Clownfish not eating..

[skuller]

Hello guys:

I am having some problems with my clownfish these days..
The thing is that he is not eating, and is a little bit white, but I am not sure what is happening to him.

The only recent change I made was to add (directly) liquid calcium to the tank (20ml of Marinium Liquid Calcium) because I am having 320ppm of ca and want to go to 400 at least, the problem started on the day after I added calcium, is been 2 days now.


I have only 3 fishes, the clown, 1 chromis and 1 bicolor blenny, and they don't fight at all, they always eat without problems.


I am feeding the 3 of them with this:

And they eat a lot, but the clownfish always eats some little pieces..now he does not eat anything at all.


What can be happening to him?
Why is he becoming white or losing his orange and black color and doesn't want to eat?


I really appreciate your help on this.

 

[ocellaris123]

Did he always eat these with gusto. It is always best to provide a varied diet to ensure adequate nutrition is being met. Perhaps he does not like the pellets or tired of them. If i were in your situation i would supplement his diet with flakes and frozen foods such as mysis, formula foods, or even brine shrimp (not nutritionally the best but good for finicky eaters). You can try soaking the food in a vitamin supplement such selcon to enchance the nutritional quality. s

 

[skuller]

Thanks Ocellaris..

Actually he does not eat very much of these ones, I was mixing his diet with frozen foods also and he ate that perfectly, but now he's not eating anything..

I will try with the formula one wich I think is best, but now he is very white and I am not sure if he's sick..

 

[jasonrp104]

I really don't want to say much because I'm not sure myself, but what is your Calcium level now? I'm asking because I've never had a liquid additive that would allow me to add more than 5 ml a day. Just wondering if a high, concentrated dose would affect them

 

[ocellaris123]

How long have you had the clown for and what type is he (im assuming perc based on description). Also was he wild caught vs. tank raised. Wild caught fishes are sometimes heavily infested with internal parasites which could effect eating. Does he have white stringy feces?

 

[dragonette]

throw some live brine in the tank and turn the pumps off.

If he is just being stubborn about the pellets, he will eat the brine like a crazy clown.

If he is sick or infested he wont touch the live brine.

at least then you will know if he is just being picky.


I havent met a fish yet that will turn down live brine.
Jess

 

[elegance coral]

^ +1

 

[skuller]

Hi guys..

It was not the calcium, I found wat it is..
It's Oodinium or Cownfish disease, surely the last one.

His body has some white marks and now sadly he is dying.
I am treating him with baths of formalin, hope he can get better, however, I have read that this disease can kill the fish in 24-48hs.

 

[Korrine]

Sorry to hear it Good Luck.

 

[ocellaris123]

Yup that is a nasty disease, which affects newly imported wild clownfish heavily. Best of luck in treatment and do look into captive bred stock as they usually do not suffer from such perils. I dont know if the one you have is cb or wc but again best of luck

 

[Cassidy1016]

Formalin is can help if it is clown fish disease but if it is Oodinium you can use fish vet revive which is reef safe. If you want to know if it is clown fish disease or Oodinium take a flash light at night and look lengthwise down the fish you will be able to see cysts the size of table salt if it is Oodinium but usually when you see the spots on the out side ( because it starts in the gills) the disease has progressed and needs to be treated rapidly or your fish will not make it.

 

[skuller]

Actually he started feeling bad on sunday, so there was nothing I could do about it, on monday I went to the pets store and they gave me the formalin...I started the treatment as soon as I arrived to my home, however the disease takes only 24-48hs to kill the fish, today when I left my home he was dying

I really tried..

Sadly the disease is too bad and does not give you time for anything..on the pets store they told me is very difficult to save the fish once he has the disease on this way..


Thank you guys for all the help you gave me, I will continue with this hobby, however will wait some months to buy any new fish..

 

[skuller]

Also thank you very much Cassidy, that is a good data to have in mind if someone has clownfishes and start seeing he's bad..if I would started the treatment the same day I believe I could have definetely saved him.