View Full Version : HELP!!! Clownfish Looks BAD
ericriff
02/10/2004, 08:38 PM
My clownfish hasnt eaten anything in 2 weeks. He can hardly swim in the current. Is there any hope for him? If so, what can i do to help increase his apetite, or what should i try to feed him?
MichaelD
02/10/2004, 08:50 PM
Live foods usually goad fish into eating. What are you currently feeding.
eric
Give us some background info. How long have you had the fish? Did it ever eat? WC or TR? Did you quaretine the fish? What other fish are in the tank? Have any others been added since you got the clown? What type of clown is it? What other behavior/observations do you have of the fish? Breathing Heavy? Salt Grains on the skin? Velvety sheen to the skin? Sloughing Slime coat? Water parameters? If it was eating before, what did you feed it? Has it been trying to swim into the current for a while? (since stopped eating?)
I doubt it's Brook or Amyloo. The fish would be dead by now...
Any additional info will help us help you to help your clown.
spham
02/10/2004, 08:54 PM
Is he new to the tank? How long has the tank been set-up? What your parameter (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, temp, sg, etc..)? What type of filtering system do you have? What else do you have in the tank? Any sign of ich on the fish. Is he breathing fast?
ericriff
02/10/2004, 08:58 PM
I got the fish 3 weeks ago. There is a royal gramma in the tank with it. The fish is flapping its fins very fast trying to stay afloat. Aside from that, it looks normal. The first week i had the fish he ate Sera granularin. Today is the first day that its been trying to swim in the current, it has been hiding in the live rock away from the current for the past few days. He stays in the back right hand corner.
ericriff
02/10/2004, 09:15 PM
The fish just went over my overflow! I got him out and put him in a little breeder tank that floats. Will he make it????
Flipturn88
02/10/2004, 09:22 PM
Originally posted by ericriff
Will he make it????
This depends on the source of the problem. Have you tested your water lately? How's the royal gramma doing?
Hope he gets better.
Kayla
ericriff
02/10/2004, 09:25 PM
Water seems to be fine, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 ppm nitrate. The royal gramma seems to be fine, but he wont eat much either. The clown fish just looks like its in bad shape! I hope it doesnt die :(
Eric
What about the clowns skin? White spots like grains of salt? A sheen? Sloughing slime coat?
If you gramma is not eating...could be a disease problem.
Was the clown WC??
If you don't see white spots, then try a FW dip to check for Amyloo. http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/oamasfwdiptest.html
ericriff
02/10/2004, 09:48 PM
I think my fish is dead :( Its laying on its side now.....What a way to end the day......
ericriff
02/10/2004, 09:49 PM
What do you mean by "was the clown WC or TR?"
WC = Wild Caught
TR = Tank raised or captive bred
If the clown was WC, it could have been poisoned during the collecting. This would damage the liver and slowly kill the fish. Also, with WC fish, some just never adapt to a captive environment and never start eating. I do not think this is the case hear, as it was eating.
So...I think it brought in a disease with it. Low grade at first, but the "bug" has multiplied on your clown. And your Gramma may also now be infected.
Once again...Any White Spots??? Slime Coat Sloughing??? Velvety Sheen to the skin??? Cloudy Eyes? Clamped fins?
I am sorry about your clown. But your Gramma should be your next concern. We need to determine what the "bug" is to define the correct treatment. If the clown is still alive, try the FW dip method I linked above. Who knows, you clown may yet pull through!
ericriff
02/10/2004, 10:20 PM
I'll try the FW dip. I dont want to lose another fish!
ericriff
02/10/2004, 10:30 PM
There arent any white spots, the slime coat is fine, no velvety sheen to the skin (Slightly faded orange color), eyes are clear, and the fins are not clamped. After the FW dip, there was not anything left behind in the glass of water. Could it have just been starvation?
Was the fish WC?
(just to comferm this)
If you are seeing a change in the behavior of the Gramma, no spots and nothing in the FW dip... You could have Brooklynella.
Do you have a Q-tank? I would remove all fish to a Q-tank and treat for Brook using formalin.
Maybe it's time this thread was moved to the disease forum. Mods?
NicoleC
02/10/2004, 10:55 PM
I wouldn't FW dip a fish that sick; the stress may send him over the edge. JMO.
ericriff
02/10/2004, 11:17 PM
No, i dont have a quarantine tank. The gramma seems fine for now, but if it does start showing signs of distress in the next few days, what do you recommend?
Originally posted by ericriff
No, i dont have a quarantine tank. The gramma seems fine for now, but if it does start showing signs of distress in the next few days, what do you recommend?
What else is in the tank? Inverts?
Get a 10g aquarium for a Q-tank and some formalin to treat for Brook. Read up on it...
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/brooklynella.html
I'm not 100% positive about this...but it would best to be safe & prepaired with this killer.
ericriff
02/11/2004, 12:19 AM
Do i need any kind of special filtration for the q-tank, or will a simple HOB filter suffice? Also, should i be able to find formalin at most LFS? I appreciate your help Oama!
racrumrine
02/11/2004, 12:49 AM
Sorry about you loss. I lost a Clownfish that refused to eat no matter what I feed him. He lasted about 12 days.
Here's an article about QT tanks you should read http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/atj/feature/index.htm
Best of luck,
Roy
nanocat
02/11/2004, 02:11 AM
Wild caught clowns are not caught using cyanide. They swim slowly enough that they are quite easy to catch. Brook is rampant, and I just lost an ORA perc to intestinal parasites. Treated with hex-mit, but she didn't make it.
nano
Good point! And sorry for your loss.
Eric
Did the clown have any white stringy poop hanging off of it? I totally forgot yo think about the possiblity that the fish had internal parasites.
d_j_adams
02/11/2004, 08:07 AM
I would like to jump into this discussion also.
I have a Clarkki which I noticed this morning has some very bad symptoms.
Symptoms
Stringy Poop hanging
Powdery looking white spots on both sides
Eats a little
Was added two days ago
Tank Parms
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
PH 8.4
Nitrite .25
SG 1.024
Added some cured LR about 2 weeks ago that caused a spike in ammonia but it was very short lived. Did several water changes due to panic.
Other Fish
2 Clarkki Clown
Stripped Wrasse
Lawnmower Blemmy
Scooter Blemmy
Mandrin Goby
3 Anenome's
Flower Pot Coral
Unknown Coral
Candy Coral
1 Clam
2 Fighting Conch Shrimp (Wished I could catch and get rid of)
Few Peppermint shrimp which I never see
2 Brittle Star
Also, This weekend I lost 2 other fish (Yellow Tang and Keyhole Angel) which were the first fish I have lost since I have had this tank setup (3 Months) and they both looked great and ate great until the day they died. I have no idea what is going on........
ericriff
02/11/2004, 12:29 PM
No, the entire time the clown was in my tank i never noticed it having white stringy poop hangin from it. Its going to be very difficult to catch the royal gramma in order to treat it with formalin without tearing my tank apart to get to it. I have a few hermit crabs and a few snails in my tank. As for corals, i have a GSP, some button polyps, and a montipora cap. frag. Would dosing the tank itself be a problem?
d_j_adams,
The white powdery looking spots suggests Amyloodinium (http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/amyloodinium.html) and the white stringy faeces suggests internal parasites. The Amyloodinium is going to cause more problems than the internal parasites so you need to treat it first.
To be sure you are dealing with Amyloodinium, you should perform oama's Freshwater Dip Test (http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/oamasfwdiptest.html). If you get a powdery like substance in the bottom of the dip you know it is Amyloodinium and you can start treating for it. If you don't get the powdery substance, the fish may have Brooklynella (http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/brooklynella.html) which requires different treatment.
The only reliable (and easily available) treatment for Amyloodinium is copper and the best copper to use is Cupramine. You should also get a test kit so you can measure the copper level twice daily for the first couple of days and then daily until the end of the treatment - 3 weeks.
You will need to do the treatment in a separate tank. See some of the other threads for the requirements for a quarantine/treatment tank.
Originally posted by ericriff
Would dosing the tank itself be a problem?
Yes, it would be a major problem, not just to the invertebrates, but to the live rock and the biological filter.
ericriff
02/11/2004, 07:14 PM
I guess its time to go fishing then!
Since i dont have a q-tank set up, along with using a filter, should monitor the tank closely for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/copper along with doing many water changes? This sounds like its going to be a long tedious process for both the fish and me.
ericriff
02/11/2004, 07:14 PM
I guess its time to go fishing then!
Since i dont have a q-tank set up, along with using a filter, should monitor the tank closely for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/copper along with doing many water changes? This sounds like its going to be a long tedious process for both the fish and me.
ericriff
02/11/2004, 07:14 PM
I guess its time to go fishing then!
Since i dont have a q-tank set up, along with using a filter, should monitor the tank closely for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/copper along with doing many water changes? This sounds like its going to be a long tedious process for both the fish and me.
ericriff
02/11/2004, 07:17 PM
Sorry about that....It said busy server and to try again, guess i tried too hard!
Just monitor ammonia and copper. It is unlikely that nitrite or nitrate will cause you any problems. Have lots of replacement water ready.
d_j_adams
02/12/2004, 07:45 AM
Unfortunately when I got home he was wedged up under a rock dead. I am assuming he was like this when I bought him since he was only in my tank for a few days.
My next short term project will be to setup a QT. This was a good lesson for all new people to have a QT.
I appreciate your feedback in this thread and have read many of your previous posts.
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