My pair of B/W ocellaris clowns has brook, white stuff on their bodies and rotting fins. I read that using baths with formalin will help cure it, has anyone try this or have experience? They say 1 bath for 45 mins every other day for a total of 3. Do I use plain distilled water or mix it with salt, also after the bath, where should I put them? Also have a pair of true percs in same tank, should I treat both pairs? On my way to grab formalin. Thanks for any advice.
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Help!! Clowns with Brook
- Thread starter vincent6396
- Start date
Here is a link : http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ichparasiticdiseases/a/aabrooklynella.htm
HTH
Doug
HTH
Doug
vincent6396 said:
What other fish are in the tank?
You're going to have to set up a quarantine tank. Let the main tank run fallow for about 8 weeks (aka without fish).
I'd definitely treat all of the percs. They are pretty good in formalin baths.
My numbers are here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/formalinart.htm
3.70mL of 37% stock Formalin solution per a gallon of aerated/temp. adjusted salt water (Bob Fenner has the wrong value for the 37% stock Formalin -- it IS a 3 instead of a 2).
So if you're going to dose them in a 5 gallon bucket (like an empty Instant Ocean bucket or something), use 18.5mL of the 37% stock solution.
MAKE SURE YOU AERATE THE SOLUTION!!! And NO temperatures above 80 degrees. Try and stay around 77 if you can during the bath.
I bathed them in a 1g jug for 45 mins, the directiong on bottle says 2 drops per gal. I set up a quarantine tank for them, in the DP tank are 2 hippo tang and a flame angel. Do I remove them too?
vincent6396 said:
You can trust me when I say that 2 drops per gallon is going to do nothing.
And yes, remove the hippo and the flame. Otherwise the Brook will likely never, ever be fully removed from the tank.
All have to go into a QT. What size tank are you running for a QT?
Frankly, you can do the formalin baths every other day (remove the old salt water COMPLETELY and rinse/detox the tank) or just use formalin in the QT (which is super poisonous on the fish, but tangs and angels are usually fine in it -- at least compared to copper!).
I would, personally, advise against using formalin in the QT and I would rely on the 1 hour baths (use my numbers -- 3.7mL per gallon as anything less will do jack all for the fish) and detoxing the QT tank after each bath. The Brook shouldn't take too long to get rid of and you should only have to do a few baths.
But yeah, remove EVERY*SINGLE*FISH and bathe EVERY fish in the formalin using my numbers for about an hour (just remember to aerate and temp. adjust everything). It's a pain in the ass, but it works and it's the only way to cure it.
1 B/W clown died tonight :'(, Hope the other makes it.
Thanks for the advice, been following your instructions but lost the other B/W clown today. Guess I'll wait 2 months to add another pair.
vincent6396 said:
Argh! Bummer, man!
Sorry to hear that...
Yeah, the best way to avoid the Brook is to avoid wild-caught specimens, also. A lot of times they come in with brook or velvet... Tank raised all the way.
Definitely let your system run fallow without any fish for about 2 months. It should eliminate any remaining parasite in the tank.
Good luck!