Possible sick clown?

[reefkeep3r]

I decided not to do the fresh water dip before I saw your reply's. She is swimming around more normal in the qt, I just saw her make a little poop, not white at all, again nothing on the outside looks different and now nothing on the inside. Doesn't even look skinny but didn't eat again tonight.

That is a interesting thought that constipation could be a issue. It does meet all the symptoms to a T. I will leave them in the qt for the full PP treatment but I hope that she will pass something soon and things go back to normal. If it wasn't for the heavy breathing still I would say everything already is normal.

I was feeding a diet of mostly mysis shrimp, all the research I have done in this episode says that can lead to these problems, go LFS for saying that should be a primary diet. I will now switch to a mysis/Rods mix and give some pellets every now and then

 

[HumbleFish]

If you get her to eat, trying feeding a peeled boiled pea. Can help relieve constipation.

 

[Deinonych]

I was feeding a diet of mostly mysis shrimp, all the research I have done in this episode says that can lead to these problems, go LFS for saying that should be a primary diet. I will now switch to a mysis/Rods mix and give some pellets every now and then

Mysis aren't terrible, but they aren't nutritionally complete. Moving them to a complete food like Rod's or NLS pellets is a great idea. Mysis every now and then won't hurt.

 

[reefkeep3r]

Here is a update, she still didn't eat last night. However she was pushing something out that was so big it made me hurt. She is still breathing a little on the fast side but swimming more to normal now. Hopefully she can eat tonight or maybe there is a second round coming.

I have a Betta that we have to feed a pea to every so often so I am glad to hear that works on marine fish

 

[HumbleFish]

I have a Betta that we have to feed a pea to every so often so I am glad to hear that works on marine fish

IME; it works wonders... if you can get the fish to eat the pea.

I have a PBT who gets constipated/bloated every time she eats red nori. Took me a while to make the connection and figure out where the problem was coming from. She would be at the surface, swimming in circles. Feeding her a couple of peas probably saved her life on multiple occasions. IMO; the fiber contained in the peas must help to push things out.

 

[tylersarah]

There's always a risk; but if you're careful to match temp/pH then IMO the stress is minimal. I recently did a 5 min f/w dip on a Moorish Idol. I think your clowns will be fine.

Yesterday I did a 5 min (ok, 4 min 30 secs) fw dip on my butterflyfish. I had a very difficult time transferring him without the use of a net. I caught him in a clear container, lifted out of the tank, put on floor next to dip container and proceeded to scoop the fish with both hands and into the dip. I was surprised by the strength of the spastic fish and the poor thing flew from my hands on to the floor, luckily only for a millisecond and it was less than a foot drop. There must be a better way.

 

[HumbleFish]

Yesterday I did a 5 min (ok, 4 min 30 secs) fw dip on my butterflyfish. I had a very difficult time transferring him without the use of a net. I caught him in a clear container, lifted out of the tank, put on floor next to dip container and proceeded to scoop the fish with both hands and into the dip. I was surprised by the strength of the spastic fish and the poor thing flew from my hands on to the floor, luckily only for a millisecond and it was less than a foot drop. There must be a better way.

I almost always use a soft mesh net. A net will give you more control over the fish (put one hand over the net so he can't jump out). Yes, sometimes a fish will get it's gills or spines stuck in the net... but I've never been unable to untangle one by just taking my time. Most fish can remain out of water for several minutes if necessary. Now if my wife is looking, I have to use what you will see at the bottom of this post. I mistakenly left the page open about using them in the TT sticky and she saw it.

As for the f/w dip itself, I like to use a clear glass container (like a XL brandy glass bowl - see pic at bottom). Something deep that the fish can't just jump out of.

Sorry to hear about what happened to your butterfly... I hope he's OK.

 

[tylersarah]

Thanks for the good advice. If I ever do another fw dip it will be with a plastic strainer. I would think the clowns would be very easy to catch and dip, even with the method I used on the butterflyfish.

And for the record, sometimes Tyler uses my mixing bowls for switching the toilet seal gasket thing or draining oil :hmm2:

 

[reefkeep3r]

Well, both clowns are back to eating and everything seems normal. I will be moving them both back to the DT tonight.

Thanks for everyone's help

 

[Deinonych]

Well, both clowns are back to eating and everything seems normal. I will be moving them both back to the DT tonight.

Thanks for everyone's help

Excellent! Glad to hear everything worked out.