Sick Clown

S

Susie Q360

New member
I just got a P. clown today and now he has little white spots. I used the drip assimulate method, over a 2 hr time frame wt airration.
Did water tests
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 5.0
Nitrite: 0
PH: 8.4
Temp: 85
I did a water change due to the nirate level.
This is my equiptment.
Tank Marineland Flat back Hex 18 gal 24" L x 12" W x16" T

Lighting/Hood Marineland 60hz 50wt\TT Floresent

Filters Whisper 10-30i with biofilter
Biopro SK-40 airdriven Protein Skimmer
Live sand 20 lbs
appx 2 lbs live rock
Heater UL 100 watt

Powerhead Zoomed power sweep 30 gal wt prefilter (rotating)

This is my 4th clown and the other 3 died. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I was told to get meds and do a fresh water dip but whats a fresh water dip and what kinds of meds should I get.
 
copper

copper

copper med but not if you have inverts like shrimp crabs anemone etc im having same trouble ich is a nasty parasite very anoying i have a 90 dollar blue tang on her last legs
 
I suggest you dont buy anymore fish until your levels are right where they need to be. No reason taking a poor fishes life.
 
No need to panic. Simple solution. No fault to you or anyone else. Ick happen to the best and worst. You will need to treat the remaining fish with meds. (copper). In a QT, not the DT. Treatment should be about 4 weeks or so. DT should remain fishless for about 8 weeks or so. Reason being, ick parasites can live in the DT for 6 to 7 weeks, but not without a host. Go to the top of this forum and read much more. Hope i could help. While you are fishless in the DT. Add a few more lbs of LR. Dump the plastic hood (eggcrate instead) and go with T5.
 
white spots , ick; I had an outbreak in my main tank and my lesson learned is that I didn't act fast enough and lost some of the fish; for my lesson learned, the last clownfish, I removed him and put him in a quarantine tank using Quick Cure ; found in most stores, walmart etc; I treated for the 5 days as instructed on the bottle ; I added lower dosage thereafter with water changes and keep the QT water in good shape; I kept him out of the main tank for 6 weeks and then added him back in good healthy shape; that was 4 months ago and everyone is doing great; the QT tank was bare bones, a plain coffee mug for him to hide and no decorations etc to keep QT clean; all the other methods seem too involved and when sickness is present; time isn't your friend. My main tank had live rock , inverts etc so I had to QT ; my other lessons learned is QT everything new , live rock, coral , new fish ; slow and steady is the key , when you rush things , you get trouble. QT your clown and treat immediately to save him ; good luck

P.S.

Vary food ; foods with garlic to aid to give immunity to fish ; ick is in most tanks and fish generally can battle it unless stressed, water conditions, not getting what they need in their diet; new additions to the tanks etc ; again , slow and patience ; if you have other fish , I would QT all and treat with quick cure; leave main tank empty of fish for 6 weeks then add fish back in ; QT all new additions before ever adding into main tank; do you have a protein skimmer and UV sterilizer??? after my outbreak , I added both in

P.S. It is a pain , I know to have QT and leave main tank empty for 6 weeks (you still have to do your maintenance on main tank during this time) but it is worth it in the end
 
Last edited:
Susie, I second what MinnFish said--go to the top of the forum and open the thread that says "New to RC..." Go to the sections on quarantine tanks and treating ich. I don't know what the main ingredient in "Quick Cure" (mentioned above) is, but the preferred medication for treating ich is copper-based. The alternative effective treatment is hyposalinity (gradually reducing the s.g. of the water to 1.009). If all the clownfish you have added have died, there is something wrong. Do you currently have other fish living in your tank? If so, all the fish need to be removed to a quarantine tank and treated. Ich is now in your display tank and you need to let it run fish-free (fallow) for a minimum of 6 weeks so that the ich parasite dies off. If you keep adding fish, they will most likely keep dying. I noticed that you listed your temperature at 85 degrees--I don't know if that is high enough to kill fish, but it is higher than recommended. The recommended range is 76-83 degrees. Also two pounds of live rock is not enough to maintain a good biological filter. One pound per gallon of tank water is the minimum. While your fish are in QT, you could take the opportunity to add more live rock and let your DT recycle with the added rock.
 
I did two freshwater dips 12 hours apart. The spots are gone and he's swimming all over the place, although he always goes back to the rock cliff. Just started this hobby back in Feb or this year. So I don't know too much about it. And welcome any help. I also know that 2 lbs of live rock isn't enough but I lucked into what I got because the lfs don't normally carry live rock. I got what I did in Lexington. I plan to order some more when I get my 46 gal up and running. This is him now,


194329pers2_014res23.JPG
194329per3_002res2.JPG
 
Susie, its great that your clown looks better. Unfortunately, if he had ich, the freshwater dip only affects the parasites on or near the surface of the fish's skin. You are likely to find that the spots come back, although because of the life cycle of the parasite, it could be a week or two before you see them again. Again, if he had ich, the ich parasite is in your current tank, and will be there to affect any future fish that you add unless you remove all fish from that tank and let it run fish-free for at least 6 weeks. Any inverts you have do not "get" or carry ich, so they can be left in that tank. Although removing your clownfish to treat it in a separate QT/hospital tank seems like a big hassle, it could save you the bigger hassle of having several fish in the tank come down with ich. Once you have a lot of live rock, it can be a big challenge to remove sick fish in order to treat them. Good luck.
 
Good catch on the temp., otrlynn. Susie, what kind of rock is in the picture? Tap water or R/O? Salinity reading? Sorry for all the questions.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12849172#post12849172 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MinnFish
Susie, what kind of rock is in the picture? Tap water or R/O? Salinity reading? Sorry for all the questions.
Click to expand...


The rock in the pictures are made of plastic that snap together. That were brought at the LFS. I use tap water treated with prime. The salinity reading was 1.025 replaced some of the salt water with fresh and got the reading down to 1.023.
My other clowns did the same thing right before they died. I had a damsel in the tank with them, and the damsel never caught it. Does saltwater Ich behave the same way as fresh water Ich? I found info on it in one of my salt water books. They discribe something that doesn't match what was on the fish. It discribed poisoning and stress as causing tiny white specks that appear instantly on the animal. And recommended fresh water dips every 12 hours untill spots are gone. Which is what happened. Is it possible that this is what the problem is and not ich?
 
Susie, saltwater ich and freshwater ich are not the same. Saltwater ich is caused by the parasite crytocaryon irritans; it is not caused by stress. The following two links (from the "New to..." ) thread at the top of the forum will give you a wealth of information about ich. There is another common clownfish disease called brooklynella. You can search Reef Central or do a google search for more infomation about this.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php

This link is a picture from Google images of a clownfish with ich.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/images/dec2003/mini2.jpg
 
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