because without doing another biopsy on the fish, I don't know if the uronema is gone. There are still large patches of white fluff on the fish but I think this is just the lympho. I am considering the use of metroplex in case the formalin was not effective (concern arose when I saw the barnacles and snails were alive as I think of these as being extremely sensitive to medications)

However since I did not turn off uv and skimmer, it may be that the formalin was not effective because it was broken down by these devices before it reached its full treatment potential.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[StAiden]

Note: formalin treatments were based on 1ml/ gallon of tank water volume for full strength.

[mattcoug]

Note: formalin treatments were based on 1ml/ gallon of tank water volume for full strength.


Did you put the 1ml/gal into the QT tank? or separate dipping container for a 1 hour dip?

[ThRoewer]

Note: formalin treatments were based on 1ml/ gallon of tank water volume for full strength.

That is the short term (1h max) bath solution.
If you apply that dose to the hospital tank and leave the fish in it for hours or even days you may seriously harm or kill them.

Per Formalin MS instructions the long term concentration is 2 drops (0.1 ml assuming the pharmaceutical definition of 1 drop being precisely 0.05 ml) per gallon every other day.

It also states one teaspoon for 90 gallon which translates to 1 drop per gallon if a teaspoon is 5 ml. The last they state is 1 oz per 500 gallon which would then make a drop = 0.06 ml
I really wish they would provide a less ambiguous, more precise instructions - ideally in ml/L!

Activated carbon should be removed - not sure about the skimmer and UV.
In a fully stocked DT formalin may react with all kind of things and reduce quickly. That's why I would always advise to do any treatment under controlled condition in a HT.
Also, short time baths with the higher concentration are more effective.

[StAiden]

I think I need to clarify, and thank you for the info.
The Boxfish is in its own hospital tank and has been since Septmber. I put 10 snails in to deal with some algae during the last month and because the only other place I had for them was a 30 gallon tank that didn't have a lot to eat. When I went to dose the formalin, I thought I had moved all the snails out, but 4 had gone over the edge into the back chamber and I missed them. There is nothing else in the tank.
The formalin had been prepped for me by a scientist friend who deals with large aquaria and it is quite possible that he had adjusted the concentration to ensure it was dosed correctly for a 24 hour treatment.
I had removed the carbon during the treatment, not the skimmer or UV.
At this stage, because the snails made it through the formalin treatment my concern is that the uronema did as well.
Will probably opt for a biopsy to confirm.