Brooklynella :(
 

My clowns and my royal gramma are infected with Brooklynella! What should I do? Is my whole tank infected with this perasite or are my fish only infected? I have some herbtana that I can treat the infected fish with but will that help them? Please help I don't my babies dying :(

Brooklynella is a quick killer. The only proven treatment I know of is Formalin. It doesn't seem to be available everywhere, but there is a common product that combines formalin and mala. green....I forget the name. IMO, the fish will be dead before you find out that herbtana doesn't work. You have to treat in a QT and treat all fish that have been exposed to it. Even with quick treatment, this is nasty stuff. Imo; preventing Brooklynella (and velvet) are even bigger reasons than ich to use a QT.

Well my poor fish have been sick for about 3 days now I've been treating them with herbtana and I can't find the medication in any local petstore. They were actually eating yesterday. So I don't know if it is truely Brooklynella, but I'm certain it is because the symptoms they are having sounds like that parasite as well as the slime coat I've been seeing on my fish. Now my question is how in the world did my poor fish catch this parasite? My tanks is a year and a half established nano. I just can't pin point as to what could've cause this!!

Anything wet could bring it in. A new fish, LR, even a snail. Brooklynella is fairly easy to diagnose, the skin & slime coat actually slough off the fish. Velvet also shows up as a transparent, filmy skin, with ick-like spots condition. Velvet is easier to recognize when looking at the fish head-on. Velvet is treated in a QT with copper.Clowns are very susceptible to brooklynella and are usually the 1st fish to show it. If nothing new has been added in 1 1/2 years; it can't be either. But anything wet could have brought it in. Add coral to the list above as a possible carrier. I think the product I mentioned above is 'Rid-Ich". Oddly, I doubt it will kill ich, but has enough formalin (formaldehyde) to possibly cure brooklynella. I hate to be negative, but if this is brooklynella or velvet (it may not be, if fish are still eating) and you don't treat with the right med---I'm afraid you'll lose all the fish in that tank. A pic would be a big help.

how long have the fish been in the tank? If they've been in the tank for a year and half and only show symptoms now, I do not think that would be brooklynella.

It could be the onset of lymphocystis which does look similar to brooklynella.

http://www.microbelift.com/products/...herbtana-reef/

I could not find a list of ingredients on herbtana (any time when you don't see ingredients you should be suspicious). However, from their product page it sounds like it's an immune booster, so it won't kill any parasites if you do have any. It may help the fish fight off the parasites but won't eliminate them.

If you correctly identify that it's brooklynella, then you must remove all of the fish into a quarantine tank and treat with formalin like MrTuskfish said. There are several products available with formalin and malachite green as the main ingredient. Aquarium Product's Quick Cure is one of them. Most LFS should carry it, but if you can't find any, you may use Kordon's Rid-Attack+ which has essentially the same ingredients. Be very careful with any medication that contains formalin as it is carcinogenic. Don't get any on your body.

Echo what MrTuskfish said. If you have added ANYTHING wet recently, that would bring the disease. Please post a good, clear picture so people can comment.

I did add new snails, crabs, and a lawnmower blenny to my tank a month ago. I do believe this parasite came from them. I will post pics of the fish tonight after work for better ID. Thanks for all the help I will keep you guys updated!

were the snails, crabs, and blenny quarantined? how long?

brooklynella is a fast killer (so is velvet) and you must act immediately. remove all of the fish into the quarantine tank right after you get off work and dose the med (either quick cure or rid-ich). if you have trouble distinguishing between velvet and brooklynella, take a white LED flashlight and shine on the fish. brooklynella films tend to be white and velvet usually has a light gold sheen to it. having a dark background will also help.

Once you are fairly sure which parasite you have, dose the med right away. Do still post a picture so we could all look at and comment, but don't wait for us as either parasite kills very fast especially when the symptoms are present already.

If it's velvet use Cupramine. 0.25ppm is high enough to kill velvet so just do one dose of that.

Ok thank you so much for all your help and fast responses!

F&S refers to Herbtana as a "repellent"; maybe similar to the pepper-sauce based snake oil parasite med that claims to be the Holy grail (reef-safe). If it only (and actually) "repels'' parasites, they'll, be back.

mmm i've never even heard of a med like that. does it actually repel parasites? i guess it's kindda like the bug spray for fish huh?

I mis-read it; they call it an "expellant". Its supposed to get parasites to leave the fish and starve to death, it doesn't claim to actually kill parasites. But, hey, it repels me!
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.co...m?pcatid=21422

Tropical Haven in Modesto has Formalin and every other med you can think of, just a heads up.

So you won't use this product right? I'm kindda curious now... Maybe I should do some testing on it.

I don't want to "expel" parasites, I want to kill them. If all Herbtana is supposed to do is somehow get the bugs off the fish, I guess you must keep the drug level up for at least two life-cycles of the parasite. I'd also bet the farm that not all the parasites are going to leave the fish and all it takes is one resistant bug to prevent a cure. Copper, at a given level, will absolutly kill anything that swims. Monitoring copper is (IME & IMO) safe, easy, and effective.
I quickly searched Bob Fenner's (IMO, arguably THE authority on SW fishkeeping) site for Herbtana, like all "reef-safe" parasites, there seems to be nothing good said about it. if and when a reef-safe, or any new & effective, parasite treatment comes along---I'm sure we'll hear. There have been so many "reef-safe'' cures that have come and gone in recent years I've lost track. None have been very well received, that I know of. Here's just a snippet from the first link I clicked on Fenner's wetwebmedia.com:\

"<Treat the Crypt appropriately... NOT use "herbtana", NOT place incompatible specimens in quarantine together. Bob Fenner>"

Yeah you are right. It's better to treat for the root of the problem rather than the symptom. Though, I wonder if this hertana thing can be combined with cupramine or hypo to improve both the rate and chance of cure. For example, for hypo you are supposed to let the fish remain in hypo 4 weeks after the last spot is seen, but if herbtana can reduce the number of ich that get to the fish, maybe the 4-week period can be shortened. I don't know... maybe i'm just trying to cut corners here that don't really help the case, but it's something i'll think about and possibly do some testings on.

Just an update guys. I don't have a QT tank, I know said to say I shouldve invested in one a long time ago. I've been using herbtana in my reef tank for 3 days now and my fish seem to be doing better they are eating swimming around but I don't feel like it's over just yet. I'm supposed to treat with herbtana for 10 days. Meanwhile I'm going to invest in a QT tank as well as a UV sterilizer. As for pictures I have some but I haven't had time or access to upload the pictures from my iPhone. I hope this herbtana works and I am planning on doing another dosage for 10 more days just to be on the safe side.

Do lawnmower blenny get parasites

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All fish are susceptible to parasites. If you are experiencing any problems, start a new thread and we can help you.