Cheek spine damage help

[khrios]

Hi

Yesterday I bought a tank raised maroon clown from the LFS, and
when I bought it the fish was the most active and lively of all the
maroons there. I had also seen these same fish in the store for
a couple of weeks, so it seemed like they were plenty healthy.

The problem is that the lady who bagged it for me caught it in a
net.

When I got it home I aclimated it to my quarantine tank and as
soon as I put the fish in, it immediatly swam to the bottom and
stayed there. It has been resting with it belly on the tank floor
and swimming around sideways.

It eats fine when food comes close to it, but it doesn't seem like it
has the strength to really swim around.

I have noticed that the side that the fish leans to doesn't seem
to have a cheekspine.

Is this what can happen if they're cheekspine got damaged, or
could this be some other illness?

Is there any way to nurse it back to health?

Thanks

 

[acrodave]

could be the way it was handled or something eles.. i dont think that a missing spine would cause much of a health issue

 

[inachu]

How long did you let the fish acclimate to the new tank?

 

[Slakker]

How long has it been acting like this?

 

[khrios]

well about three days now although it seems like it is slowly getting better. when food is in the tank the maroon will go after more of it than before, but after it will return to the bottom of the tank and stay there