Fatal inroduction?

[rrome]

Hi. I bought a two band anemone fish two weeks ago. I have a couple of BTA's in my tank that I have had for years. The books says these two species should be compatible.


At the LFS, the fish was hosting n what I believed was an LTA.


I kept the fish in quarantine for two weeks. He was doing great. Eager eater, healthy looking.

Last night, I decided to introduce him to my main tank. I kept the VHO lights off after I put im in (the refugium lights iluminated the tank). I was very surprized that he took right to the anemones. I could see the anemone's namatocyst were firing because the tentacles would retract when the fish touched them.

But, after a couple of hours, all seemed well. the fish slept on one of the oral disks. This morning, it also seemed fine.

A couple of hours later, before the main lights came on, the fish was swimming around the tank. When lights came on, it looked very slimy, and the eyes cloudy. It would not eat but was looking for food.

Then, to my horror, I found it stuck to a power head intake. Seems very streesed. I have that 'anemone sae' neeting over my intakes so it seems to me that a healthy fish should not have had trouble with that

I am putting it back on the QT tank. Any theroies as to what happened? Any suggestions? Is thia animal doomed if I put him back? I think the fish injured itself with the anemone by no letting himself acclimate slowly


BTW, I saw no-one harassing this guy. here are no other clownfish in the tank

Thanks

 

[TOURKID]

thats strange. If you dident qt it I would have guessed it has brook.
My clown jumped in the nem to fast and was stung quite a bit... but thats because it dident have its slime coat built up.

If it starts breathing heavy and not eatting, id treat the qt tank with maracyn two (double the doses) that'll kill bacteria and fungus.. and wont hurt it if its somthing different.

I dont know to much about brook. but id research it. are theyre any other fish in the tank? do they all look normal?

 

[rrome]

Did not make it....

On hind sight, maybe I should have left it in the main tank, isolated...

 

[rrome]

What gets me is the rapid onset of this. I gave the fish a fresh water dip when it went into the QT tank. Not too long because it was distressed...

But after I introduced him to the main tank, this all took place in about 12 hours

 

[TOURKID]

dont blame yourself to much. it happens. and im sorry for your loss.

next time you find a clown, qt it for 6 weeks if its wild caught, 4 weeks tank bred.. and if it does have a parasite or disease, dont start your 6 week countdown until the disease is gone

Ive had a tang in qt for 2 1/2 weeks and it finally showed signs of ick. sucks.. but at least its in qt.

 

[stykthyn]

I had this happen to a blue stripe. it did great in QT where I left it for a month, then when I moved it to its permanent home it came down sick and died. I was pretty bummed about the whole thing. I can only think that stress can cause a re-lapse or on set of some dormant contagion.

 

[ezhoops]

Just guessing here but my guess is Brook, llike stykthyn said above, I've also had this happen with Chrysopterus clowns. Brook has been known to kill clowns in a matter of hours. I would almost certainly say this is brook and here is what most likely happened.

Clown was in QT and doing great, clown got moved and the move stressed it out just enough to bring out the brook that had not been treated long enough in QT to be killed off. Once the fish got stress its immune system got weak and the brook took over very quickly.

Sorry about your loss

For future reference, I've had excellent success with QTing for at least 6 weeks using Coppersafe and Maracyn 2.