Clownfish with Ick?

F

Fluxion

New member
I have two sick clowns. I bought them on Sunday and put them into my quarantine tank. One fish hasn't eaten yet and the other has a voracious appetite. Last night I noticed some white lumps approximately .5-.75 mm across on the dorsal and pectoral fins. This morning I noticed one above the upper lip on one fish and one on the side of the other. Both fish were breathing rapidly. One fish, the one that wouldn't eat is still laboring to breathe and is on its side laying on the bottom of the tank. I am really new to this hobby and I have been reading all I could find here on diseases but I still not sure if it is ick and I am not sure what to do next. Anyway I am in the process of lowering the salinity but that one fish is getting really bad and quick. I doubt it will live but I would like to try and save it. Should I have chosen to treat with Copper instead? Any help would be appreciated.


Edited to add: I forgot to mention that I have tried feeding Brine shrimp, Formula foods formula 1, Nutrafin Max slow sinking morsels and flake, all of which I have tried soaking in Seachem's garlic guard.


Tank Temp: 79 °F
Salinity: 1.015 and dropping to 1.009 (checked with a refractometer)
PH 8.0
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
AMMONIA 0 ppm
CALCIUM 420 ppm
KH 15 dKH
PO4 1 ppm
Copper 0 ppm

Thats All I have test kits for right now.
 
Last edited:
When I bought them on Sunday, my qt tank was at 1.025 and I drip acclimated them over about an hour and twenty minutes. I started dropping the salinity yesterday afternoon when I noticed the white specs. When I posted the above message the tank was at 1.015 and now it is at 1.012 and I will probably drop it again first thing in the morning to 1.010 and then creep down to 1.009 by mid afternoon.

I sure hope I am doing the right thing. The white specs look kind of like a wart. I can post a pic in the morning when I get to the shop.
 
goodluck....I'll check back tomorrow

I've dealt with sick clowns before....it sucks. Who would have thought that we would devote so much time to a fish.....
 
Well, I came into the office today and one clown is doing ok but the spots are bigger. The other clown was worse, hardly breathing and its colors had faded quite a bitbut I couldn't see the white spots anymore. I cleaned the bottom of the tank and added a little more RO/DI water to drop the salinity down to 1.010. After about 20 min. I checked the tank again and the faded clown was dead. :(

Anyway I have pictures of the living one.

On this one I circled the spots, sorry the pics are so bad, I can't get him to stop swimming:)
103284DSCN1195.JPG


here is another
103284DSCN1193.JPG
 
Do the spots appear to move?

I have had some problems with my clowns getting spots on them. They were little round parasites. A fresh water dip did the trick. Just make sure if you decide to do the dip that you use ro water and match the ph and temp. Keep a eye on the fish if it looks really stressed take it out but try to leave him in there for 5-10 minutes. If it is indeed a parasite it will fall off and die.
 
Check out Lymphocystis. It presents very similiar to Ick and looks A LOT like your pics and description. It's viral and just needs time to run its course. You need to watch for secondary bacterial infections too like finrot, velvet, etc. My clowns took ~1 month to fully recover.
Also, when dropping the salinity, you need to also monitor the pH of the water as it too will tend to decrease with a decrease in salinity.
 
Thanks for all the advice! I did a freshwater dip in RO/Di water that was the same temp and ph as the tank. I found some debris in the bottom of the container after the dip but the white bumps are still on the fish. I guess the debris was mucus.
 
Both mine lost their mucus coats when I did their FW dip. A little stress-coat helped a bit.
 
I agree, it does kind of look like Lymphocystis but Lymphocystis doesn't kill the fish...just makes them look strange. And it doesn't grow that fast..

Brooklynella is common in Clowns, especially wild caught Clowns..Yours were probably tank raised but they may have been exposed to the parasite at some time..Brook attacks the gills first and it kills quickly

Velvet [Amyloodium] also attacks the gills first and kills very quickly [Its a parasite, not a secondary infection as stated above] And it would have left dust like particles in the freshwater dip..

Try a Formalin dip next..If this is Brook, Formalin dips is the treatment


Copper is the only cure for Velvet, so you need a diagnosis quick!!

Do monitor the PH as stated above, add buffer if necessary..A low PH could also be what killed the Clown
 
When doing a freshwater dip or other kind of dip, I guess I am specifically speaking to when fish are newly acquired and ready to go into your tank. Do you first acclimate them to your tank water then dip them then dump them in your tank? I guess I am unsure about the acclimation+dipping procedure.

Thanks
 
Well, my only living clown is getting worse. The white patches have all grown and the one above its mouth has more than tripled. Its not eating at all now. If it is Lymphocystis should it still be getting worse? The fish is now staying in one part of the tank and not swimming around like it was. It is still swimming and not resting on the bottom of the tank yet.

Could this be Brooklynella? Should I do a Formalin dip?

Since I am doing a hyposalinity treatment would a formalin dip hurt my fish?
 
I started out at a salinity of 1.025, the same as my display tank. After a couple of days the fish started to get a few small white specs that I thought was ich. I started dropping the salinity down to 1.009 over a 48 hour period as instructed here

I have read of this method on several online forums and many treads here on ReefCentral. I even have a couple of books at home that tell of a similar treatment.
 
Hopefully you have tried the Formalin dip....Doing a Formalin dip while the fish is in Hypo is fine...Just be sure the salinity and PH in the dip are the same and make sure temps don't go over 80
 
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