Clown fish unwell

[russbri]

Hi, can anyone help? Our clown fish is not well, he’s a few years old now and he’s turning grey and is exhibiting strange behaviour today, his gills are swollen and one of the other fish is attached him, we’re not sure if he’s ill or if it’s old age, can anyone offer any help? Thanks

 

[Sharkbait19]

Welcome to the forum - sorry it’s under these circumstances.
Would you be able to post pics and a video (linked through YouTube) to help with diagnosis?

 

[russbri]

Just trying to upload a video now

 

[russbri]

The video won’t show and it’s hard to get a good pic as he’s all over the place, we’ve moved him to a separate section to get him away form the other fish.

 

[russbri]

 

[russbri]

His gill looks swollen and red and it’s moving rapidly.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Any recent aggression? Any new changes to the tank?
Are any other fish acting off at all?

 

[russbri]

No aggression, no changes and all the other fish are fine. He’s been slowly fading his colour over the last month or so and has been overall less active but he’s old now, we think he’s about 4 so had put it down to old age as he didn’t seem to be in any distress.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Vid won’t play on my end - maybe some of the other #fishmedic team can.
Age could likely be the problem, but I would want to rule anything else out first.

 

[russbri]

Would his gills swell up with old age?

 

[russbri]

He’s passed, we will miss him a lot, thanks for helping.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Would his gills swell up with old age?

Sorry, I couldn’t get the video to play either (I’m on my phone).
Gills don’t swell with old age.
As it was attacked, are those fish separated now?
In the one picture, is the fish upside down? If so, that’s a really bad sign that fish don’t usually come back from.
Jay

Edit: as I posted right after you did, sorry to hear it passed.

 

[russbri]

That’s ok, thank you for responding. Memo was our first fish and he was so a lovely little character.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Clownfish only live 3 to 5 years on average in captivity. In the wild they can live for 7 to 10 years.

He was just old.

Sorry for you loss.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Sorry for your loss
It’s most likely that the clowns age played into its death, but there could be another overlooked factor (like aggression).
@Jay Hemdal - what are the chances of some chronic infection like myco?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry for your loss
It’s most likely that the clowns age played into its death, but there could be another overlooked factor (like aggression).
@Jay Hemdal - what are the chances of some chronic infection like myco?

I couldn’t get the video to play, so I’m just able to talk in general terms -
Mycobacterium is a chronic condition usually seen in older fish. It takes months to actually kill most fish, and they will look bad before then.
Clownfish can live 7 to 10 years easily and the record is something over 20 as I recall.
Jay

 

[OrionN]

Sorry for your loss
It’s most likely that the clowns age played into its death, but there could be another overlooked factor (like aggression).
@Jay Hemdal - what are the chances of some chronic infection like myco?

No, clown fish breeding 20+years in captivity so your fish did not died of old age. It got sick and died. I am sorry.