Clown with clear stringy discharge

Seths Dad

New member
I have a pair of skunk clowns in qt, one of which (female) has a clear stringy discharge from it's butt that appears from time to time. I have treated with API general cure in a hospital tank 3 times while doing TT. The fish refuses to eat and has not eaten in 2-3 weeks. The male is eating and does not have the discharge. I am considering sedating the fish and injecting metro directly into the stomach to treat. These fish were in my DT for over a year and had to be removed to treat for Brook. All of my fish have gone through TT and treatments for Brook. This is the only fish that has this problem and it never had this discharge while in my DT so I'm not sure if it is intestinal worms or a side effect of the formalin. Any advice is appreciated.
 
Stringy poo is usually sign of internal parasites. As mentioned above, Prazipro should sort this out for you. 2. By looking at the pic it looks like your clown fish has also got marine velvet (oodinum). Copper of 0.5ppm, not less, will work on it. And now, most important thing of all: check for AMMONINIA. This might be the reason why they are breathing heavy.
 
Stringy poo is usually sign of internal parasites. As mentioned above, Prazipro should sort this out for you. 2. By looking at the pic it looks like your clown fish has also got marine velvet (oodinum). Copper of 0.5ppm, not less, will work on it. And now, most important thing of all: check for AMMONINIA. This might be the reason why they are breathing heavy.

I think you may have this thread mixed up with another one....never posted a pic, no heavy breathing. I think I will try sedating it with clove oil and inject a dose of metro. Don't know what else to do.
 
Since my first post I have been treating the female with medicated (API general cure) food for over a week now and she still has the same problem, and still refuses to eat. I have to sedate her and inject the emulsified food/meds with a syringe. I have given her 5-6 treatments over the past 10 days and was wondering if anyone had ideas for alternative treatments? I can't force feed her forever.
 
Since my first post I have been treating the female with medicated (API general cure) food for over a week now and she still has the same problem, and still refuses to eat. I have to sedate her and inject the emulsified food/meds with a syringe. I have given her 5-6 treatments over the past 10 days and was wondering if anyone had ideas for alternative treatments? I can't force feed her forever.

Metro in food should kill off intestinal worms much faster than 10 days. Are you still seeing the worms? Is the fish actually eating something else?
 
Metro in food should kill off intestinal worms much faster than 10 days. Are you still seeing the worms? Is the fish actually eating something else?

I don't think what I'm seeing is worms, it is a clear tube that hangs out 1 to 2 inches long from time to time. From what I have read it could possibly be the lining of the intestine, I really don't know what it is. It is not eating anything else I offer. I've been hatching baby brie shrimp for the mandarin and it doesn't pick at those either.
 
Extended metro use will damage kidneys, so I would move on to something else at this point. Maybe just get him back on normal food and see if the condition resolves itself. He might just be too stressed to want to eat. Are the clowns in the same tank?

BTW, where did the brook come from?
 
Yes, the male is eating and seems to be fine.

I'm not sure exactly how brook got in my DT. I have not put anything new in my tank for about a year so it had to be there for quite a while. I did introduce an h. mag that was not fully qt'd but I guess it could have gotten by on a fish also. I got slack with my maintenance and probably stressed the fish which allowed it to get a hold on them.

I think I'll get off the forced feeding and give it a chance to get back to normal.
 
Since the last treatment it has been more active and finally ate last night for the first time in about 6 weeks. Looks like it is going to make it.
 
So after 2 months the clowns and mandarin are back in the display and all seem to be doing well..... getting fat and happy again.

Thanks to all for advice!
 
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