Raccoon w/ Amyloodinium

[NASO]

Never experienced this disease before.
Symptoms so far are:
Dusting like covering.
Rapid respiration
some flicking.

The fish is still eating very well'

I think he has had it for about 5 days so far] at first I wasn't sure thought maybe it was just small airation bubbles attached to him.

I read in the desease library that formalin and malchite green are recomended.

I also have read that this desease can kill quickly.

ANy help would be appreciated.

[FMarini]

Hi:
sorry ...I've been out all day...anyway I'll answer both part of your q? here, since you posted allover the boards, and two here. It hard to say right off the bat what you have..the dusting does sound like velvet, but it also depending on how dense the dust is could be ich or amyloodium.
So here are a few links to get you started. http://www.aquarist.net/thiel/treat/amylo1.htm http://faq.thekrib.com/disease-sw.html http://www.actwin.com/fish/disease/chart1.php
. the second link is to a diagnosis chart...this might help. However how do you treat either....
if you got amyl...this is essentially a more aggressive ich-like protozoan, it required similar treatments. Such as:Freshwater dip coupled with copper
For velvet:Fish look like they have been finely dusted with flecks of gold. Fins may be clamped and the fish may shimmy.
Treat with an anti-parasitic medication such as copper or formalin/malachite green.
hope this helps
frank

[Biosystems]

Naso:

First-welcome to the board-I am sorry that your first post is under these circumstances. Amyloodinium is a real pain and the description you give of symptoms points to an accurate diagnosis. Amyloodinium begins in the gills and spreads rapidly so if you already have signs of disease-ie velvet then by all means move the fish-the last thing you need is for other fish to come down with it and it may already be too late. All methods of treatment for amyloodinium are not reef safe so if this is where you have it it will have to get moved elsewhere.

Formalin baths are reccomended-be sure the pH and temp of the bath water is the same as in your tank. The fish must be moved to a quarantine tank and treated with copper-this is the only proven effective cure for this parasite-although the formalin bath will help in killing the parsite as well as preventing bacterial infections.


The one problem that you will have is treatment of your tank. IF you have the parasite present it can be present for a long time in the absence of fish-whatever you do get this fish out and hope that the others do not become infected. If they do-you will need to move them as well-unless this is a reef tank.

Frank:

Amyloodinium (unfortunately commonly reffered to as velvet) is not a protozoan like cryptocaryon is. It is actually a dinoflagellate. I don't know why it is referred to as velvet-brookynella to me looks more like "velvet" than amyloodinium does. You are correct copper will treat either crypto or amyloodinium, although I would only use copper for this one-and IME it is only effective if diagnosed before progression to visual identification.

Best regards,
Tim