View Full Version : clowns have a white dusty skin
just taken out my pair of tomato clowns and put them in a qt.
fish are feeding fine, no gasping, flicking against the toadstool host.
body is covered in a white dust from the dorsal area down the flanks. fins seem to be clear. There doesn't seem to be any spots. female clown has a couple of scales that appear to be slighty raised towards the tail. none of the other fish in the main tank seem to be affected.
i can't seem to narrow down the symptoms
possible diseases
clownfish disease
marine velvet
????????
qt tank has a sg of 1.017
any suggestions would be helpful
thanks
jase
I'll let Wombat advise properly on this one since he's the expert. But I'm in the same position having found a talcum powder type stuff on my clowns and other fish. Have just ripped them all out and put then in QT. Next step is cupramine.
I reckon is amyloodinium, but whatever it is copper should hopefully blitz it.
If your fish are already in QT then that might be your best option too.
JonW
jon
be careful if useing copper med with clowns as they do not tolerate copper very well.
jase
Sounds like Amyloodinium, see JonW post on here for treatment strategies but if so it is a bugger to treat. It needs a separate tank (assuming the tank is a reef rather than fish only, if the latter then you can treat the whole tank with copper as long as you don't plan to keep inverts) and copper as the best course of action and you will need to treat all of the fish. So it is a big undertaking
but I need to ask a couple of questions because it could be Brooklynella (as you say)
1 how are the fins? do they look brittle or slightly ragged?
2 does the skin look a little rough and pinkish?
If yes to both of these then Brooklynella (clown fish disease is a possibility). You can keep it in check with freshwater dips to buy some time. But metronidazole (from your vet) is an excellent treatment here.
jon
be careful if useing copper med with clowns as they do not tolerate copper very well.
jase
Yes a copper test kit is IMHO essential when using copper based meds.
Unfortunately if there is no treatment with either Bbrooklynella or Amyloodinium the fish will almost certainly perish.
fins on the clowns look normal no ragging of the fins, don't look brittle.
fish swimming around normally as far as clowns swim no loss of appetite.
skin looks rough instead of the reddy black it has a cloudy grey covering over it - grey mucus in some respects looks a little scabby in a couple of areas.
jase
did it start on the back near the dorsal fin?
Any chance of a photo
not sure on where it started or when.
crappy pic but you may be able to make out what looks to be white marks towards the rear of the dorsal fin along the body
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/firefish01/mini-clown.jpg
jase
OK looks a bit big for amyloodynium. Is it the only fish with it?
I don't think it is Brooklynella
it's on just both clownfish.
clowns have come out with white spots on heads with the odd spot on the body.
Getting worst or staying the same?
if anything getting alot better, most of the spots have disappeared and the body is almost clear of the greyish dusting
OK I think it's wait and see time, Because of how it has progressed I'm not convinced it is Amyloodinium or marine white spot (although it still could be either or both)
i'm going to keep them in the qt for the next 6 weeks and probably start increasing the salinty in 2 weeks time.
fingers crossed
jase
lost the caribbean blue tang, kole tang, 1 tomato clownfish, neon blenny.
all in january beginning of feb.
i don't think it was white spot though.
vampire tang, foxface, algae blenny, cleaner wrasse and the other tomato clown haven't had any symptons.
it's been about 6 weeks now since the last fish died. all fish are fit and healthy.
jase
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