Re: Disease refractory to treatment... Brooklynella?   12/3/06
Bob,
I used the microscope yesterday and performed a skin scraping. The pathogen is an oval, ciliated organism that looks most like Brooklynella hostilis
(using Edward Noga's Fish Disease Diagnosis and Treatment) for comparison.
<Could you make out the nucleus, nuclei? Their relative size here?>
This might explain its refractoriness to Cu++. However, I have dipped it multiple times in a 125 ppm Formalin solution, with improvement but not cure.
<Frighten-, frustrating for sure>
Do you know the lifecycle of Brooklynella?
<Yes>
Is it an obligate parasite?
<Yes>
Should I treat the entire tank with a 25 ppm Formalin prolonged immersion, or are there more specific antimicrobials that I should use (Chloroquine, Metronidazole, an aminoglycoside)? I have not been able to find any literature on the lifecycle or sensitivity of this pathogen.
thanks very much,
Sam
<Successive Formalin dips and moves to non-infested systems should break the cycle here... along with the use of anti-protozoals. My choice is/would be Metronidazole/Flagyl... as posted on WWM. Bob Fenner>

Re: New pair of clownfish
Sorry to bother you yet Again I was reading your site and now have more questions). In regards to Brooklynella, how do clowns get it?
<Brought in with other host/Clownfishes... mainly imported with wild-collected specimens... spread to others by their introduction, movement of water, materials from infested systems...>
Should I be concerned? The clowns we got look great; beautiful color, not skinny...., are very active and curious. They didn't say they were tank raised/reared, but there behavior laying on top of each other in a corner) is indicative of tank raised. I don't know if it helps but they have a lot of black in them is this more likely in tank raised specimens?)
<Likely no worries... were captive produced probably... The darker ones from stock hailing from Shark Bay, Australia...>
We didn't dip the fish because the LFS dipped them in quick cure on Wednesday and we thought another dip would be stressful.
<Not warranted, worth it in my estimation as well>
I am mostly concerned about my 5 inch Hippo he can't get Brooklynella, right?)
<No>
Again, should I be concerned about this disease given the above info on the clowns? THANKS again and I will stop reading your site for now, or I will be coming to you all day with "what if questions" haha....
<Keep studying, dreaming, scheming my friend. Bob Fenner>

Bad Advice - And A Bad Result!
My poor clown already died.
<Sorry to hear that...>
I put her in a hospital tank and she got worse from there on. The patch of skin fell off leaving a red open wound. My LFS said not to put her in a hospital tank, as it would only make things worse, but I wanted to get her out of the main tank as I have another clown in there.
<Your thought was correct...>
My LFS also said that Brooklynella is wiped out in fish (that would be nice; this is also the same person that said there is no reason to quarantine fish, they only get sick when they are stressed, so they can get sick in the main tank, too) <Yikes...not the best advice I've heard!>, but I think he said it was velvet, because that was the only medication that they carried. She was in my main tank when she got sick (I didn't quarantine the clowns, per my LFS, but I learned my lesson the hard way). I still have 1 clown (that I bought at the same time as the other - 2 weeks ago, and a lawnmower blenny in the tank. They show no signs of being sick, but I'm afraid if I add another (after quarantine this time) that they will pick up the Brooklynella in the main tank. Does Brooklynella stay dormant in the main tank until it finds another victim?
<Like many diseases, it can remain in a sort of "dormant phase", waiting to strike again...I'd remove everyone into a separate tank, and let the main tank go fallow for a month or so, to allow the population of parasites (assuming it's a parasitic infection that you're dealing with) to crash for lack of hosts...>
I just added a cleaner shrimp, and I don't known if that helps some. Any help is appreciated, I can't get good advice from my LFS.
<Well, I'd go for the fallow tank trick, as outlined above. Keep a close eye on all of your remaining fishes, quarantine all new arrivals, and take all advice from that LFS with a grain of salt! Quarantine is simply one of the things that you must do if you keep marine fish...I'm sorry that you had to learn it the hard way, but I'll bet that you'll see a lot of success in the future! Good luck! Regards, Scott F>

Clown Going Down? (Brooklynella?)
I have an ailing/recovering clownfish. I have been reading through some of the FAQ's. I am having a terrible time distinguishing velvet from Brooklynella from ich. First, here is a ROUGH timeline of what I have been going through.
About a month ago
Purchased two small (1in.) percula clownfish and a rose anemone from LFS for cycled 10 gal. fish tank
One clown defended the anemone from the other after a day or two.
Talked to LFS, they told me I could return the outcast clown with slight hopes of ending up with a mated pair.
When I took the clown out, it looked like it had a slimy film on it that I could peel off.
Sounds a lot like Brooklynella's external symptoms>
I took it to the store and they told me that it was probably low ph and gave me another. (found out yesterday that the clown died in the bag while they floated it)
<No surprise there, if we're talking about this disease. It is nasty!>
(Some time here, I did some research and decided that I needed a larger tank to do a reef setup. I bought a 45 gal. and started piling in the rock here and there along with three Chromis damsels to cycle it.)
I took the new clown home and floated it. It was love at first sight. Or so it seemed to me.
A little over a week ago...
It was doing fine for a week or so and then it developed the slimy film. I started researching the ailment and can't determine if it is velvet, ich or Brooklynella. I did immediately start FW dips (only for a min or two as this was the first time frame I read about). Keep in mind that the first clown never showed (and still doesn't show) any sign of any problems.
<Well, a fish infected with Amyloodinium ("Velvet") will usually patches of discoloration where the tissues have been liquefied. The affected fish will also display difficulty breathing, lack of appetite, and general listlessness. The "slime" that you have described sounds more to me like Brooklynella. Fishes infected with this disease seem to slough off large quantities of mucus, and display similar lack of feeding, listlessness, etc. They will often "hang" in the current.>
The larger tanks numbers went fine quite soon with the LR and wet/dry filter.
The ailing Clownfish's tail started having problems (disappearing) so I took the good clown and the anemone out and put them in the 45) I was afraid that the healthier appearing clown was picking on it or that it would contract the illness. I realize now that this was probably not the best thing to do especially since I added a coral beauty and a bicolor blenny to the larger tank.
<You really need to develop a quarantine procedure and stick to it. With regular quarantine, you'll be able to treat such diseases before they get to the display and cause problems>
I went to the LFS and he gave me some antibiotic tablets. I have been adding the correct amount of antibiotics to the new 10 gal hospital tank and doing a FW dip (I started increasing the time  spent in the FW to a little over five min last night)
<Well, antibiotics are effective if you are dealing with a disease that requires their use! If you are dealing with any of the aforementioned afflictions- they are parasitic, and require medications like copper sulphate or formalin to do the job>
I did some more research last night and found this site to be very
helpful, but I am having trouble diagnosing the problem and verifying that I am on the right course of action. I don't think it is velvet because it just doesn't sound like it. It sounds like Brooklynella, but the other clown still doesn't show any signs. It doesn't sound like ich because I don't see any crystal-like spots. There was a spot on the second day that seemed to disappear either from the fw dip or from the net in transferring to the fw. I asked the guy about Brooklynella and he didn't seem to know anything about it. I asked about getting some Formalin and he said that it was formaldehyde and that he could give me a little if I wanted to try that. First of all, is this info right, second of all, do I need to use it and finally, how do I use it.
<Best you get an aquarium-specific formalin medication. This way, you'll be getting a medication with the proper concentration and a set of instructions on how to use it!>
I do appreciate the time taken to look at my problem. Forgot one thing. The fish is hanging in there and seems to be doing okay other than acting lonesome since I took the other clown out. It still eats <and that is a good sign> :-)
Thanks in advance!
Gordon
<Yes, Gordon- the fact that the fish is eating is excellent! I'd get going on a copper sulphate or formalin treatment regimen (not in the display tank, of course) and monitor carefully. This disease can be very contagious, so do observe your other fishes for potential signs of illness. Arm yourself with some good research on the WWM site and others about these diseases, and you'll be able to make a positive ID rather quickly! Good luck! Regards, Scott F.>