Clownfish behavior

[Dawson_hatton]

I just got another ocellaris so there would be a pair of them in my evo 13.5, and they already paired up however my newest one is acting kind of funny and not really eating, she will go for bigger chunks of food but either just not actually grab them, or grab them and spit them out. aside from that she seems to not be as wiggly as my other clown and seems kind of stiff if you will...not sure what’s up. I was thinking maybe it’s just because she’s a bit older and looks like she has some battle scars, but it also kind of looks like she has some slime coat build up in certain spots. I know she doesn’t have velvet or anything super severe as i’ve delt with a clown who had ich and velvet at the same time (and survived!) plus my LFS quarantines all their fish before selling them. water parems are fine, I got salinity at 1.024, 0 ammonia, no nitrates or nitrites.

 

[Dawson_hatton]

not the best quality, but in this one you can kinda see where there’s a little bit of the white coating below her gills, and on her sides next to her dorsal fin. today I plan on going out and getting some frozen shrimp for them and seeing if she eats that better, since my LFS doesn’t feed pellets I don’t believe. what’s interesting is my original clown seemed to have something similar but it resolved by itself shortly...maybe it’s just because she’s new and still a bit stressed, i’m not really sure, anyone have any ideas of what it could be?

 

[fishguy242]

HI ,read the stickys on to of disease forum,dr.jay just wrote an article on mucus ,in last few days,best wishes ,@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

not the best quality, but in this one you can kinda see where there’s a little bit of the white coating below her gills, and on her sides next to her dorsal fin. today I plan on going out and getting some frozen shrimp for them and seeing if she eats that better, since my LFS doesn’t feed pellets I don’t believe. what’s interesting is my original clown seemed to have something similar but it resolved by itself shortly...maybe it’s just because she’s new and still a bit stressed, i’m not really sure, anyone have any ideas of what it could be?

I see the same things you are: diffuse mucus on its body and lethargic swimming behavior. In the first video, I also see some stringy feces. The fish isn't breathing too rapidly, so I think we can rule out velvet. It could be the start of Brooklynella. More likely, it is a systemic bacterial infection - that would account for the mucus in both the feces and the fish's skin. What else is in the tank with them? Treating your main tank is going to be problematic.

Jay

 

[Dawson_hatton]

it’s just the two clowns, a baby blue chromis and my inverts...I don’t really think it’s brook since my other clown had a similar white spot that went away on its own and he’s fine now while I know brook can be a fast killer, but bacterial infection could be plausible. I noticed the stringy poop in all the fish, the chromis and other clown however seem incredibly healthy...so I’m really not sure. I’m kind of maxed out on my budget right now, spent a lot of money on the tank recently to ensure long term success, but what would you recommend for treatment? Also I might want to add I haven’t noticed any scratching or anything, however I’ve noticed and occasional burst of energy or jolt in the clown, but then again clownfish are weird fish so you never really know with them. she still will occasionally charge my male clownfish too (not really aggressively, she just nudges him). another weird thing i’ve noticed is she seems to become more active when i’m not near the tank. it’s super weird

 

[Dawson_hatton]

also just realized these almost bite mark looking things on its head, and an indent on its lateral line...plus the stringy poop.

 

[ZoWhat]

Some Clownfish are "old souls" and take at least 2-3 weeks to settle in and fully accept their environment

I've seen certain clowns just hide in a top-corner of a tank for weeeeeeks before being happy.

You might think they aren't eating but their metabolismis a lot slower than super active swimming fish and only require a miniscule amt of food.

Give your new "old timer soul " time to settle in

 

[Dawson_hatton]

thanks, that’s what I was assuming for the most part, however she also is rather lethargic and has the small white splotches and holes in the head, plus I just realized she was clutching her fins and fluttering them at the same time which was fairly odd. I treated with H202 because that’s always worked for everything with me, so i’ll just have to patiently see how it goes I guess, worst case scenario I have a bottle of cupramine.

 

[Dawson_hatton]

now the clown won’t eat, and her appearance seems a bit worse. I tried everything, garlic covered pellets, shrimp, nothing will entice it. I had a clown with severe ich and marine velvet that still ate, but I don’t even know what this is, but it appears to be HLLE