brook help
 

ok i've tried reading about this disease but am no closer to understanding than before i started. Here's my situation. I have a 90G reef set up for about 6 months. I just started a 46G bowfront about 3 weeks ago. Each have fully cured LR and a DSB. a HOB refugium, PH's and a skimmer. Brook has been exposed in BOTH tanks. I have lost like 5 or so clowns and have 2 left (one in each tank) I've been told that a tank has to be fishless for many months, that not all fish can get this, that ALL fish will get this, and so on..... How do i clean my tanks of this parasite? I have a Turbotwist UV sterilizer 18W on my 46G now. I've also been told that brook is NOT freeswimming and it takes "contact" between the fish to get it. SO if this is true, Can't i just pull out each fish, put them in a 10G QT tank and treat the fish and put them back in the DT? I need hard facts here, too many different stories so far.

I just had a couple clowns die from what I think was brook. I used formalin in my qt tank and put my last clown in and am waiting for a month before putting him back. I'm not sure if you can use formalin in the display tank though... Taggin along...

c'mon ppl i have fish that are dying and am willing to do whatever it takes to save the other ones. please answer my questions. If they're not free swimming, then how do they all get it and if my other fish have it, why arent' they dying and how long to get it out of the tanks. anything here, throw me a bone, an article something. I've done google and don't get any help. Please people, don't just let my fish die.

[url]http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/brooklynella.html[/url]

Try this method and qt the fish for 4 weeks before putting them back in the main tank. I would treat the QT tank with formalin to get rid of the parasite from there as well. If you get more in the main tank you'll have to move them all to the QT and leave the display empty for 30 - 40 days so It can't complete its life cycle. (it needs a fish to host similar to ich) It seems water conditions play a big role also make sure your water is perfect. I'm no expert but I just went through this as well and did alot of research.

ok after a complete clown wipeout in both of my tanks (90G and 46G) over a week ago, no other fish shows any signs what so ever. all eating very well, active and playful.

90G - Regal tang, yellow tang and a LM blenny
46G - firefish, Royal Gramma, LM blenny

I am running a turbo twist 18W uv sterilizer on my 46G, the deal here is i've read and read about this parasite and keep getting conflicting answers. Are my other fish infected? if so, why no signs and why did the clowns die off like they had the black plague but nothing with any of these fish?

If the disease isn't free swimming like i've read, then a uv won't help right? It seems hard to get facts about this disease. I have a QT set up but can't catchh my fish and know it's going to be almost impossible to do so.

The parasite has a life cycle similar, but not identical to the other ciliates such as Cryptocaryon, and may be transmitted through the water; though most infections occur from horizontal transmission (i.e. fish to fish)...but the amplification of the parasite following initial infection is what causes severe problems.

The problem with this particular parasite is its. propensity for asexual reproduction. The parasite tends to build up to large numbers on the host via autoinfection following binary fission, not from infection by free swimming tomites. This leads to MASSIVE amplification of the parasite in a very short time period compared to others. This also means that the UV will not solve the problem alone.

Many fish will tend to harbor a few cells of Brooklynella comensally in the wild, and these start dividing once the fish is immunocompromised due to transport or stress leading to problems; thus your remaining fish most likely are host to a few adult Brooklynella which may cause problems down the road.

Also, the efficacy of formailin treatments can be increased if an antibiotic is used in combination against this species, as the massive amplification of the ciliates result in substantial tissue damage (partially responsible for the "faded" appearance that affected specimens present with)

Hope this helps

I treated my fire clowns with melafix and pimafix made by aquarium pharmaceuticals it didnt bother anything I had in the tank shrimp,corals and I think it helped my RBTA

You can't catch your clown? Mine is so friendly I could catch it with my hand lol.