Clown fish breathing heavily

[Neo Jeo]

I have 16 fish in my tank and 4 clown fish. They all get along.

One right now is breathing heavily and is swimming in the same area up on the rocks. He’s the only fish doing this and is not eating.

Any idea what’s going on? I have had them in my tank for 4 months. They came from a tank with many clown fish. Could he or she be old? Maybe giving birth?

 

[declanisadog]

Hard to tell from the blue video. Any other signs of stress? Discoloration, lesions?

 

[ngoodermuth]

Definitely appears distressed. How long has it not been eating? Any white-stringy poop?

 

[Neo Jeo]

I dont see anything wrong with his poo. I just noticed yesterday he stopped eating. He was still alive this morning.

Do you think its low O2 in the tank? How can that be? I have an open mesh top, overflow into a sump and a skimmer running with 2 power heads in DT....

 

[Neo Jeo]

Hard to tell from the blue video. Any other signs of stress? Discoloration, lesions?

No discoloration or lesions.. Nothing on his body

 

[ngoodermuth]

No, I’m thinking more along the lines of intestinal parasites... but he would have had white stringy poop.

What about new additions? Any new fish, corals, really anything wet that wasn’t QT’d?

 

[Neo Jeo]

No, I’m thinking more along the lines of intestinal parasites... but he would have had white stringy poop.

What about new additions? Any new fish, corals, really anything wet that wasn’t QT’d?

Some corals that went through Bayer about 2 weeks ago.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Hm, on plugs/disks or with exposed skeleton? The dip would likely remove any free swimming parasites but not necessarily any encysted on plugs or hard surfaces... No small white spots or excessive slime coat? Yawning, twitching, scratching on rocks or sand, swimming into powerheads...etc?

 

[ngoodermuth]

And are you certain there is no aggression between the clowns? Or from any other tank-mates? Was he QT'd initially? Any prophylactic treatments for flukes?

 

[Neo Jeo]

And are you certain there is no aggression between the clowns? Or from any other tank-mates? Was he QT'd initially? Any prophylactic treatments for flukes?

They all seem happy I dont see any other fish having an issue. They were not Qt'd I run a UV light 24/7 and I dip all fish in instant QT by blue life. How do you know if O2 is low in a tank?

 

[ngoodermuth]

If you have two powerheads, a skimmer running, decent surface agitation; and haven't dosed any medications into your display... I highly doubt it's low 02. Plus, at least some of your other fish would likely be struggling as well...

Without any other symptoms to go by, my best guess would probably be flukes or intestinal parasites, or stress from aggression. Flukes can be confirmed or ruled out with a 5-minute FW dip. Intestinal parasites would be a bit more tricky at this point since he's not eating... likely have to get him into a QT dosed with general cure to see if he cant get enough medication into his system to regain his appetite, as usually would need to be treated with food soaked in either metroplex or general cure, and focus. And the rest of your fish would also need to be fed the medicated food as well.

I think at this point, I would start with the FW dip. Regardless of whether he has flukes or not, he's having trouble breathing and the FW dip will help clear out parasites and/or excessive mucus and maybe give you a bit more time to pinpoint the problem...

 

[Neo Jeo]

If you have two powerheads, a skimmer running, decent surface agitation; and haven't dosed any medications into your display... I highly doubt it's low 02. Plus, at least some of your other fish would likely be struggling as well...

Without any other symptoms to go by, my best guess would probably be flukes or intestinal parasites, or stress from aggression. Flukes can be confirmed or ruled out with a 5-minute FW dip. Intestinal parasites would be a bit more tricky at this point since he's not eating... likely have to get him into a QT dosed with general cure to see if he cant get enough medication into his system to regain his appetite, as usually would need to be treated with food soaked in either metroplex or general cure, and focus. And the rest of your fish would also need to be fed the medicated food as well.

I think at this point, I would start with the FW dip. Regardless of whether he has flukes or not, he's having trouble breathing and the FW dip will help clear out parasites and/or excessive mucus and maybe give you a bit more time to pinpoint the problem...

Ok thanks for the advice. I will see what's going on when I get home. Catching him will prob be impossible but I do have metro and focus on hand. I hope he just starts to eat.

 

[Neo Jeo]

If you have two powerheads, a skimmer running, decent surface agitation; and haven't dosed any medications into your display... I highly doubt it's low 02. Plus, at least some of your other fish would likely be struggling as well...

Without any other symptoms to go by, my best guess would probably be flukes or intestinal parasites, or stress from aggression. Flukes can be confirmed or ruled out with a 5-minute FW dip. Intestinal parasites would be a bit more tricky at this point since he's not eating... likely have to get him into a QT dosed with general cure to see if he cant get enough medication into his system to regain his appetite, as usually would need to be treated with food soaked in either metroplex or general cure, and focus. And the rest of your fish would also need to be fed the medicated food as well.

I think at this point, I would start with the FW dip. Regardless of whether he has flukes or not, he's having trouble breathing and the FW dip will help clear out parasites and/or excessive mucus and maybe give you a bit more time to pinpoint the problem...

All seems well today. No weird breathing. Strange tho. He was breathing hard .

 

[ngoodermuth]

He was, maybe he had a run-in with another fish or one of the other clowns and was just stressing out a bit. Glad he's doing better!

 

[Neo Jeo]

He was, maybe he had a run-in with another fish or one of the other clowns and was just stressing out a bit. Glad he's doing better!

Thanks