False Perc problem

[Fishnet]

Hello all,
Since I got a false Perc at the LFS about 1.5 months ago, i had been noticing that it was not eating well. Shortly there after i noticed what looked like a wound developing on one side of its head. Upon talking to the LFS I was told that this was most probably HTH and was recommended to change the diet of the fish, which I did (mixture of prime reef, brine shrimp, bloodworms, forumla two). I was also told to treat the tank with melafix which I have not yet since I have SPS in the tank and am afraid to add any treaments. Today, I noticed that the Perc's eyes were cloudy and it was acting wierd (swimming very close to the surface erraticly). I think the situation is getting worse and so is the hole in the head. What should I do. QT, FW dip, medicine???

Water params are Ok and everything else in the tank (yellow tang, jawfish, LPS,SPS,zoos all fine). I did a 10% change anyway last night just to feel better about doing something. Please help, I have been keeping tanks fot over 5yrs but have never had to deal with any kind of disease so I am completely lost...

Thank you in advance

 

[Len]

Hi. Sorry to hear about your clown. I don't think you're seeing HTH disease as there are too many symptoms that are not congruent with HTH. It sounds like your clown is suffering from a severe bacterial infection or possibly Brooklynella. In either case, you'll need to QT the clown and administer medication. For bacterial infections, I'd use a wide spectrum gram-negative antibiotic (there's several to try designed for marine fish). For Brooklynella, you'll need to do a formalin dip. Copper treatment to the QT tank for either scenario may also be effective.

Diet is not the problem, and melafix will unlikely be effective.

 

[jadran]

bad news and good reply...

I had experience with Brooklynella and it didn't came out good...
First signs are rapid breathing, then current and cloudy eyes and at the end slime coat sloughing off in large ropey sheets.. When i would try to feed it It was like swimming towards the food but not seeing it..

Brooklynella kills fast, it can spread over to other fishes and readings I came across at other forums when I had that sort of probs. all suggest Formalin dip. Formalin (37%) . I never did it (it was already to late for my clown) and I don't wanna misguide you, need to ask further for instructions. Lesson I learned from that episode was never again to buy wild caught clownfish..

Good luck

Mario