Clownfish disease

[thereefdoctor]

Hi, I would be interested to know what people think is going on here. I have two Mocavinci juvenille clowns I bought at my LFS. They had just arrived when I picked them up a week ago and were still temp acclimating in bags there when I bought them so it was a bit hard to see them well. When I got them home I noted that both had erosions on the dorsal aspect of their posterior heads as well as cloudy eyes (both in one fish, one eye in the other). It has taken a full week for them to get really hungry to the point where they are eating frozen brine shrimp (LFS diet recommendation while quarantining) well now. I have them in a 10 gallon quarantine tank that I have posted about previously. I'm not sure if this is hole in head disease or a combination of things, or if it could be many things; just wanted to see what people though is going on.

I treated with API General Cure as instructed on packaging, removed filter floss until about 24h after each dose (total of 2 doses 48h apart then ran carbon after day 4). So far the only significant improvement I have noted is in appetite but not in the erosions or the cloudiness of the eyes. I'm curious if the next best step is start treating copper or something else.

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[thereefdoctor]

Edit: sorry the second photo came out small. Here's a bigger one.

 

[thereefdoctor]

If someone could please help

 

[thereefdoctor]

@Humblefish
@HotRocks
@4FordFamily

I heard you were the best so wanted to see if there were any thoughts?

 

[Humblefish]

Have you seen any white stringy poop?

 

[4FordFamily]

I would try a freshwater dip in a dark bucket, look for “sesame seeds” at the bottom afterward to rule out flukes.

 

[thereefdoctor]

the poop looks pretty normal. I’ll try the freshwater dip and see what comes of it. Thanks for the replies!!

 

[Dierks]

Any Updates?

 

[thereefdoctor]

Any Updates?

I did the freshwater dip last night. Wanted to wait for some air stones to arrive by mail which is why there was a delay. Ran them with a power head and the fish for about 5 minutes. The fish did well, looking slightly better afterwards today but I imagine the skin breakdown will take some time to heal within good water parameters. Didn’t see anything really come off in the bucket but the cloudiness in the fishes eyes is much improved and they’re eating better, swimming stronger.

Im wondering if the next best step would be to go ahead with copper prophylaxis or repeat gen cure or something else for now? What do u guys think.

 

[Humblefish]

I'd run them through copper + dose Metroplex every 48 hours for the first 10 days. Clownfish are notorious for carrying Brook, and Metro will knock that out. Copper will prophylactically address Ich/velvet.

 

[thereefdoctor]

I'd run them through copper + dose Metroplex every 48 hours for the first 10 days. Clownfish are notorious for carrying Brook, and Metro will knock that out. Copper will prophylactically address Ich/velvet.

Sounds good, I’m on it. Thank you much!