Clown fish with white film on body!

[lizajane]

[/ATTACH]


My clown went from fine last night to this this morning! Help!

He has white filming stuff hanging off him and he is stressed! What is it and how can I help him. Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[ThRoewer]

It doesn't look like a standard brooklynella infection, more like something that is loosely sitting on the skin.

How does he behave?

What else on fish and corals is in the tank? Any anemones?

 

[lizajane]

He is acting stressed, swimming around with his mouth open and head toward the top of the tank. I have an anemone the he hosted with at the lfs so i bought them both, he has been absolutely fine until this morning. Doesn't want to eat now. there are some corals, and 2 tiny blue hermit crabs and a Nassarius Snail in with him.

 

[rblackdvm]

Possibly marine velvet. Either way he needs to be qt'd with copper treatment likely being your best option.

 

[ThRoewer]

How long do you have him?

As a precaution you should get formalin (FishVet Formalin MS - LFS or Amazon)

 

[ThRoewer]

Possibly marine velvet. Either way he needs to be qt'd with copper treatment likely being your best option.

It doesn't look like velvet and copper wouldn't be a good cure anyway.

 

[lizajane]

He is going down hill fast. Everything else in the tank seems fine. i've had him a little over a month and he has been an aggressive eating thriving fish, even last night at feeding he was fine. I'm going to run and get some FishVet Formalin MS to try!

 

[snorvich]

It doesn't look like velvet and copper wouldn't be a good cure anyway.

Exactly. My guess would be brook.

 

[lizajane]

He didn't make it... I can't believe how quickly he went from being perfectly fine to dead. Less than 24 hrs. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Its weird how you can become attached to a little fish so quickly.

 

[ThRoewer]

That's why I give my new fish a formalin bath before they even go into QT - brook can lurk around for quite a while but then hit hard quickly.

 

[snorvich]

That's why I give my new fish a formalin bath before they even go into QT - brook can lurk around for quite a while but then hit hard quickly.

Yes, it is very fast acting. Anecdotally, it seems to show up about the four week mark, especially with fish coming from an environment where a low level of copper is being run.