My normally active and aggressive clownfish stopped eating

[LMDAVE]

I've had a clown fish pair for a little over a month. They have been very active, the larger female always attacks the turkey baster as soon as it touches the water. But the last two days shes just been sitting at the bottom in the corner with no interest in eating.

Recent changes:
Earlier this week I added a Banggai Cardinal pair. One cardinal jumped out the acclimation bowl and hit the floor and I quickly picked him up. He wasnot active at all when finally transferred to the DT but his mate was active and checking on him. He died the next day. Since then the remaining cardinal has just been sitting around.

During this time the clowns were just business as usual, until yesterday.

My other clown and royal gramma are still active and eating, but the most active female clown has just stopped. And the banggai cardinal is just sitting in a cave.

My Parameters all seem normal.

40 gallon tank

Amon 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 8-10
pH 8.2
Alk 9
Cal 430
Mag 1350
Temp 79.2
SG 1.024
Phosphate 0.05-0.1

 

[j.falk]

Did you quarantine the cardinals before putting them in your DT?

 

[LMDAVE]

Did you quarantine the cardinals before putting them in your DT?

Short answer is no. Well, here's what happened with that. I bought two cardinals from my LFS, I had them in my quarantine, a QT that hasn't had fish in it for about 2 weeks, but I did small water changes during that time. Well the two cardinals didn't do well in QT. One died after a day and the second had something on it's lip and died the day after. I went back to my LFS, who is a very trusted store, and they had concerns about my QT tank, they told me a bare bottom QT is too stressful for fish and 10 gal was too small, etc.. Well, even though they had 24 hour policy he did work with me on two more cardinal fish. All of their fish are QT'd and then sitting in copper tanks. I'm still on the new side with reef tanks (2 months in) The owner suggested to me to put them in my DT since they are thoroughly QT's at the LFS and they feel that species its too stressful to be in my QT. And since my QT tank was suspect at the time, I just went that route. I know that's a stupid decision and you should "never trust any fish from anyone no matter how much care they've done." So, yeah that's the long answer.

So, does this mean I got burnt and they cardinals I put in may have infected my clownfish and tank?

 

[j.falk]

My quarantine tank is a 10 gallon / bare bottom and I've never had an issue with using it as a quarantine tank for small fish. The Bangai's should've been fine in it assuming your water was good to go.

Before assuming anything, I would recommend you look your clownfish over thoroughly? Does anything look odd about it? Any spots or discoloration? A magnifying glass can be helpful in doing this.

If you had one of the cardinals die in your DT, I would also recommend you do a partial water change to clean things back up.

 

[LMDAVE]

I don't know how sensitive cardinals are but they do seem to be. The jump the cardinal made was about 3 feet to a ceramic tile floor. I don't know if maybe it was that that stressed that fish. His cardinal mate was all over the tank when put in and would go check on him every 10 minutes and sit with him then swim around. But she hasn't been the same, she was sitting by my green hammer coral for a while, then she retreated to the cave.

About the Clownfish, one of my most active, just recently changed. I dont know any visual problems. She's has issues with white stringy poop before but that hasnt been around in a while, I dont know if maybe shes having digestive issues again. I have metroplex mixed food in my freezer, but if she wont eat now, I cant get her to try that yet.

This was a quick vid I shot yesterday, not the greatest detail, but shows her a little.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2wAqT30hY

 

[LMDAVE]

And I did do a 25% water change after the cardinal was found dead.

 

[LMDAVE]

The clownfish has been moved to my QT tank. I treated the tank with Metroplex for internal parasites. She still hasn't eat. But I continue to see occasional white poop hanging out of her. For not eating for 3 days, she still seems to have it coming out. I'm guessing she's trying to let all this pass before even thinking about eating again. And since she's not eating, swimming in metroplex is treating her hopefully.

She seems comfortable in the QT tank, I added sand and a rock in it before putting her in. So hopefully she pulls through.