Your thoughts

[MarinaP]

2 mature not connected rack breeding systems, about 300G each, multiple pairs of breeding and non-breeding clowns.

One mature female allardi with a mate (non-breeding) in the first rack, one mature tricinctus alone in the second rack. Both exhibit the same symptoms - rapid breathing and not eating. No other problems. This has been going on for about 20 days.

Nothing new has been added to the systems in the past year, and other pairs go about their bussiness as usual. No one else is sick.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[mwp]

Water paremeters? Temp? Oxygen perhaps (i.e. maybe their water feeds have slowed significantly, thus increasing respiration rates?)

Any other symptoms besides increased breathing and not eating? (not eating is the disturbing one to me).

Good luck,

Matt

 

[Dman]

Perhaps something is falling in their tanks and messing with the local parameters?

 

[MarinaP]

Interesting thing is that two other pairs that share the same tank with the allardi girl who is sick are fine (three compartments). Even her mate is fine.

Another healthy pair of allardi shares the same tank with the sick tricintus. That IMHO rules out the possibility of environmental contamination or O2 deprivation.

SG is 1.025, temps at 81. Both sick fish were fine for two years

 

[Dman]

If you've ruled out environmental and feed, wait feed, what are you feeding them?

 

[MarinaP]

Mostly PE mysis, enriched BS with Spirulina, OSI Spirulina, ocassional dry foods. They also fast one day a week or so.

What gets me is that other pairs in the same systems are fine and laying eggs, but these two are probably on their way to fishie heaven

 

[Dman]

Sounds like it could be old age

 

[MarinaP]

I don't think so. They were both aquired rather small.

I am stumped

 

[tmays]

With clowns, size is not always a good way to judge age. In the wild they may have been living with a more dominate breeding pair in the same anemone. They would have stayed smaller.

 

[MarinaP]

True, but the dominant female is sick. She was the boss of the family of 12. They stayed together for a year and a half in a 150G sump, and then I sold some, paired some....

 

[tmays]

I see. I hope that things get better soon! I had a pair of clark's do the same thing right out of the blue for no good reason. I lost the male and the female started acting normal again. I still need to get another male. I hope your fish will snap out of it!

 

[tmays]

I just remembered, it was summer and my temps sky rocketed until I got a different pump. That is what may have started my problems, although, none of my other clowns showed any signs of stress at the time. I'm not sure what it was...Good Luck!

 

[MarinaP]

Thanks for good wishes.

We have digital thermometers for both racks, cequent pumps, and the temp has been stable for years. No stray electricity either.

 

[mwp]

Internal infection perhaps...kinda sounds like what happens to some African Cichlids ("malawi bloat", although there's like 25 different organisms that cause "bloat", and the fish isn't always "bloated")...

Not sure what I'd do to treat at this point..

Matt

 

[Peter Schmiedel]

Marina,

I have similar trouble with a pair of recently acquired latezonatus - only this fish show the symptoms and no other fish in the same system (4 tanks). Here in Europe we normally do not stress fish more wit quarantine tanks. With perfect conditioning of the food I have them almost on normal and look forward to see how they are doing when the light goes on in 1 hour.

 

[Elmo18]

Hi Marina. I am sorry to hear about your fish troubles.

My suggestion is to maybe QT them and start to do hyposalinity treatment? I did something like this to a pair of Clarks, which were in a tank of 1.024 SG. I placed them in a 20G QT and lowered their salinity down to 1.016 SG rather quickly, maybe over a period of 3 hours. After 3 days in the slightly lower saline water, they started to eat again.

I am really not sure if it was viral, bacterial, or what it was. However, I think the lower salinity gave them back slightly more energy, or caused them to conserve a little more energy.

Let me know what you think. I know you treasure those fishes.

Best,
Ilham