2 fish in QT breathing heavy

[Stephy A]

I have two clownfish I bought 6 days ago from a LFS. I put them in a QT where I have been monitoring them diligently. They were doing ok and the one had cloudy eyes since I brought him home. I had to do a large water change on Tuesday which maybe stressed them out. Now, they are both breathing heavy and on the bottom of the tank and losing some color. They stopped eating as of yesterday. I started treatment for everything since I cannot figure out what it is. They don’t have spots nor are they “sloughing slime”. I have attached a video of me attempting to feed them some frozen food and them laying there ignoring it to breath. So pardon the food particles…any suggestions?

 

[fishguy242]

#fishmedic

 

[Stephy A]

#fishmedic

Were you able to see the video? Just want to see if it works?

 

[fishguy242]

hi, i see it there, but cannot view .
can you list what meds "everything " is
check your ammonia,
add an airstone .
expert help should be here shortly.

if ammonia is high, water change asap.

 

[Stephy A]

Let’s see if this works. I’ve been monitoring ammonia and it’s still good. I did a 50% water change on Wednesday bc of ammonia was .5ppm which made it go to 0. I’ve started coppersafe, prazi, and general cure for now. I soaked the food in garlic for this feeding and they were not interested.

 

[Vested]

Can you give us specifics on what your dosing, including the specific amounts and times and tank size etc. just to make sure everything is being treated correctly.

 

[fishguy242]

yes can see .
can only say add air stone, point power head for good surface agitation.

 

[Stephy A]

I

Can you give us specifics on what your dosing, including the specific amounts and times and tank size etc. just to make sure everything is being treated correctly.

This is a 13.5 gallon QT tank. It’s not to the brim so probably have like 12 gallons in it. I have copper at 2 ppm measured with Hanna. General cure I did one packet which was for 10 gallons. And prazi I did the measured dosage to 2.5ml for 10 gallons and I did it twice for 2 days.

 

[hawkeyejp82]

What is the temperature of the water?

 

[Stephy A]

yes can see .
can only say add air stone, point power head for good surface agitation.

Surface agitation is good, just did more earlier today but I will add an airstone!

 

[Stephy A]

What is the temperature of the water?

78 degrees

 

[Stephy A]

Also salinity is 1.024

 

[hawkeyejp82]

Lower temperatures allow for more oxygen in the water but you can't lower much from 78 probably only to 75 or 76 for clownfish. I have noticed when adding general cure in freshwater fish struggle to breath for a little while I think its normal and if you are filtering should go away in a few days. Carbon filtration would probably clear it up in a few hours.

 

[Stephy A]

Lower temperatures allow for more oxygen in the water but you can't lower much from 78 probably only to 75 or 76 for clownfish. I have noticed when adding general cure in freshwater fish struggle to breath for a little while I think its normal and if you are filtering should go away in a few days. Carbon filtration would probably clear it up in a few hours.

I did do the general cure last night and I feel like they are worse if that makes sense? The smaller one has lost a lot of color. I’ve been researching so much and I can’t figure out what it could be

 

[fishguy242]

@Eagle_Steve @Lost in the Sauce

 

[hawkeyejp82]

Well I would add carbon filtration to rid the water column of the chemicals you put in for disease treatment. That way they can breathe easier they got a day of the treatment so if it was that hard on the fish it shouldve been harder on any parasite.

 

[Stephy A]

Well I would add carbon filtration to rid the water column of the chemicals you put in for disease treatment. That way they can breathe easier they got a day of the treatment so if it was that hard on the fish it shouldve been harder on any parasite.

Ok, I’ll try that too!

 

[hawkeyejp82]

Also I wouldn't dose 3 medications simultaneously a general cure treatment is a catch all that works for alot of things so the coppersafe and prazi were probably excessive and it can start to act as an overdose with too many chemicals at one time.

 

[Stephy A]

Also I wouldn't dose 3 medications simultaneously a general cure treatment is a catch all that works for alot of things so the coppersafe and prazi were probably excessive and it can start to act as an overdose with too many chemicals at one time.

if they make it by tomorrow, I can do a large water change to alleviate the medication. I’m concerned that they were breathing rapidly before the medication too

 

[hawkeyejp82]

Yeah it is unfortunate but I have to agree with the quote above when in doubt take it out. I always as best I can try to identify a disease before I treat so I can apply the right chemical with the right temperature without carbon for the most effectiveness. I also have had bad luck with copper safe in the past I prefer cupramine by seachem for marinefish and ICH X for freshwater.