Clowfish gasping.

[itz frank]

One of our clowns seems like it is gasping for air. What does this mean?

 

[ek9vboi]

Means he is breathing hard. But really, it can be because of anything. He is sick or was being chased around by the other clown (female - larger of the two). Also, it could mean that it is on the verge of death.

 

[itz frank]

well he doesn't look very healthy. His mouth is almost swollen and he is breathing hard and in rapid succession. He also seems to have darkened some and has a white spot on him. I've been using RALLY for bacterial infection but i'm not sure what else it could be.

 

[ek9vboi]

White spots = ICK or a lot of stress. Not sure how stress could have got to the clown unless you did some drastic changes. Temps, pH, ??? no idea. could be any of that.

Have you tried to quarentine the clown yet and see what happens? If you think it has ick or an infection go get garlic and add a few drops with the food you feed the tank, this will help build up the immunity from what i was told and read. i use it and my clowns are looking great. no more white specs on them.

 

[itz frank]

Well recently i installed a fan in the canopy and cut the back of the canopy open. This dropped the temp from 85 to 78. So i guess that would be drastic. And recently i've had my tang pestering him and our royal gramma. I'm kinda hoping that he'll be ok in a few days. Garlic? Like drops or something? I'll do it. i just need to know what i should do exactly.

 

[ek9vboi]

Go to the LFS and look for "Garlic Guard" by SeaChem, should be like 8 bucks or so for the bottle. It will last you a lifetime. lol

Anyways, when you prepare the food just add a drop or two depending on how much food there is. This stuff works for all the fishes, especially TANGS! Infamous ick magnets.

Sounds like the clown is suffering from the tang chasing it and beating it up. If you can remove the clown... isolate it so it can recover before it dies. The temp isnt that bad. That would be a gradual drop in temp. not so much like a waterchange which can lower the temp. in 1 min.

good luck!