The Bluespot Club

[h20crazy]

Yea, thanks. I will first ask the LFS owner and if he has no clue I will post there. Also, thanks for the info on ich, but even though brooklynella is a form of ich it is a bit different. It can not be treated with copper like ich can, the most effective med for it is formalin. I hope time passes quick. I won't know until tomorrow whether or not my LFS will keep my BSJF that long a period of time since he has another person interested in it. If it comes to it I won't mind him being sold, just as long as they know how to take care of it and have a suitable tank for it.

[bluespotjawfish]

I had read that about brook as well. I have some formalin on hand since I have clowns, but so far I haven't needed to use it. I hope he will hold the BS for you. You might offer to pay for the extra trouble. In the long run it would be worth a bit more to have one that had been held that long anyway.

Good luck, and keep us posted

[Craig Manoukian]

As long as it's paid for, my LFS will hold indefinitely and split the cost if the fish dies before it's picked up. Might want to see what the store policy is if you haven't already done so.

[h20crazy]

Yea, I will see about that tomorrow he is a pretty good guy and has held fish for other customers for a couple of months so another 4 weeks should not be a problem. I would give it 6 weeks, but this is a basically a new tank minus the few corals I had to rescue into it. Most likely the bacteria if it is the free floating type shouldn't have made it into this. Just in case all I have are inverts and they are not vulnerable to it. I will do a water change this week and hope for the best. I do wonder though if antibiotics used for killing cyano will kill off the free floating strands. Just a thought. I will see what the LFS says if he is willing to hold longer then he has moved the bar up on the services a great LFS should provide. Heck he has already held for 2 weeks without the fish being paid for. Not that I didn't offer he just said to wait till my tank was cycled.

[Craig Manoukian]

Cool, thanks and keep us posted!

[Dentoid]

Originally Posted by Nervoustime

Well, it has been a month now, and my Bluespot has the white markings on both of his sides. He is still eating well, but I am very concerned about his health. From my past experience, it won't be much longer before he stops accepting food. He is still very fiesty, but he darts out of his burrow to rub his body against the sand. It is obviously bothering him. I am not sure what I can do at this time. I will continue to feed him food soaked in garlic and Beta Glucon. Hopefully, he can fight this thing. Will keep you guys posted, but I am a little down because he showed no signs of stress and appeared very happy. I was really hoping that this last batch of Bluespots would be different, compared to the one's we got months ago. Hopefully, everyone else is doing well.

Reza, keep your chin up. I know that you have a history with the white spots, but my first Blue spot got white patches from time to time and it always passed. The best you can do is continue feeding healthy foods and try to limit stress. Karma for your little buddy!

[bluespotjawfish]

Oh my, I totally missed this! Reza, how is he doing now? I feel so bad that I missed this! Where was I when you needed me!

Here's some karma for you (or as best as I can do). Hope he makes it! You might add something to help with the slime coat (Stresscoat or Prime). Keep feeding him good stuff, do frequent WCs too.

[Nervoustime]

Thanks Scott and Lorraine. He is still very fiesty and eating well. The rest of the guys look very healthy, so I am hoping that he can fight through this. I will keep you guys posted. Thanks again.

[bluespotjawfish]

Glad to hear this!

[h20crazy]

Well, I guess I will be getting the BS after all. I dosed my tank with antibiotics used for red slime. And will do a 30% water change on Wednesday before I pick him up. My LFS owner said that the brooklynella should not be an issue if I did not move any sand, water or fish from my 29G, which I didn't. Furthermore, Jawfish have an extremely thick slime coating and should not be vulnerable to brooklynella which would explain why my scooter blenny has not gotten it since it also has a thick slime coat. I was told that since brooklynella is a free floating bacteria it most likely resides in the water and in the sand just like ich. The red slime remover is an antibiotic and should take care of the brooklynella if there are no hosts for it. As informed by my LFS it seems scooter blennies and mandarin gobies usually do not contract any diseases thanks to their slime coat which protects them since they are burrowers, this should also apply to jawfish which are also burrowers.

[Craig Manoukian]

h2ocrazy,

That's good information. It sounds plausible. Any way to confirm?

[bluespotjawfish]

Just MHO, I am not an expert on this by any means, so please do more research rather than take my opinion as truth. Mostly, remember your lfs is trying to sell you a fish. He can rationalize this purchase several ways, but is he going to guarantee that your fish lives? If not, then I offering the following for further consideration:

If it will live in the sand, why not in the crevices in a rock or coral?

IMHO, being burrowers makes the jawfish more vulnerable to ich or other parasitic infections. Mine have gotten sick and died when no other fish in the tank got ill.

Although red slime my be an antibiotic based medication, from what I recall it is a very low dose. I doubt it's strength is strong enough to kill Brook.

[h20crazy]

I have taken into consideration most all factors and if this was the tank that my other fish got brook in I would not put the BS in. Given the fact that only my corals and inverts were transfered into this there is almost no chance of him coming in contact with those rocks since they are placed on top of other rocks not near the sand bed. I am very concerned with this and if the fact was that my scooter blenny had gotten it in the 29G which has more of a crushed coral substrate, then I would be worried. The 75G I will put him in has only sand and some new rubble I had added for him. I also took into account that maybe if he was stressed he would be more vulnerable to brook, but he seems really healthy, enough that he has made a burrow in the LFS's display tank. I have dosed twice in this week with the red slime remover just for kicks in case there was anything present though.

[h20crazy]

I found some information on wetwebmedia.com regarding jawfish disease vulnerability

Perhaps owing to their sliminess, burrowing habits, and predatory pressure (the weak one's get eaten quickly) the Jawfishes are remarkably disease free and infection resistant. Professional collectors administer freshwater dips of 3-5 minutes duration as a preventative.
If necessary for treating tankmates, opistognathids are not sensitive to requisite 0.15 ppm free copper. These species are very hardy overall.

I think highly of Bob Fenner and his being one of the foremost experts in the field of marine biology I would dare say that the BS should be alright.

[bluespotjawfish]

That's what this club is about, helping us all make informed decisions. Best of luck with the new kid. Did you name him already? I thought I saw his name, but now I can't find it (I think it is old age)!