Clown sick please help

[Aronsaquarium]

I have a new clown in QT. It’s a full size adult.
Was eating really well when I got him a couple days ago but now doesn’t want to eat, and is pooping white strings all day.

He’s in a QT with Cupramine at the moment, and I’ve added Prazipro last night too in case this is worms.

Anything else I should do?

I’ve lost a couple clowns to this in Quarantine before.

 

[The 262 Reef]

he may not be eating due to stress from the cupramine and/or transportation? what is it that you are feeding? have you tried to feed mysis with a pipette? idk if i have exact answers for you but my clowns didnt want to eat when i first got them, and they didnt like pellets either. so i stuck with mysis in a pipette for a bit and eventually started to eat pellets. the same thing happened with my chalk bass. are you able to retrieve the white stringy poop to verify if its a worm or not? i hope someone can help you better then i can soon =]

 

[Aronsaquarium]

So currently he has a stream slow moving string of white poop coming out of him all day.
If this is prazipro doing it’s job then I’m happy
And the Prazi with Cupramine can explain the loss of appetite along with the worms if that’s what it is.

Having said that, it ate really well Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday since I got it.
It barely ate on Sunday and I saw more white poop then which is why I dosed prazi.
And today no appetite at all.

I Just don’t want to loose him! And I’ve lost a couple clowns before it in QT, so I’m being super cautious here.
Never had issues like this before on this level

I’m offering a bunch of options, pellets, small mysis large mysis brine spirulina brine flakes etc.
Obviously not at the same time. But yeah

 

[Aronsaquarium]

I also know that prazi and Cupramine together is quite stressful.
So my plan was to just leave it at full strength for 24 hours and do a water change this evening as most of the work is done anyways the first day.

But if this white poop continues I’m not sure what the right thing is…

@Humblefish

 

[vetteguy53081]

Please post pic under white lights as the fish is shaded to clearly see anything

 

[vetteguy53081]

W

I have a new clown in QT. It’s a full size adult.
Was eating really well when I got him a couple days ago but now doesn’t want to eat, and is pooping white strings all day.

He’s in a QT with Cupramine at the moment, and I’ve added Prazipro last night too in case this is worms.

Anything else I should do?

I’ve lost a couple clowns to this in Quarantine before.

hat treatment level is cupramine?

 

[Aronsaquarium]

Please post pic under white lights as the fish is shaded to clearly see anything

 

[Aronsaquarium]

I Hope that video helps. That’s as bright as I can get

Cupramine I’m gonna say roughly .50.
I know Hanna checkers are the better option but been using API for years, never got around to upping those lol

I know that I used to do higher Cupramine than what I have now, but toned it down a while ago.
So all of these fish in my tank made it through more than .5.

It’s hard to be totally accurate with API but looks pretty clearly around .5.

Been consistent

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have a new clown in QT. It’s a full size adult.
Was eating really well when I got him a couple days ago but now doesn’t want to eat, and is pooping white strings all day.

He’s in a QT with Cupramine at the moment, and I’ve added Prazipro last night too in case this is worms.

Anything else I should do?

I’ve lost a couple clowns to this in Quarantine before.

Looks like a wild caught ocellaris?
Any other fish in with it?

Worms really do not cause mucus feces, so prazi really isn’t for that symptom - that only treats external flukes and tapeworms.

White feces and not eating typically is caused by protozoans. One, coccidia, isn’t treatable. Hexamita or Spironucleous are two others - you can try treating them with metronidazole in the water.

Jay

 

[Aronsaquarium]

Looks like a wild caught ocellaris?
Any other fish in with it?

Worms really do not cause mucus feces, so prazi really isn’t for that symptom - that only treats external flukes and tapeworms.

White feces and not eating typically is caused by protozoans. One, coccidia, isn’t treatable. Hexamita or Spironucleous are two others - you can try treating them with metronidazole in the water.

Jay

I’m not sure if it’s wild caught, though I’ve never seen an ocellaris as big as a maroon before in a LFS so makes sense that it’s wild

So this is good to know.
I’ll do a water change now

And try to get some of that.

Is it something that can go away on its own or the fish is doomed?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’m not sure if it’s wild caught, though I’ve never seen an ocellaris as big as a maroon before in a LFS so makes sense that it’s wild

So this is good to know.
I’ll do a water change now

And try to get some of that.

Is it something that can go away on its own or the fish is doomed?

Fish looks good and good swim action and activity. Often excess mucus is related to foods fed and if you are offering mostly brine and mysis shrimp, add TDO pellets, formula one flakes as examples to change up diet and reduce mucus content if it plays a role.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I’m not sure if it’s wild caught, though I’ve never seen an ocellaris as big as a maroon before in a LFS so makes sense that it’s wild

So this is good to know.
I’ll do a water change now

And try to get some of that.

Is it something that can go away on its own or the fish is doomed?

Since the fish was eating and has now stopped, it is unlikely to get better on its own, as it seems to be going downhill.

Metroplex/Metronidazole is the one option I can think of, but to be perfectly honest, I avoid large wild caught clownfish, they have a very poor track record of making it through quarantine.

Jay

 

[Aronsaquarium]

It had slightly cloudy eyes now, does that mean anything?

 

[grimcarnage]

Had a similar situation with my clown. Started seeing white strings, and I freaked out after Googling the symptoms. Dosed API General Cure (It's Metronidazole and Prazi powder) immediately. So if you can't find Metronidazole on it's own like Jay Hemdal suggested, API GC has worked well for me, and it's usually at Pet Smart / Petco.

She's still alive many years later. Nothing new was introduced to the tank, so the only possibility of new bacterial infection would have come from the frozen food.

Not saying it's not spironucleosis, or some other disease, but I saw a video once that indicated a possible nutritional issue if the string is clear/white. Like vetteguy mentioned, I was only feeding Marine Cuisine and brine shrimp. So she might have just been constipated. Since then, my clowns get five types of food, Marine Cuisine, brine shrimp, PE mysis shrimp, tdo pellets, and Nyos Wild Goji. Clownfish aren't obligate carnivores, and mine will also eat algae.

Every so often, she'll skip a meal or two when something new gets added to the tank, and I'll freak out. I think she does it just to keep me on my toes or as a protest to anything changing in her world.

Hoping yours just needs some fiber. I can't see from the pic, but might give him some pvc or a rock to hide behind if there's nothing in that tank. Might lower the stress level. Just my two cents.

Best of luck. May Posiden be with you.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It had slightly cloudy eyes now, does that mean anything?

That's a general symptom of extra mucus on the fish (it is just more visible on the eyes). It is not a symptom of any specific disease, but rather, could be one of a few different ones.

Jay

 

[Aronsaquarium]

Since the fish was eating and has now stopped, it is unlikely to get better on its own, as it seems to be going downhill.

Metroplex/Metronidazole is the one option I can think of, but to be perfectly honest, I avoid large wild caught clownfish, they have a very poor track record of making it through quarantine.

Jay

Thanks so much for this!
I put metroplex into QT.

I never knew about this wild-caught with clowns particularly.
I’ve never had issues on this level aside from these occelaris, I’ve had a few so far just not make it through quarantine.
So this all makes sense now

All I can do is hope this one survives.
Otherwise I’ll have to try find a place that sells captive.. my LFS doesn’t