HELP! Sick fish!

[SarahE]

Hey all!

I need help figuring out what marine disease my fish has. He's a black saddleback clown. I've had him for about six months now (in an established tank). Yesterday he looked fine, but a little while ago I noticed he's sitting on the bottom of the tank. He hardly moves at all except every once and a while he darts to another spot to sit. He looks a lttle pale, especially on the underside. I haven't noticed any other symptoms. Two of his fins are a little torn, but I don't know if that's fin rot or injuries from when he was new to the tank that are still healing. I got a few new snails a week ago, and I'm suspecting whatever he has came with them.

I've never had a sick fish before except for one case four years ago when I started my first tank, so I really am not sure what to do.

Also, in terms of medication, I have no coral or anything, so I should be able to use whatever medication is necessary. I also have an occelleris clown, a black longspine urchin, and a variety of snails. None of the other fish appear sick yet.

Please help. I'd be so upset to loose him.

 

[Islander84]

Give us some info on tank. There are a couple of different meds you can use like metronidazole or praziquantel. I would soak the food in med and feed directly to sick fish

 

[SarahE]

Good news is my fish isn't dead yet. Bad news is he is still sick. He looks about the same as yesterday. Actually, I'm wondering now if it's pop eye because his eyes look a little bigger...?

The tank is a 29 tall. I set it up about a year and a half ago. I moved it 2 months ago, and over a week ago I added two new snails. My last chemistry check about two weeks ago everything was normal (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia -0, pH-8.2). I checked all of the chemical levels in the tank yesterday when I noticed he was sick. Nitrates and nitrites - 0, pH was low - around 7.6 (don't know if that's caused by him being sick or causing it), ammonia - I couldn't tell if it was 0 or the next step up (.25ppm) my guess is there was some small amount between those two. I did a partial water change.

As I said before, it's a fish only tank with two young clowns (occellaris and saddleback) who do get along, an urchin, and a variety of herbivour and detrivour snails.

 

[sandwi54]

there are several possibilities i could think of based on what you told.

1. water chemistry - 7.6 is a bit low. do you have enough oxygenation in the tank? any powerheads creating surface agitation? your alkalinity and calcium could be off too if the pH is that low. i would test for the alkalinity and see where it is.

2. the snails brought in something. does the clown breath fast? without any obvious symptoms on the body, i would first treat with prazipro for possible flukes for 5 days. if that doesn't help let us know, and perhaps we can see if copper is needed.

3. aggression from ocellaris. i know you said they do get along. however, the fish don't need to be out right chasing to be displaying aggression. even a nasty stare from another fish is sometimes enough to cause stress.