white slime on Clarkii Clown

[sharon a]

I bought a Clarkii Clown a week ago. He was fine until yesterday. He developed white slime on both sides from his head halfway down the sides of the body. It looks kind of stringy and like it is lifting away from his body. He has become quiet and does not swim much. He likes to stay in one corner of the tank and swims very little. He was very active until yesterday. He was also eating until yesterday. I gave him a freshwater dip yesterday and the white was completely gone. Today he have very little white. The PH is a low around 7.8. Normally the PH is always 8.2. I dont know what caused the drop. It has been 8.2 for the past two months. I added baking soda to the water. I did a 10 gal water change yesterday. I use reverse osmosis water. I have 14 fish and one choc chip starfish. The starfish seems a little slow as well. He spends time on the floor instead of on the glass like he used to. He does climb the glass at night. The tank has been running since June. I have not had any other problems. The Clarkii is the newest addition as of last week. I understand clowns can be stressed easier then other fish. None of the other fish have any white slime. They are all normal and actively swimming. I feed them Mysis Shrimp, Angel / butterfly frozen and flake. I have one porcupine puffer that loves mussels. I feed him at night when the other fish are quiet. He does not like to eat when the other fish are swimming around. I added slime repair to the tank yesterday. I am trying to raise the PH. I guess since this all just happened yesterday and I just treated the tank yesterday, the only thing to do is wait. It is a 65 gal saltwater with a 20 gal below for the filtration equip. Fluval 404, JEBO skimmer and bio balls. Powerhead for water movement and 2 bubble stones.

 

[sharon a]

I just did a PH test and it is around 7.8 to 8.0 The salinity is perfect. The Alk in normal. The Clarkii is swimming a little but still will not eat. Still has white slime on his sides. It almost looks like his scales are infected. Or oozing white slime. He does rub on the crushed coral bottom a little on his sides. I appreciate any advice. Also can anyone recommend an online fish store? We have one store here and I am not very happy with them. Las Vegas is a two hour drive that I would rather not make with fish. But I dont know if the online stores are safe to order from???

 

[steve-s]

By the looks of it, your fish has Brooklynella hostilis. It needs to be treated in a seperate QT with formalin.

Cheers
Steve

 

[sharon a]

Thanks I will look into that. I have the fish in a 20 gal QT tank. I did put in some formalin. I have had a few saltwater aquariums and this is the first time I have had a sick fish. I think I will be more careful from now on when buying fish. And not just buy a fish because I like it. However he looked a acted fine for 5 days in my tank. Again thanks... sharon

 

[sharon a]

The Clarkii died this morning. I thought he would be OK because last night he was swimming around in the QT tank. Thanks for your help Steve.

Sharon

 

[steve-s]

Sorry for your loss

Unfortunately parasitic problems can be very destructive and take their toll before we have time to react. Brooklynella and velvet being two of the worst and can sometimes look quite similar in the earlier stages. Sometimes even when treatment is done, we still have losses. We can never really know the history of a particular fish before it was purchased.

I hope the clown was never in your main system?

Cheers
Steve

 

[fishing]

This brooklynella disease is NASTY and it kills FAST. Next time you buy a clown or any fish, you should QT him for at least a month. If the fish develops brooklynella, treat with two drops of a 37% formalin med per gallon every other day for a week to 10 days, then change a third to a half of the water and keep an eye on the fish to make sure the disease doesn't rebound. Be sure to remove carbon from filter! Don't bother with copper because it doesn't do anything to treat brooklynella. Good luck Sharon A