My clown is breathing heavily and not eating!!!!!

yoyoyoo123

yoyoyoo123

Member
I've had this clownfish for over 6 months in my tank. He's never had a problem.

I did a stupid thing and added 3 green chromis to my tank 2 days ago. The next day one chromis was seen with a huge red spot on it's side. it looked sort of like a bruise and it was breathing heavily.

One day later it went missing. and now my clownfish is breathing heavily, is very lethargic, and is not actively going for food, he's usually a pig.

Now all day the clown is swimming in a cave in the middle of the tank under rockwork, and at night still hosts in the xenia. He is still very fat. i do not think I can take him out since he would probably go dashing into the rockwork.

I tested for ammonia and nitrates, undetectable. SG is 1.025 with my refractometer. I have a fuge full of calpura and chaeto so I do not think that it is nutrients causin the problem. I have plenty of flow in the tank.

What could this be? I feel like an idiot for adding the chromis. The other inhabitants are a six line wrasse and a black clownfish, smaller than this orange percula.

I tried feeding garlic soaked brine shrimp, foruma one pellets, cyclopeeze, no reaction from the clown, he seems disinterested in the food. What concerns me is the heavy breathing.

Is there anything I can do to make him better??!!?
 
Quarantine. Sounds as if he's picked up an infection. If you don't have a qt tank, you can make one out of your water change bucket (and get a new bucket later.) Medicate some water you've taken from your main tank and lift the fish into it. Exactly which medication---I'm not sure. I have never had to medicate a saltwater fish. You'll want to maintain its temperature and keep a bubbler going in there. Use a net to transfer fish back and forth. I hope that some experienced fish-disease person will answer you soon and give you an idea what to do. There may still be a pet store open if you're West Coast. You need some medication, you need a pump, a bubbler, and an airline.
 
That red spot on the chromis would read more like fungus if that's what your clown's got, but again---I'm no expert in this. I only notice that no one's answered you yet, and someone needs to. Posts will keep this up at the top of the forum. Let's hope somebody gets helpful quick.
 
I know what you mean, but usually by the time they're sick they're mostly concentrating on breathing, and anything that can make that easier for him will be a plus. I'd take the water directly from his tank, same water, same temp, everything, and lift him as quickly from one to the other as possible, so he hardly has time to notice. Keep the light from glaring on him, but keep the light on. Note: on clowns, they lose their protective slime coating while being medicated, and they can be fatally stung by their own anemone. On his return, let him acclimate in a large net and don't let him rush back to any stinging home before he's settled and gotten that slime coat back. Xenia would be the most benign host he could return to: they don't sting.
 
I've re-read your first post: under the rockwork. Ow. You may have to let him see if he can throw it off...if he gets sicker he may come out. Then would be the time to net him, and work quickly...if that's the only option. Kick Ich is one of those medicate-the-whole-tank sorts of things, isn't it? I'm leery of those, but I'm an old hand, and they've invented things I've never used.
 
well I don't have an anemone so stinging's not a problem.

catching this guy could be a huge problem though, as I have a lot of rockwork. I really don't want to stress him out and I just want him to get well on his own. Also I do not have good experiences with QT a sick clown. Last time I did everything, formalin baths, copper meds, and I just felt like the QT and treatment was making its symptoms worse. until one day i woke up to a dead clown.

Any ideas why he would suddenly stop eating and breath heavily?? It also troubles me that he doesn't host in the xenia during the day like he used to. This is the 2nd day he's like this and i'm getting worried.
 
This is certainly not a good thing. I do wish we could get someone expert in here to give better advice. What I know about fish treatment is literally above 10 years old. The symptoms on the chromis, with the red spot, sound like fungus, but the laboring gills sound a bit like ich, and ich doesn't show real well on a clown. You might try some live brine shrimp: there's hardly a fish that won't rise to that. I'm going to google up fish disease red spot and see if that turns up anything.
 
I have found a few things: the red spot disease is pseudomonas sp., and it says water change and "antibiotics if needful". If you can do it without harming him, you might try both a 20% water change and a little carbon in the sump if it isn't in there.
 
thanks for your help Sk8r. Ok I think I will do a water change tomorrow, get some kick ich, incase it is ich in the gills.
 
something's going wrong. Woke up this morning to find all my nassarius snails and hermits clumped in one corner. Lights haven't turned on yet, but I think I lost a chromis overnight.
 
nm chromis is not dead i have no idea what the snails and crabs were crowding around, I pushed them around and found nothing in the sand. weird. well I will have to wait til the lights come on to see what's different.
 
ok I got some kick ich. Will add it right away. My black clown is showing some signs of white stuff on it's body. Dangit.

also the orange percula ate today! so that was good. I will try some garlic and the kick ich and hope for the best.
 
I hope so, too, yoyoyoo. Water change is never a bad idea. I change out 10% a week rather than 20% a month, and I think it keeps things running more smoothly. You might also, once you get through treatments (hard on inverts), consider something like a true neon goby or a cleaner shrimp---Another thing, too: when you get something new from your lfs, be very sure not to pour water from the lfs into your tank: it can be a source of bad things: do a net transfer. One of the good reasons for quarantining a new fish is to make sure the lfs water doesn't go with him.
 
just an update for anyone that cares:

In an awesome turn of events, the kick ich knocked out all of the parasites, all fishes have perked up, are eating super healthily. I've been overfeeding lately to try to get them to be extra healthy.

I think the combination of: water change, kick ich, PEPSO (supposed to be food to clean out internal parasites), garlic soaked foods, and cyclopeeze did the trick. I think everyone will pull through just fine.

lesson learned: ALWAYS quarantine your fish!
 
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