[Nikki]

I have reviewed some of the posts here concerned with fish gasping for air and am concerned that possibly my damsel has Brooklynellosis. I read that anenomefish are quite susceptible to this and am wondering if it is something often contracted by damsels as well since they are in the same class? He has not been near the top of the water, but has been hiding (in the shrimps hole and he doesn't like it!) and gasping for breath. He was worse last night than he was today and he has been eating. All my params look ok with only the nitrates being above 0 at about 7 ppm. Ph is 8.1 and salinity 1.025.

I also just lost two chromis in another tank, but I do not recall them gasping.

I saw a post about a worm (annelid) that someone else asked about and it was a little weird because in the damsel tank I picked up a LR because I was looking for a fish corpse as I couldn't find the damsel at first and something (no idea what) went shooting, and I mean fast, out of that rock into a hole on another one. Could this be a problem?

I did recently (2 weeks ago) add some garf grunge in case this might have an effect.

I saw the treatment is formalin baths and I am thinking this must be so stressful for the little guy all on its own .... is there a way to tell whether it is for sure brooklynellosis? Is it going to infect the whole tank if it is (not just the fish, but the hermits, snails and coral banded shrimp?

Thanks!

[leebca]

You have some good questions and are approaching the situation very pragmatically. Not something I come across often. Good for you!

You bring up several things which can have an affect on the health of marine fishes. By this I mean you have several unknowns/parameters and nailing down the one(s) that may be responsible is tough, if not impossible for a hobbyist. I can make the following observations, however:

1. Unknown creatures are not uncommon. Hitchhiking on LR is their game. The larger ones, getting hungry enough, may attack marine fishes, if they are the predatory type. Usually though this is not a cause for a fish respiratory rate increase. Usually this results in their outright death and (usually) 'sudden' disappearance. You may want o take the rock the 'thing' is in and put it into a bucket. Suspend the rock an inch above the water and see if the 'thing' goes into the water for fear of its life. Then you can decide what to do after you ascertain what it might be. There are other ways to 'coax' something out of LR.

2. Brooklynellosis is a kind of disease that does infect other fishes. The thick mucous coating of the Anemonefishes seems to cause the Anemonefishes the most problems with it. The hobbyist without special equipment and micro-organism knowledge will not be able to identify it. It is mostly presents itself with a rather large range of symptoms either as one symptom or a combo sub-group of the larger group of symptoms.

3. Labored respiratory unfortunately is associated with a few dozen diseases, parasites, and pathogens. Then, it could be none of those and be a water quality issue. Alone it isn't a very good diagnostic symptom. However, it does show something isn't right.

4. Even though you've checked the water, it is only being checked for the things we generally can check for. Fish breath fast when short on oxygen. Oxygen can be short in the water when there is too much organics feeding too many bacteria (that also take up oxygen). Oxygen can be short by there being too little water movement at the water surface, where gas exchange occurs. It can also be there is a poison in the water, either from the source water, or from someone putting something into the marine system that doesn't belong there. With your recent losses, you might consider having your source water carefully analyzed for quality (including the things you can test for as well as pesticides and other chemicals), although this may cost you. If you are using distilled water, this should not be a concern. Even NSW may contain poisons if not collected properly. Store bought DI water may contain poisons not good for fish, but okay for humans. Etc., etc. These sorts of things you'll have to be the detective about. You may help the situation by making a very large water change with new saltwater made from distilled or water you KNOW is pure. If the fish breathes easier after the exchange, you may have discovered the possible problem.

5. Some believe the properly performed Formalin treatment is less stressful than a freshwater dip. I don't agree with them. Not only is a Formalin treatment rather tricky, if it is not controlled properly, it will harm the fish (or kill it) rather than cure it. Still, for Brooklynellosis, it is the recommended treatment.

6. Although diseases like this and many others are not transmitted to snails, crabs, and other invertebrates, these sort of marine lives can introduce pathogens to the marine system in the water they come in. In general, you begin trying to figure out what's happening by assuming whatever it is, it is not transmitted to or from invertebrates.

7. Without any other symptom I can't help you much more than the above. Proceeding with a Formalin treatment as if it was brooklynellosis is not a bad idea, though.

[Nikki]

Lee,

Thank you SO much for the good information! Amazingly the fish seems to have taken a turn for the good and is busy bullying his smaller companion. I did add a powerhead to help the circulation, oxygen issue. They are in a BioCube all in one system and I wonder if there is not enough turbulence at the gas exchange water boundary ..... I am using only distilled water and have been since beginning this tank so I hope this is not a factor in the problem.

Thanks again!