Clownfish looking real bad

mxm

mxm

New member
I got 2 clownfish in QT and something is wrong with them.
1) Very long white stringy poo
2) Heavy and rapid breathing
3) Not eating and staying at the bottom and lethargic
4) One has 2 white spots as show.

2a763b809ea59a09f9b0b27cd80036e3.jpg


The QT currently has Cupramine at 0.4 for the last 8 days, they seemed fine till 4 days ago when all the above started. Is this Brook or something else?
Is there any hope. I already dosed prapizo and no change to anything.
 
I would get them into a formalin dip, then put into a clean tank with no meds to see if it improved and will eat. If so you can try feeding nls hex shield. It has metro in it. Alt, you can try to find api general cure, and treat in new water.
 
Formalin is avail on Amazon. What is the ammonia level? If it is not 0, get the fish into new clean water. In the meantime you can use fresh water dips to fight back while waiting for formalin to arrive.
 
It seems a bit excessive to assume Formalin is needed. They are not showing any sign of slime or coating. I'm still not sure if this is brook or just lympo with flukes.
 
When dealing with freshly imported clownfish formalin is absolutely needed! Same goes for captive bred clowns if they have been kept in a dealer or wholesale system (and even if they came straight from ORA). You never know what they picked up on their trip, and whatever it is, it's never anything good.

Though in this case, due to the copper, you may be dealing with Lymphocystis.
 
I see 3 problems in the photo -
(1)the long poo - likely internal worms
(2) lympho on the fin
(3) what appears to be the start of brook right behind the gills(I've never seen lympho here). If my eyes are wrong, and this is actually at the tip of the gills then it may just be lympho.
 
How long have you had the clowns? Brook usually shows itself fairly quickly. If you have had them for over a week and nothing else had been added to QT then it's unlikely to be Brook. Typically brooklynella shows in 1-4 days after adding fish to a tank. Also, it's worth double checking the copper level stays where it's supposed to be.
 
CoralsAddiction said:
How long have you had the clowns? Brook usually shows itself fairly quickly. If you have had them for over a week and nothing else had been added to QT then it's unlikely to be Brook. Typically brooklynella shows in 1-4 days after adding fish to a tank. Also, it's worth double checking the copper level stays where it's supposed to be.
Click to expand...

The clowns have been in QT for 10 days now. First 5 days they were fine and very happy even when Cupramine reached 0.5ml. 2 Days after 0.5ml one of them started heavy breathing and those 2 spots appeared on him with super long stringy white poo (6 inches long). The other clown started the same symptoms on day 8, but has no spots apart from a tiny pin spot on his fin.

I forget to mention, there is blue green chromis with them since the start, who has been in perfect health from the start with no spots or any indication of disease.'

Update: Hm just tested copper and it's 0.3-0.4, added a bit more to bring it back up.
Nitrite is around 2ppm and nitrate 70ppm (I assume this is ok for qt) Ammonia is 0
 
Last edited:
Someone please help me.

I treated both clowns with Prazi and Metro and they still showing white stringy poo and laying the at the bottom breathing hard. Copper is still at 0.45 or so.

What disease could it possibly be now?
 
Also, if it's brook, formalin is the only sure thing. It works, and it's easy to do. Copper simply does not work on brook. I know there's some debate out there, but for every 1 person I've heard say it works, I've heard 20 who've lost fish bc it didn't.

If you haven't done a formalin dip it before. This is what you need

http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Vet-Form...1447178807&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=formalin+dip

Along with an airstone. With no airstone, a formalin dip will kill your fish very quickly.

Mix 1-1.25ml of formalin in 1g of water. I like to use 1g of tank water to minimize stress on the fish - and then replace the tank with 1g of new SW.

Dip for up to 50 minutes. Take them out immediately if they show signs of stress. FWIW, I've probably done this 10 times over the past 5-6 years and I've never seen signs of stress

For sick fish, I like to do a quick (3-5 minute) freshwater dip after the formalin bath to get any external parasites to fall off before they go back in QT.

For prophylactic use, no FW dip needed.

The fish will likely show immediate signs of improvement if they aren't too far dehydrated due to the osmo-regulatory stress of the brook.

Repeat this dip once a day for 3 days, then every other day until day 12.

If you can't get formalin quickly (within next 24-48 hours) and your fish are still taking food, I'd try treating food directly with API general cure. Soak food in garlic (only to encourage feeding - not for any other purpose), with the API general cure for 10-15 minutes.

That could buy you a day or two to get the formalin.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
Sick Hippo Tang
Replies
3
Views
745
Uncle99
Uncle99
BigEZ77
Urgent Help Requested - Wrasses Won't Come Out - CB Blue Tang Arriving Today (NO QT)
Replies
8
Views
559
rrrrob
rrrrob
P
Clownfish is lethargic and not eating
Replies
11
Views
2K
Dustin07
D
A
Advice for a recent outbreak of velvet
Replies
6
Views
1K
adbroom32
A
NancyT3
Butterfly fish in QT - newbie and need advice please
Replies
10
Views
2K
leebca
L
Back
Top