Hello,
I have had a clownfish for 3 months now. About 2 weeks into having it, she started showing signs of Brook and also some internal parasite (heavy breathing, white scaliness on skin, long white stringy poop). I could not find any formalin near me, so rather than wait for an Amazon delivery I found some Rid Ich Plus. I found a post on reef central about how someone saved their clown with a higher dosage dip. I followed that and the clown seemed better almost immediately, with the exception of losing her tail. Stringy poop went away. Over the next couple weeks, though, she started to lose her coloring on her fins and her head started to erode. A week ago she got one cloudy eye. I have been dosing with metroplex one day and Paraguard the next, honestly not knowing what it is or how to help. Her cloudy eye went away and her coloring on her fins is coming back, but her head is looking worse than ever. Her breathing rate has never really resolved. Seems somewhat less quick, but still more than one respiration per second. It almost looks like Brook rearing its head again, or maybe flukes or a bacterial infection? I did get some prazipro to try if it is flukes, but I'm not sure how many days to try it and what to do next if that doesn't work. I have no clue where I'd even go to get fish antibiotics??
Background is I'm new in the hobby. I didn't think it mattered to QT my first fish in the DT, which now I know was wrong! Ugh. I didn't do the traditional cycle first, but added the startup bacteria at the same time. I never had a problem with ammonia but had a few days of a nitrite spike. I used prime to help get past that. Then that's when I noticed something was super wrong with the two clowns I had. One ended up dying and I treated the surviving one the same day with the Rid Ich dip and transfer to a clean QT. I only had a tiny 1.76 gal holding tank for a QT, so rather than stress her by keeping her there for the fallow period I did a complete tear down of my 13 gallon DT, got all new sand and rock, and bleached everything including accessories. I put her back In the DT and used stability every day for a week to keep ammonia in check. I didn't do any follow up metroplex right after the dip, but started that up once I noticed the cloudy eye last week. Tank has been up for 2 months and is all cycled now, no ammonia or nitrite. Nitrate is 10, getting ready to WC this weekend. Salinity 1.023, PH 8.2, temp 78. I am glad I have kept this clown alive this long. She's energetic and eats for me, but I just want to help her kick this for good. Any tips on next steps would be appreciated.
I have had a clownfish for 3 months now. About 2 weeks into having it, she started showing signs of Brook and also some internal parasite (heavy breathing, white scaliness on skin, long white stringy poop). I could not find any formalin near me, so rather than wait for an Amazon delivery I found some Rid Ich Plus. I found a post on reef central about how someone saved their clown with a higher dosage dip. I followed that and the clown seemed better almost immediately, with the exception of losing her tail. Stringy poop went away. Over the next couple weeks, though, she started to lose her coloring on her fins and her head started to erode. A week ago she got one cloudy eye. I have been dosing with metroplex one day and Paraguard the next, honestly not knowing what it is or how to help. Her cloudy eye went away and her coloring on her fins is coming back, but her head is looking worse than ever. Her breathing rate has never really resolved. Seems somewhat less quick, but still more than one respiration per second. It almost looks like Brook rearing its head again, or maybe flukes or a bacterial infection? I did get some prazipro to try if it is flukes, but I'm not sure how many days to try it and what to do next if that doesn't work. I have no clue where I'd even go to get fish antibiotics??
Background is I'm new in the hobby. I didn't think it mattered to QT my first fish in the DT, which now I know was wrong! Ugh. I didn't do the traditional cycle first, but added the startup bacteria at the same time. I never had a problem with ammonia but had a few days of a nitrite spike. I used prime to help get past that. Then that's when I noticed something was super wrong with the two clowns I had. One ended up dying and I treated the surviving one the same day with the Rid Ich dip and transfer to a clean QT. I only had a tiny 1.76 gal holding tank for a QT, so rather than stress her by keeping her there for the fallow period I did a complete tear down of my 13 gallon DT, got all new sand and rock, and bleached everything including accessories. I put her back In the DT and used stability every day for a week to keep ammonia in check. I didn't do any follow up metroplex right after the dip, but started that up once I noticed the cloudy eye last week. Tank has been up for 2 months and is all cycled now, no ammonia or nitrite. Nitrate is 10, getting ready to WC this weekend. Salinity 1.023, PH 8.2, temp 78. I am glad I have kept this clown alive this long. She's energetic and eats for me, but I just want to help her kick this for good. Any tips on next steps would be appreciated.
Last edited:
