HELP! Right NOW!!! Clown....

[spammie5]

I have a pair of Ocellaris Clowns....both of which are happy and healthy until yesterday.

The smaller and less vibrant of the two looks like he's come down with ich....been sluggish, won't eat, labored breathing and now is lying on his side.

I don't have a QT tank...don't yell at me...and I have inverts so I can't hypo or treat with copper....

Got a cleaner shrimp but too little too late.

He's now on his side and still very labored breathing.

Do I just take him out and.........or leave him be. He's gotten progressively worse and I don't want an ammonia spike if he passes in the night which I'm afraid he'll do...

I need advice!!! Can ANYONE help????

 

[spammie5]

wow.....No one...I mean no one will answer me. Anywhere. I'm almost in tears not knowing what to do. Anyone?

 

[wally43]

make a temp setup in a bucket with a powerhead and heater
i'm sorry to hear about this and i feel for you but if he doesn't look good hes prolly too far gone and is just gunna pass i'm really sorry man, i hope everything stays well with the rest of ur tank
wally

 

[lionfissh]

let him be dont stress him out too much, even if he dies in the tank it wont spike your parameters unless you leave him in there to decompose which wont happen overnight...

if this change happened so quickly there must be something that happened... does the other clown pick on this clown? Is there anything else you changed/added in the last few days?

 

[spammie5]

Thank you Wally....I know I don't do everything I should in this hobby, like have QT...but as soon as I inherit a 30g tank from a friend next week, I know exactly what to do with it....I just hate seeing the little guy suffer....So sad....

 

[spammie5]

Lion: Yes - I added a rock with mushrooms, a few Nass snails, a few hermits and a sleeper goby was given to me by enthusiastic friends. I realize that ANYTHING could've been hosting the Ich....even a hermit crab shell....but until I have my QT set up - stuff has gone straight in. Yet another lesson to be learned....that I have now learned. Damn it...crying this much at night usually means no make-up on my puffy eyes tomorrw..... ;-(

 

[Finsky]

I thought I would add some hope. I had a pair of Clarkii clown fish. I bought a pair at a local store and one died. Bummer. I went to a Petco and purchased the biggest Clarkii I could find. It just happened over time to pair up with the bigger first Clarkii.

I have two pairs of clownfish, each pair has its own anemone which I feed razor clams to once per week on the end of a sharpened 30 inch plastic air tubing.. The two anemones are a red rose bubble tip anemone with a pair of tomato clown fish on the right end of the tank and blueish white long tentacled anemone with a pair of Clarkii clown fish on the left end.

 

[bwest]

Is the other fish affected? If not, my guess would be that ich is not the cause, since in my experience is mostly just irritates the fish in the early stages and you would have noticed it on them. Sounds to be more like brook if there was a rapid decline.

 

[bwest]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14521954#post14521954 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Finsky
I thought I would add some hope. I had a pair of Clarkii clown fish. I bought a pair at a local store and one died. Bummer. I went to a Petco and purchased the biggest Clarkii I could find. It just happened over time to pair up with the bigger first Clarkii.

I have two pairs of clownfish, each pair has its own anemone which I feed razor clams to once per week on the end of a sharpened 30 inch plastic air tubing.. The two anemones are a red rose bubble tip anemone with a pair of tomato clown fish on the right end of the tank and blueish white long tentacled anemone with a pair of Clarkii clown fish on the left end.

Maybe I missed something but I'm not sure how this at all relates...

 

[spammie5]

Bwest: No, my other fish is not affected nor are any of my others and while I saw a few small white spots on him earlier, this evening, it seemed as if the white 'spots' were gone but he was still affected...by showing sluggish behavior and very labored breathing...

Other than inverts, I have a scooter dragonet, clown pair and white sleeper goby who just got introduced....

 

[kainuma16]

it'll stress him, but I've used Freshwater dips for a goatfish in the past. If its a small clown it may push him over the edge however. I agree though, setting up a bucket and a heater is prob. the best way to go at this point

 

[jgwhite]

Ich definetely sucks but it isn't the end of the world. I know lots of people who have very successful reef tanks with ich in them. As long as everything is doing ok ich doesn't rear it's ugly head.

 

[spammie5]

Bwest: No, my other fish is not affected nor are any of my others and while I saw a few small white spots on him earlier, this evening, it seemed as if the white 'spots' were gone but he was still affected...by showing sluggish behavior and very labored breathing...

Other than inverts, I have a scooter dragonet, clown pair and white sleeper goby who just got introduced....

And I'm sad to say but my little guy did not make it through the night....so sad...

Thanks for all the help.

I'll have to do research to learn more about Brooklynella....and see if that's what it was. It was a very rapid decline and the spots were gone before he passed...Time to research...

 

[michellejy]

Look up marine velvet too. Both strike very quickly.

Also, you said you have a new tank, so you may want to read the sticky at the top of the reef fishes forums about keeping madarin dragonets, since the scooter dragonet will have the same requirements.

 

[bwest]

Did it look anything like what's in this picture? My two clownfish were on the out when this was taken. They were breathing rapidly, acting lethargic, and the female in particular before I removed them for treatment was on the sandbed trying to keep herself up. Not sure exactly what they had, but I think it was a combination of ich and either marine velvet or brook. It showed up out of nowhere and in what seemed to be less than a week spread to this point.

I placed them in a 20 gal rubbermaid storage container for 5 weeks and treated them the entire 5 weeks with malachite green and hyposalinity. As you can see in the second picture it all cleared up and they now live in my 58 gallon tank by themselves happy and healthy.

 

[Reef Ruler]

I understand your stressed but for future reference try to allow more than 8 minutes (the time between your first post and second) for somebody to respond...

Good Luck with your fish

 

[cplklegg]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. Most everyone has been in your position and has learned the hard way about ich and QT tanks so don't beat yourself up too much. Now you know not to repeat your same mistake is all. +1 on researching for your dragonet, your tank may not be big enough to support its feeding requirements. Best of luck to you.