Clownfish disease!!

[JSinger884]

Today I woke up to see one of my clownfish covered in small white dots. I read that it was clownfish disease, so I put the fish in a one minute freshwater bath. When I came home 8 hours later, I found the fish clear of these mysterious dotes.

 

Can clownfish disease clear that fast?

[MKramer]

What makes you think it was clownfish disease (aka brookynella), and not marine ich? Usually by the time fish with brookynella develop noticable white spots, you'll see a lot of other problems, too. Skin paling, non-stop scratching against rocks and other objects, extremely rapid respiration, etc..

 

To answer your question, though, a freshwater dip alone is rarely enough to trigger such a swift recovery in fish with Brooky. Even if the spots disappear, the respiration and apling problems usually persist without further treatment.

 

Ich, however, can be very effectively killed in the manner you described. However, be aware that ich has a 30 day life-cycle. you may have killed the parasites on the fish, but there are other stages of its lifecycle still present in its tank. To prevent furtehr infection, you must improve the fishes natural defenses, through stress-removal and proper nutrition.

[MrConclusion]

If your fish is persistently sick:

 

There is good reason to fear medication in reef tanks, but I have a method that works well for me with no nasty suprises (yet.) I like feeding medicated food, so that medicine is dosed directly to the fish, with very little going into the rest of the tank.

 

TETRA used to make medicated fish flake food, but now the only medicated foods available are for aquaculture, and in HUGE quantities!

 

My method is to cut up some shrimp into the largest size that the fish will eat. Then spread the shrimp chunks on a paper towel for a while so that they start to dry out. Next, mix the medicine you want to use (as "reef-safe" as possible) to a strong concentration in a cup of water, and soak the semi-dry shrimp chunks in it for a minute or two. Now strain out the #####s of shrimp and feed them to the fish. Remove any food that the fish misses.

 

If you're really worried about the medicine, or if you need to use a nasty med in a delicate reef, add some serious high-grade carbon to the filter for 72 hours. Carbon doesn't negate the effect of direct-fed medicines like it does with water-borne meds.