Is my clown sick or acting? Help!

terahz

terahz

1x10^12 Hz
Hi,

I introduced my first fish on Friday (two True Percs from reef hot spot) and one of them acts sick. Acclimated them for about 30mins using the half cup method. First day both were doing fine but didn't eat much (only live pods from the glass). Yesterday they ate a little bit but still mostly ignoring the sinking food. Both were fine before I went to bed. This morning one was swimming near the top, breathing heavily (I'd say at about 200bpm) and swimming against the koralias with front top and bottom fins closed. I see a few marks on his white stripes but they look like nibs from the bigger clown, nothing major really. No film/white dots/red around gills. During feeding he didn't even look at the food, just kept swimming. Few minutes ago I killed the power heads and put the AC50 on max to aerate the water more (it adds some bubbles to the tank) and filter it. The clown then moved to one of the front bottom corners and is trying to keep its position moving to the top every once in a while.

Meanwhile the other clown looks very healthy and doesn't skip a chance to bother the labored one. They do the seizure thing often too...

So I'm worried at this point. I have no other fish in the tank, just a skunk shrimp a the cleanup crew and a couple of zoas (4 polyps total).

I don't have a Q tank and if I have to move the fish out it will have to be in a bucket of water with a heater.


My tank is 10g AGA, 6 weeks old. Ammonia has been 0 for 4 weeks, Nitrite has been <.5 for 2, and 0 for 1. Nitrates <20 for 2 weeks.
Water params as of few hrs ago are Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate ~8, Calc 500+ (prob around 550), Mag: 1250, Alk: 10.9/3.89, salinity 1.025, temp: 79℉.

What should I do? I'm uploading a video to youtube as I type this showing how the clown swims and what he looks like. I'll post the link once it is ready (ETA about 10mins).

EDIT: Video of the fish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO7PPf1xzTg

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
were they tank raised? the smaller submissive looks thin, if wild caught or in mixed holding tanks it could have other problems. so, i got that it's not eating, lmk if you see whit stringy and or mucus fecal cast.

i use a rubbermaid 18 gallon "water change" bucket for qt'ing my small ora tank bred Pseudochromis, clownfish, etc., rather than hulling a 20gal aquarium up from the basement. all that's needed is a power head / sponge filter (hagen quick filters work too), which has been seeded (or aquarium systems bio-spira to jump start beneficial bacteria), and a heater.

as is i wouldn't worry too much because they're the only fish going in the tank and they'll be easy to remove and treat. however if ich is present the 10gal. will need to fallow without fish for 10 weeks to become ick free and ready to house quarantined, disease free fish.

nice thing about your 10gal., it's easy to set up a new one well the other is fish less. or to put the rock/sand in a bucket/circulation for 10 weeks, get rid of inverts, clean tank, let it and all equipment dry out before reusing. ich cannot survive desiccation. then you could start a new. a bit extreme but you'll learn the basics and be the better in the long run.
 
Sinful Aquatics, both are in the video, if that's what you are asking, only on is sick.

marc price, It doesn't say much on RHS's website about the origin of the fish. The fish is still not eating and is really thin this morning. Looks like it has a bit more damage (a few horizontal scratches) on the body, but no sign of ick or slime/mucus. Poor thing...

Should I do any treatment. All I can see is that he is not eating and breathing heavily.
 
Well the fish are WC, so I hope that gives them an edge with fighting parasites. (I didn't really want WC clowns but didn't realize it until now what I had gotten).

And hope a few good news from today. The fish has slowed down the breathing rate to about 150bpm and ate some cyclopeze flying its way! Finally! Also it doesn't go to the top anymore nor the bottom, it just sits close to the middle and swims slowly against the current right next to the skunk shrimp (I hope the shrimp helps with the parasites as well). Top fin looks slightly open now. Also, looks like it is in better terms with the other fish now, I didn't see any chasing yet tonight so all in all the fish looks more relaxed today.

On a side note, my cleaner shrimp molted today, I saw two new polyps forming in my 3 (now 5) zoa 'colony' and my gobstopper single polyp also looks like is starting a second one...

I missed the store today for formalin, but I'm getting some tomorrow and if the fish is not significantly better I'll start treatment.
 
I as so happy my clown was eating I did a follow up with a bit more food few minutes later. This fish was really energetic chasing the food around...

However I just saw the fish throw up! it did a funny move right before that... it was almost static moving its pectorals very quickly and then ... poof! I even have some of it on video!

http://joro.geodar.com/videos/clown_sick_2.mp4

Now this is a bit scary. Did he eat too much, or is that some digestive infection?
 
all right good news! don't worry about the upchuck prob., bit off more than it could swallow, or it's not quite ready to eat allot yet after the fast. they also bite, take in and spit out small food when they have brook, lets hope it's not.

in a pinch you can usually get a independent pharmacy to make up some formalin. ask for a 37% fomaldehyde gas in water/methanol solution.
prior to dipping the fish, aerate the formalin mixed in your water to allow most methanol to go out of solution.
i would withhold food for 24h. and dose @ 1ml. per 20gal. H2O up to and no longer than 30min. i also use lesser dosage as a long term bath/copper when combating stubborn or advanced cases of ich.

p.s., the chains can't be bothered and will tell you they need a script, yeah right!
 
Ok got a hold of a bottle of formalin today. I'm starting the dips. BTW the bottle says it can be dosed directly in the tank, is that safe for a reef tank?
 
All meds should be administered in a hospital tank only.

What exactly did you get? You need 37% Formaldehyde solution.
 
Yep I will only do dips for now. I got Formalin MP (37% formaldehyde). However I just noticed my RO/DI water has white particles in it! The system is only 1 month old and the water has particles, unbelievable. TDS is still 0 so I'm at a loss now. That explains why my tank always has tiny white particles flowing in it, and I thought this was some organic waste that the filter couldn't keep up with... It's like the saltwater world is at war with me right now...
 
Dips should be done in a well-ventilated area, don't stay in the room to watch the fish, formalin vapors is dangerous stuff. Use gloves
 
Yes, I use gloves but it is 30℉ outside so can't really do it there. the bathroom should do (with the fan on). Started dip 4 mins ago. Will be checking on the fish every 5. I read that if the fish is still well after 30min I should continue the dip a bit longer up to 50mins...
BTW I saw the first white stringy poo today, so that confirms it as brook I suppose. I read with heavy infections the fish don't survive more than 48hrs so I'm glad mine is still ok.

Thanks all.
 
Oh good, I thought it is another poison I need to dip the poor fish in.

First dip went well. The fish started panicking right around min 30 but was good for the most part. Will treat both fish next time... boy this will take a while.
MarinaP thanks a lot. You have been very helpful.
 
so far so good

so far so good

After last nights dip, the fish was chased a bit more by the other clown so it hid behind the rocks and stayed there all night. Today it is again near the top breathing heavy but swimming around still with top and bottom fins half collapsed and mostly with jerky movements. Half of the time the two fish are doing the :love1: dance.

I fed them Formula Two and a bit of cyclopeze soaked in Selcon, both fish ate fine.

There used to be some scratches with white dots on them on the sick fish that seem to be gone now, but there are a few bumps behind the left eye on the first white stripe. They look like they are just under the skin. I've attached the best photo I was able to take. It looks too strange to be from all the chasing around but I hope it is.
 

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Quick update. Today will be dip 3. The healthy fish still looks healthy. The sick fish is still breathing heavy but looks like it has added some weight and the fins are now all open most of the time. However these lesions are still showing up on the first white stripe as shown on the photo above. I got some medicated food with metro, prazi and levamisole in it, but the fish don't like it. Tried dipping it in garlic but didn't work. Tried feeding them formula two (which they like) soaked in a drop of prazipro, Focus and garlic and they bite it, but they spit it. I hope that delivers at least some medicine...

I think the fish was rubbing against the glass last night, but I thought it would use a rock or something if it wanted to scrape off something bad.

So far the symptoms are:
- heavy breathing
- lesions on the first white stripe on both sides that look like they pop and disappear but new ones form
- fish stays only on one place near the top where the water falls from the HOB.

Tomorrow will be 1 week since the fish started breathing heavy. On one side I'm happy the fish is still alive meaning whatever it has is not too bad, on the other the fish is still not healthy.

I'll keep trying to give them medicated food two more days and dip them in formalin for total of 5 dips (10 days). Hopefully that helps.
 
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