HELP this clown fish with white poop

[Marc15]

hello all, i am new to this site and to the hobby. I have a nano tank thats about a month old. I've had a clownfish now for about two weeks (let the tank cycle for a week with live rock and sand). He hasnt eaten since we got him and has become thinner and thinner. His poop is also white.

I've read about brookynella and Ich although the only noticable signs are some slight creamy white discoloration around the outside of his fins and tail (brookynella?).

Water is fine, snails and crabs are active, all plantlife is great...

I've search and searched but can find info on brookynella but nothing else.

Any suggestions? I dont want to lose him or the tank but i really dont think this is brookynella and can't find many useful treatment options for other infections.

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I really dont want to lose him.

Thanks,
Marc

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

You should have at the very least let your tank cycle for one month. Ask the LFS to feed the fish you're gonna buy before you buy it so that you know he will eat. What type of clownfish do you have and do you know if it was wild caught? I've seen many wild caught clowns with brook and have even experienced brook in wild caught maroons. Most clowns are extremely hardy and will live through anything, however your clown could have been sick when you got him so it might not be your fault. If the clown wasn't eating when you got him it could very well be a disease and I personally would no longer shop at the LFS you got him from. I don't know much about diseases, but I don't think Ich could cause your clown to not eat. I know that when clowns have brook they breath heavily, may not eat, and form a lot more mucus around them than usual.

More than likely the clown is going to pass eventually so while he's still alive you should take it back to the LFS and tell them he won't eat and get your money back so you can buy another. If you have any more questions feel free to let me know.

 

[Marc15]

Thanks for the advice.

I have a tank bred Ocellaris. I don't think it's ich. We've examined his body and all he has is fin and tail cloudiness and tears. He's alone in the tank so it's not from others beating him up. I picked up some furan 2 and gave Hume a 2 hour bath. I'm grasping at straws here. The bits of tail that looked cloudy and torn have actually broken off I'm the bath. They're straight edges now again.

I'll continue to post my experience for others knowledge and would love feedback from anyone who has used furan before.

 

[deangelr]

what are you feeding your fish? I have seen scenarios (several times in fact) where a constant diet of mysis shrimp can lead to white stringy feces..

 

[gweston]

White stringy poop possibly indicates an internal parasite. One possible treatment is with a course of prazipro, or to keep the tank parameters perfect and hope it recovers on it's own.

As Waffle stated tough, a month old tank is very young. A well prepared tank can take up to a month to completely cycle. Sometimes more. Some, as I have, cycled a tank in as short as 1-2 weeks, however that was with cycled sand and rock added to a new tank. I cycled a tank in 1.5 weeks, but the rock was separately cycled in a container for nearly 2 months.

As things are, check your ammonia (should be 0), nitrite (should be 0), nitrate levels (shouldn't be too high, or as close to zero as possible). Make sure your other parameters are in the good range. Salinity, temperature, etc. If your ammonia or nitrite is high or detectable, you may be poisoning the fish. Water quality can lead to diseases. Torn fins, etc are signs of bad water quality. Likely due to an uncycled tank. Clowns (a damsel type) are rather tough fish, but they aren't immune to bad water quality.

If you can, let someone with a cycled tank (or quarantine) hold the fish for you until your tank is completely cycled. For the short term, water changes may help while the fish is in there.

 

[Marc15]

The rock was cycled at the lfs and then for two weeks in my tank with live sand as well. The water tests were all done. Amonia was at zero and has state at zero sone the fish was introduced. Nitrate was about 10ppm last night. Salinity and ph were fine. 78 degrees. I know it's a young tank but everything seems ok water wise.

Hi deangelr, he hasn't eaten since I got him (didn't know the trick of asking to se e him eat at the store so I don't know if he was eating before). I've tried pellets, bloodworms, a frozen mixture, picking up garlic seaweed tonight.

 

[Marc15]

Update: we lost him. Will never shop at that lfs again.