New Ocellaris clown: 3 full days not eating

[SuperOstrich]

A fish going a few days without eating never used to bother me back when I was addicted to this hobby, but I'm trying a nano for the first time and waited nearly two months before adding my first fish. At my LFS on Saturday the 14th , I asked them to feed him before I bought him. He ate the arcti-pods they fed him very aggressively, and they said that was the third feeding of the day. After a very stressful capture (they keep all their clowns in a separate display tank filled with live rock), I brought him home and acclimated him to my tank with the drip method over a 1.5 hour period.

To make a long story short, he hasn't shown any interest in feeding since making it to my tank. He swims great and seems energetic, moving to many different areas of the tank checking things out. He doesn't have any spots or discolorations, no injuries, etc. I've tried the arcti-pods they fed him at the LFS, F1 pellets, NanoPellets, and Prime Reef flake. He shows no interest at all.

Tank specs and params are as follows:

14g Biocube nano
Nanocustoms 3.24 lighting upgrade (3 PC lights instead of 2)
17lbs live rock
Ammonia = 0.0
Nitrite = 0.0
Nitrate = 0.0
ph = 8.4
(no alk test, need one)

EDIT: Forgot temp and salinity:
temp = 80.5
salinity = 1.025

I have 2 groups of zoas and 3 mushrooms that have been in the tank for the last few weeks that look great (one mushroom split the other day). There are pods from one end of this tank to the other, and my astrea snails even seemed to have spawned within two months of having them. Things all seem great on the surface, but I really don't want to lose this guy. He needs to eat something! Does anyone have any advice for a situation like this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[SuperOstrich]

Here's a shot of the guy I took after the lights went out. Visually everything seems normal.

 

[SuperOstrich]

Ok, two nights later and I removed him for a quick freshwater dip of 10 minutes. He handled it very well, and I now realize I should be doing this BEFORE I add fish to the tank. He did eat a tiny bit of frozen Formula Two last night, but not enough to call it nutritious. He spent yesterday and most of today hanging out in one particular spot near the back of the tank. This fish obviously has some kind of parasite that's going to make him waste away if I can't rid him of it.

What are everyone's thoughts on multiple freshwater dips? I can't find much information on how often or for how many days you can treat with freshwater dips. I've kept the dipping water handy, heated and aerated since it took way too much effort to actually match the ph of the freshwater to the aquarium.

 

[rkelman]

Why exactly are you doing dips? Just because he's not eating doesn't mean he's sick. Its normal for a fish not to eat for a few days after being moved.

 

[dc]

When I first got my percs I had to shave off frozen food to get them to eat. It took them awhile to take to pellets.

 

[Lmecher]

A healthy clown can go for a week without eating and have no ill effects. This is very common for them to refuse food for a few days after moving them but understand your worries. Have you tried cyclopeeze or adding garlic to the food. As a very last resort they can't resist live brine but you're not there yet. Give it time, some fish are just very sensative to change.

 

[SuperOstrich]

Thanks for the feeback guys. What led me to the FW dip was the clear parts of his fins started to become cloudy and his breathing pace increased over the last few days. All the research I did pointed to parasites, possibly clownfish disease. Lights are just coming on in the tank right now this morning and he's swimming around and looking about the same (fins look a bit clearer though). He's been in the tank 7 days and has barely nibbled on anything, and he's shown some signs of an illness with the more rapid breathing and cloudy fins. I'll see how he's doing today.

As far as feeding goes, I have tried a garlic-enhanced flake but he showed no interest. I have not tried cyclopeeze. There are live amphipods all over this tank, to the point that they even crawl up the glass and he shows no interest in those either.