Powder Blue Parasite, Help!

[Rea17]

Thanks, it was a tough thing to do but I made the right call. Nothing more I could have done. That is a nasty parasite to battle, beware!

 

[Maxx]

I've been dealing with a parasite that I'm pretty sure is the same one Rea17 had on the PBT.

I recently obtained a small Blue Line Angelfish, (Chaetodontoplus septentrionalis) from an online vendor, and placed it in a 20H QT.
At about the 2 week mark, I was about to move it to a community tank as it was eating well and showed no signs of any parasites. I fed the fish before I went to work and immediately noticed it was covered in parasites that looked just like the ones in the pictures Rea17 posted.

I'd seen the parasite on the Blue Line twice before on two different Regal Angels in my car, but those instances were a single parasite on each fish with no further signs after the initial sighting. The Blue Line had approximately 7 on one side and about 5-6 on the other.

The fish was still eating so I continued to pay attention to it over the next couple of days.
Due to work and scheduling complications, I was unable to go to the LFS and get meds of any sort for the fish for a few days. During that time frame, the parasites were highly visible and changing in number and location.

I was able to do a good sized water change of approx. 50% of the QT and I replaced it with new ASW. I only had enough RO on hand to lower the salinity from 1.026 down to 1.020. I intended to lower it down to 1.008 and leave it there for several weeks, but wasn't able to do so at that moment, (needed new RO filters and had to wait for them to ship).

In that time frame, the parasites disappeared completely from the fish.

When I finally received the new RO filters, I went to check the fish out and did not see any new signs of parasites.
It had been approximately 5 days without signs of parasites and no meds given to the fish.

I did not end up lowering the salinity further in the QT.

I have since performed a couple of water changes and left the salinity around 1.023 overall.

The fish has been showing no signs of parasites for nearly 2 weeks now.

I do not think the slightly lowered salinity of the tank had any effect on the parasite.

I suspect that keeping the fish in a bare bottomed QT tank and continuing with regular water changes and siphoning debris up from the bottom of the tank might have had some effect. I base this on the fact that my experiences with the parasite previously were also in BB tanks and never saw them again after regular water changes and maintenance.

But that is pure conjecture on my part and has no scientific basis.

It's also far too early to state that the parasites will not return to the fish in the next few weeks.
Especially since Rea17 had the fish doing fine for a short period and then the parasites returned.

I'm going to keep the Blue Line in the QT for at least another 3-4 weeks to ensure that there are no parasitic outbreaks and see what happens.

I'm sorry to bring up an old thread that did not have a happy ending, but I do feel that it's important information to share.

 

[Rea17]

Thanks for chiming in Maxx,

Was the original water in your qt RO or tap? I ask because I've since discussed this issue with Bob Fenner, who firmly believed that the fish was exposed to some sort of undetectable toxin (since my water tests came out fine), and that it was sloughing mucous. I've seen this happen on a couple of other types of fish since (though powder blues and browns more predominantly), and a large volume water change with RO and running a polyfilter on the quarantine tanks cleared it up quickly.. Not saying it would have worked with the fish in this thread, who I believe had other issues, but it's worth a try. I have also not experienced it being contagious, which would make me inclined to agree with Bob that it is NOT a pathogen. If only I knew then what I know now... Sigh..

 

[Maxx]

All water in the QT originally was RO. I don't use tap water in my systems at all. Too much TDS, I'd have an algae farm almost immediately.

Interesting take on this by Fenner.

Based on what I've seen, this isn't mucous sloughing....but appears to be a parasite IMO.

 

[reefman069]

wow . fallowing this threat.

 

[Maxx]

Its been almost 30 days since I posted about my Blueline in QT.
There have been no further instances of the parasite since then.

The angel is going to come out of QT soon.

 

[Aquanaut]

Mine had MI which was worse and highly hard to eliminate. You may try CryptoPro for two back to back treatments before exiting the QT. Excellent for protozoan and parasite control. Barrier Reef Aquarium has it. Angels don't like copper or low salinity and may hamper its ability to fight secondary infections.

May the force be with you.