Clownfish stopped eating in QT.

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 17, 2020

Sigh.. This is becoming an emotional rollercoaster.

This morning, both are hardly interested in food. The female is darting all over the tank like mad and scratching against the bottom a ton, just back and forth.

The male just swimming pretty normal but also barely eating.

Currently tank is not treated.

Temp 77 ph8. 2 ammonia 0 nitrite 0.1. This is after 100 percent WC (tank swap) yesterday.

Lost at this pint as to what to do... About the only thing I haven't treated for is prazi resistant flukes.... However after doing the FW dip I didn't really see anything fall off.

Fenbendazole should be here tomorrow to do a 12h bath. But at this point it almost feels like torturing the poor fish.

Reef AquaCult · Feb 17, 2020

Wow you have tried very hard. It could be copper resistant velvet as I have seen several posts on this now and also on humble.fish forum. Its hard to find in a pinch but you could try chloroquine phosphate. You could use low dose copper again to stabilize until CP arrives. If you tried FW dip, agree its probably not resistant flukes. Can you try hyposalinity? Its easy on fish and treats ich and many flukes (but not velvet). 1.009 SG just dont use hypo with copper as it increases the available copper. You could also give the disease more time to present itself so you have a clear diagnosis, but then obviously it may progress to the point of no return. Hard to tell what you have with scratching and not eating the only symptoms. Best wishes

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 17, 2020

Scratching and not eating is the only two things I've seen....which could be any number of things.

So far they've gotten better (started eating) after rally bath and again after methylene Blue bath, so I may do those to get them to eat but at the same time trying to net them is probably stressing the daylights out of them.

Been sitting here just looking at them for the last 15 minutes. She stopped scratching but still swimming around like she's anxious or worked up.

Ordered 100g of CP.

Reef AquaCult · Feb 17, 2020

You can also try store-bought hydrogen peroxide 1-2cc/10 gallons twice daily, this will help kill surface parasites like ich and velvet (especially velvet) if youre done with copper and not doing CP. I put a mandarin fish through 4 week QT doing 3cc / 10 gallons twice daily without any visible harm to the fish. See "hybrid TTM" for more dosing information. I dont think I would stop ich/velvet treatment based on the response to dips and rapid symptom development in a med-free tank.

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 17, 2020

This is them after 5g water change this morning.

Not sure if I'm starting to be paranoid but I noticed that she keeps looping around the pvc then swims into the HOB out current. Also noticed what looks like yawns now and again. Sorry about crap video, had to zoom in from the couch because if I come to tank she comes to me.

Reef AquaCult · Feb 17, 2020

1st video look normal and ready to eat. 2nd video also look normal, but the swimming into the current may or may not be anything. Would be interesting to see the scratching you are talking about. Some normal fish swim into the current for exercise but if it becomes incessant then its probably abnormal. nice fish!

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 17, 2020

Of course they haven't scratched since this morning.....lol.

Like right now, they're just cruising through the tank. Every now and then she'll swim fast left to right then perches back up on the Pvc under the HOB out current.

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 17, 2020

Just tried to feed them, both looked eager but only ate a bit, suppose better than nothing.

Then female started doing what she did in the morning. Best way I can describe it is dog "zoomies".... Darts around the. Carpet dives into the floor. Scratching is towards the end of the vid.

Best I could get.

TheShrimpNibbler · Feb 17, 2020

Could it be brook? Maybe the fish are being helped by the rally bath which kills brook, and then being reinfected after they go into contaminated tanks.

Wolters_88 · Feb 17, 2020

TheShrimpNibbler said:
Could it be brook? Maybe the fish are being helped by the rally bath which kills brook, and then being reinfected after they go into contaminated tanks.

Was thinking the same thing. Maybe give the rally bath then put in the second tank?

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 17, 2020

TheShrimpNibbler said:
Could it be brook? Maybe the fish are being helped by the rally bath which kills brook, and then being reinfected after they go into contaminated tanks.

Both were through Rally bath prior to QT, then went into a sterile (disinfected with vinegar then air dried) for copper. After copper they went into 2nd sterile tank and went through 2 rounds of General Cure, which would/should have taken care of Brook...though I suppose its possible it could have survived.

Every single time I've done a Rally or Methelyne Blue bath they were transferred into a fresh (previously sterilized tank). Tanks are in completely different rooms of the house.

Based on this I really do not suspect re-contamination...unless I'm REALLY unlucky. Right now, there haven't been any obvious signs of Brook...or really any other specific disease (thus my frustration). So at this point, as long as they keep eating, even a bit, I'm going to just keep observing until something obvious show up....otherwise I'm going to drive myself crazy.

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 17, 2020

I have CP coming in the mail and

Wolters_88 said:
Was thinking the same thing. Maybe give the rally bath then put in the second tank?

Just got done sterilizing the other tank so it's going to need to dry, likely a day or 2.

I'm going to hold off on doing anything for 24 hrs or so (tank dry) unless I see anything major change. I should have fenbendazole tomorrow and will do a 12h bath for possible prazi resistant flukes. Then transfer to a fresh tank... Again. Then wait on CP to arrive. Once I get CP I will run full cycle of CP. Between those two, pretty much everything should be covered, unless I'm missing something... Which is possible at this point as I'm pretty brain fried.

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 18, 2020

So, another day, another update...

Meds coming in today, but after watching the little ones yesterday and today....I'm going to hold off on meds. While they're not exactly ravenous, they do show interest in food but don't eat a ton but they eat. Not seeing any signs of "bad stuff" other than their pickiness in food. Not sure if it's stress of all the meds and being moved in and out of tanks and baths. At this point, I think they could use a bit of stability.

So the previous plan for bath and CP is on hold, I'm just going to keep observing for now and do WC every other day. If I don't see anything in the next two weeks, the'll probably go in the DT.

Reef AquaCult · Feb 18, 2020

AbjectMaelstroM said:
So, another day, another update...

Meds coming in today, but after watching the little ones yesterday and today....I'm going to hold off on meds. While they're not exactly ravenous, they do show interest in food but don't eat a ton but they eat. Not seeing any signs of "bad stuff" other than their pickiness in food. Not sure if it's stress of all the meds and being moved in and out of tanks and baths. At this point, I think they could use a bit of stability.

So the previous plan for bath and CP is on hold, I'm just going to keep observing for now and do WC every other day. If I don't see anything in the next two weeks, the'll probably go in the DT.

Keep us updated

AbjectMaelstroM · Feb 18, 2020

Reef AquaCult said:
Keep us updated

Will do!

In the meantime, just wanted to say thanks to everything whom chimed in. Nice having access to such a vast amount of knowledge and experience at your fingertips.