Marine Fish Disease Oodinium
Carlrs
MARINE OODINIUM (Amyloodinium Ocellatum) a species of dinoflagellates; Also occasionally known as Coral Fish Disease or Saltwater Velvet.
Updated 7/11/18
Although closely related to freshwater velvet (Piscinoodinium pillulare),
these two external parasites differ in that the marine variety
(Amyloodinium Ocellatum) do not have chloroplasts to produce nutrients
(via chlorophyll and light), thus Marine Oodinium does not take on the
appearance of Velvet.
This difference is not always recognized in treatment recommendations,
even though the two diseases should often be treated differently.
Oodinium
is also sometimes mistaken for Brooklynella (& Vice Versa), as
symptoms and disease progression are similar (and thankfully so is
treatment, so do not stress on a certain diagnosis).
In fact the only relatively easy to discern difference is the heavy
amount of slime that is produced by Brooklynella usually starting near
the gills.
The picture to the left shows a Maroon Clownfish with Brooklynella
Oodinium is found world-wide in tropical/temperate waters, so those of
you who have salt water fish will most likely encounter this parasite,
especially if good quarantine procedures are not followed and/or your
livestock source does not practice such procedures.
This is why prevention is also so very important (such as quarantine and/or fish baths/dips).
PREVENTION;
- UV
Sterilization; This is one of the more important aspects for Oodinium
prevention (although not the only and certainly not a cure all).
The key is a properly installed well made unit, which sadly the market is now flooded primarily with cheap "Category C" units that can at best ONLY provide clarification, NOT true UV Sterilization (Category A or B UV Sterilizers).
Unfortunately most naysayers either have NOT performed controller tests using many aquariums or have used a commonly sold 'Category C' UV they purchased via eBay, Amazon or other discounter.
For more about UV Sterilization including how it works, please read this article: Aquarium/Pond Ultra Violet Sterilization (How UVC works and more)
One fact I can state quite categorically from my decades of experience, observations, and tests and is that while even the best Category A UV Sterilizer installed correctly cannot 100% prevent an Oodinium or Brooklynella infestation, what is true, is that these devices slow the progression down considerably, buying the fish owner time to treat before it is too late.
In tanks without properly installed UV Sterilizers the progression of Oodinium or Brooklynella was as quick as 48 hours from first symptom to death, while in tanks with properly installed UVs, this progression was often as long as 10-14 days!
Readers may notice I keep repeating "Properly Installed", the reason is in the vast majority of my "house calls" where a new client has called me out and they already have a UV Sterilizer, but claim it has been useless, they either have it installed incorrectly and/or have a junk UV such as a Jebo or many of the other under $50 junk UVs that have flooded the market (some of these even have brand names, but are still junk!); so please read the earlier mentioned UV Sterilization Article