Is 30 gal too small for a newbie? - Page 4

karlas · 02-16-2008, 03:46 PM

maby its the tank at the lfs. how do the fish look before you ;buy them? there is a common disease that is linked to clownfish. infact its named clownfish disease or Brooklynella its known to break out especially in wild caught fish, a lot less commin in tank raised clowns.

Clownfish Disease - Brooklynella Diagnosis and Treatment

Travis · 02-16-2008, 04:08 PM

Yes I concluded that the first two fish had brooklynella. I added the two other fish later only to find out they could get it because the tank was now infested with this. I am still clueless as how to get this out of my tank. They are the only LFS that has saltwater fish.

Travis · 02-17-2008, 06:13 PM

Are all saltwater fish prone to this?

lunatik_69 · 02-17-2008, 06:36 PM

All fish have ick. The slimey coat protects them from it.

Travis · 02-17-2008, 07:29 PM

So if I put a damsel in my tank it wont get the brooklynella?

snail · 02-17-2008, 10:04 PM

That doesn't sound like brook.

If it were, I think all the fish at fish store would be dead. Last person I know of to get brook lost all fish in 2 days. That tank is a goner and must be let fallow, fishless for quite some time now.

The slime thing sounds like a different gill disease.

I'm sorry for your losses. Treat the tank and fish, I wish I could remember the name of disease your fish has. No more fish till you fix/cure it OK?

Travis · 02-19-2008, 08:04 AM

It is not slime but a felt like texture. They did die within 24 hours of receiving them, heavy breathing plus the felt like texture on their skin. They looked healthy when we bought them. There were dead clown fish in the tank the second time we got two for free after the first to died from it, the second two died the same way.

snail · 02-20-2008, 08:23 AM

Unforutunately you have learned a valuable lesson in why to have a quarantine tank.

You really need to heal your tank now before new additions. Removing the dead fish will not remove whatever killed them. Some of the disease/virus/parasites can live without a host for months.

Without knowing the fish store people you purchased from it is hard to know if this is a one time isolated incident. We have one store locol that if I ever rescued a fish from them, it would be quarantined/hospital tanked for two months or more before ever swimming in the main.

If you can identify exacly what it is your fish had, and it is treatable treat the tank. Beware of copper based meds.

Also follow along with the fish store and see if and how they fix thier tanks. Be nice and non judgmental. Buy the stuff needed to heal your tank. Sometimes things happen and may not be the stores fault totally.

If they continually have dead or sick fish, well, you know the result huh?

We have 2 petco's in town. One has healthy (someties starving tho) fish. The other has sick or dead fish always. I'm sure the fish come from the same supplier.

I have talked to both dept managers, one is a narb and the other really cares about fish. In some cases if the store is private owned, you can volunteer to help and get perks for helping.