Clownfish loosing it's immunity?

[c9nxga]

Hi Guys, I am new to the forums and though I have had several mini reef tanks before, this is my first Anemone and believe it or not my very first clown fish


My clown fish (Cinnamon clown... call him Mr T)...was fully acclimated to it's host BTA Anemony for at least 2 months now..Happened last week after I fed the BTA .... It looks like Mr T totally lost his host immunity..??? I saw him being stung'd..? he touches the BTA tentacles and he flinches?? this went on for 1-2 day.. he sleeps right besides it.. (I felt so bad for the poor sap.. he wants to go in so badly but can't .. then he gains it back *whew* .. ) It almost look like his re-acclimating again???... I did not pay it no mind.. but it happened again yesterday after I fed the anemone.... ugh... I tried to look for any article of a Anemone fish loosing his host immunity..... but can't find any. Is this normal?


http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k210/yuseke29/?action=view&current=MrT.jpg


Thank you.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

the clowns immunity to the nem is derived from his slime coat..if stressed or sick i am sure the nem could lose some of its slime coating making it more susceptible to the nems sting..

check your parameters and check your fish for signs of stress aside from twitching and flinching every time he touches the nem...

 

[noboddi]

There are at least two methods clowns employ for immunity. One is that their natural slime coat renders them immune. The other is that the clown coats itself in the anenome slime and has to get acclimated.

In both cases, the anenome doesn't recognize the clown as a protein source

I don't know which is in play for melanopus/quadricolor. Have you checked to see if the BTA is a natural host for your clown? Could be the latter at work.

Sorry, I haven't memorized the table

 

[Mike31154]

I've had a similar experience with my BTA and Maroon Clownfish pair. It only happened when I fed the BTA a chunk of shrimp. As long as I feed silversides there is no issue. It's been quite a while since I fed any shrimp to the BTA, but it was certainly weird at the time. Just as in your case, a few hours after feeding, the clowns were banished out of the anemone and the female had sting marks on her face and front. Took about a day and everything was fine. Posted the same question here a long time ago but the thread died with no one else having experienced this or able to provide a satisfactory explanation. Maybe I'll try another piece of shrimp soon to see if this still happens.

 

[morty696]

try adding some API stress coat marine, or another coating product, put some more slime coat on ur clown.

 

[c9nxga]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14081970#post14081970 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mike31154
I've had a similar experience with my BTA and Maroon Clownfish pair. It only happened when I fed the BTA a chunk of shrimp. As long as I feed silversides there is no issue. It's been quite a while since I fed any shrimp to the BTA, but it was certainly weird at the time. Just as in your case, a few hours after feeding, the clowns were banished out of the anemone and the female had sting marks on her face and front. Took about a day and everything was fine. Posted the same question here a long time ago but the thread died with no one else having experienced this or able to provide a satisfactory explanation. Maybe I'll try another piece of shrimp soon to see if this still happens.

Ohh, i had been feeding my BTA with fresh shrimp as well. Hmm i will try silversides and see if it re manifest... i hope not...

Thank's for the responses

 

[Mike31154]

Cool, I'll be interested to see if feeding silversides will make a difference in your case as it did with me.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

i feed mine mysis, krill ,and silversides...never had this happen...even gave him some fresh uncooked cocktail shrimp....

 

[c9nxga]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14087158#post14087158 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mike31154
Cool, I'll be interested to see if feeding silversides will make a difference in your case as it did with me.

I tried it last night, it worked! :eek1: ... it tooked the BTA a little longer to swallow the silver side compared to its usual shrimp ration.. (fudging clown and cleaner shrimp was trying to steal it, have to chase the wankers away with a stick!).. I waited an hour or so and the BTA did not evict the clown. I checked this morning and their still on snuggle mode....

Thats just the weirdest thing, never thought a BTA can be sooo finicky with his choice of protein

Thanks for the advice!!!!

 

[c9nxga]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14087158#post14087158 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mike31154
Cool, I'll be interested to see if feeding silversides will make a difference in your case as it did with me.

I tried it last night, it worked! :eek1: ... it tooked the BTA a little longer to swallow the silver side compared to its usual meal *shrimp*.. (fudging clown and cleaner shrimp was trying to steal it, have to chase the wankers away with a stick!).. I waited an hour or so and the BTA did not eveict the clown. I checked this morning and their still on snuggle mode....

Thats just the weirdest thing, never thought a BTA can be sooo finicky with his choice of protein

Thanks for the advice...

 

[Mike31154]

Good news. I still might try a pieced of shrimp again to see what happens, it's been a while. Also, a good strategy to keep the cleaner shrimp occupied while feeding your anemone is to give the cleaner shrimp a morsel of something before feeding the nem. I don't know how long you've had the anemone and it's state of health, but my cleaner shrimp no longer try to steal food from my BTA. It has gotten a lot stickier tentacles after being in my tank for a longer time. When I first put it in it was a little pale and the cleaner shrimp did not hesitate to scavenge food from it, now they don't go near it any longer.