Clownfish fins (HELP)!!

RacinRevo0818 · Nov 11, 2012

I was just looking at my tank today and noticed my 2 Picasso clownfish fins are a little torn? Hopefully not fin rot hard to tell because most pictures seem to be extreme cases. I just noticed it today but they seem to be eating fine. I feed them Rods, Rogers, Oceans Nutrition prime reef, Formula one, Formula two, Elos svm2, Sustainable Aquatics hatchery diet. I have selcon but haven't used it lately and also garlic.
I have had them for at least 6 months and never had a problem. Other fish in tank do not seem to bother them and they dont seem to be fighting. For some reason they remove all the sand from one corner of tank and lay there sleeping at night. I have hermits but didn't know if they would bother them like that or not?
My tank is a RSM 250, 1.026, ph 8.1 to 7.7 readings coming from apex ph probe, temp is between 79.4-80, phos .03. Filtration consists of protein skimmer and chemipure elite. Weekly water changes performed of 5 gallons with rodi water and red sea pro salt.
Please advice me on the best options? I have a 10 hospital/quarantine tank and meds available are Neoplex, Metronidazole and Focus all of these are seachem products.
Should I remove them now? and see if fins repair?
Leave them in and observe?
These are my 2 favorite and most expensive fish so I dont want anything to happen. Please share your options and what you would do..
The smaller one seems to be only affected on his rear fin. The larger one isn't top and bottom of her 2nd fins from rear of fish.
They also seem to go crazy on each other at night rolling and rubbing aggressively on each other.

Alpha Aquaculture · Nov 11, 2012

Hi Daniel, sorry to hear about your issues. What other fish do you have and what is your qt procedure? I would start by making sure you qt any new fish before adding them to your tank to prevent further problems. As far as your water chemistry, percula and ocellaris clownfish are very hardy and so your problems are probably not caused by water chemistry. The pictures are tough to see clearly. I know they are hard to get good shots of but clearer photos would help to more accurately diagnose the issue. Two things came to mind right away, aggression and disease from your other fish/additions. If its aggression you might not notice it. These guys are around 1 year old and I'm sure the female is starting to show some dominance toward the male. Sometimes in rare situations the male can even take bites out of the female. There could be another fish taking bites out of them also. This is something you would have to observe to definitively say for sure. Just remember sometimes they can change their behavior when you are watching the tank because they can see you and their attention can shift towards you instead of each other. If its a disease I would start by trying to feed them a little extra and then clean a little extra. The idea is that no matter what the disease is your clowns will need a boost to their immune system. Extra energy and extra clean water is a great start. Then make sure you are feeding a nice mix of foods which it sounds like you are. I would use a turkey baster and try and spot feed them as much as you can instead of broadcast feeding a ton to your whole tank. That way they can get more and the tank will stay cleaner because you'll have to add less food in total. If its tail rot its a bacterial disease and you can use an antibiotic treatment either soaked on their food or in their water (probably in a qt setup). I've heard of people using Maracyn and Maracyn II in combination for bacterial issues. I've seen other people recommend other medications and I'm interested in hearing what others would recommend. Good luck! They are definitely a beautiful pair of clowns!

RacinRevo0818 · Nov 11, 2012

Thanks for the ideas.. These have been my latest addition to the tank so hopefully that would help. They seem to be pretty aggressive in the tank and I haven't seen anything picking on them. I will continue to keep an eye on them and hopefully they will heal up. Sounds like they are just picking on each other. There is also no redness or sore looking fins. Thanks again and yes these fish are BEAUTIFUL!! Thanks to you!!

Alpha Aquaculture · Nov 11, 2012

RacinRevo0818 said:
Thanks for the ideas.. These have been my latest addition to the tank so hopefully that would help. They seem to be pretty aggressive in the tank and I haven't seen anything picking on them. I will continue to keep an eye on them and hopefully they will heal up. Sounds like they are just picking on each other. There is also no redness or sore looking fins. Thanks again and yes these fish are BEAUTIFUL!! Thanks to you!!

No problem! I'm betting its just from aggression but please let us know how everything progresses.

Jovreefer · Nov 12, 2012

IDK ... it does not look like normal aggression damage to me although like alpha corals said, it is hard to tell in the pics.

What it looks like in your pics (and pardon if my description is hard to understand) is the soft parts of the fins are gone and some of the harder lines (or rays) are sticking out. This is usually what happens when something is rotting their fins, the softer parts go first followed by the harder areas.

Aggression usually shows splits down the fin and bite marks would take whole sections of fins, not leave rays pointing out. If the aggression is bad enough to take chunks out of fins you'd probably notice them fighting also.

I agree with Alpha to monitor them, keep a nice clean tank, and lots of food to help them heal.