Clownfish Woes

irishatlu07 · Jun 9, 2022

My first tank almost 20 years ago was 10gallon FOWLR with clownfish and fwe hermits. My clownfish (Jack) lived for 14 years before kicking the bucket.

Now I have had my 30 gallon biocube reef tank. I had two clownfish, pink streaked wrasse and bi-color blenny for year,but in last month my clowns have died and other fish are doing great. First clown (Spot) was a swim bladder issue, not sure except had trouble swimming and balancing before dieing over night. My other clownfish (Sunny) died. He had a huge ulcer looking spot that fell off left a deep wound open and he died within hour of this happening. Needless say been emotional month. All other fish and corals are doing great. Is this just bad luck? Just confused on how other fish and even corals all doing great but my clowns have died. Clowns were captive breed and all fish were from same LFS.

Sharkbait19 · Jun 9, 2022

Sorry to hear.
Pics?
Being in there for a year and no problems doesn’t seem to indicate disease. It’s possible there was aggression from others.

irishatlu07 · Jun 9, 2022

Sharkbait19 said:
Sorry to hear.
Pics?
Being in there for a year and no problems doesn’t seem to indicate disease. It’s possible there was aggression from others.

Pictures came out little fuzzy. I didnt take one after it came off to show wound. Put pictures of full tank before everything went down hill for the clowns.

Sharkbait19 · Jun 10, 2022

Looking at the fish, it appears to be a bacterial infection, likely as a result of an injury.
I’m also seeing a lot of mucus near the head, but that may be the picture rather than the actual fish.

How are the still living fish doing?

irishatlu07 · Jun 10, 2022

Sharkbait19 said:
Looking at the fish, it appears to be a bacterial infection, likely as a result of an injury.
I’m also seeing a lot of mucus near the head, but that may be the picture rather than the actual fish.

How are the still living fish doing?

Yeah, the head looking that way is more of the picture blur/fuzzy. What would cause the wound? Aggression is only thing I can think of but I haven't witness any personally, but never know what happens when not present to observe. Guess just had rash of bad luck. Everyone else is doing great.

Sharkbait19 · Jun 10, 2022

irishatlu07 said:
Yeah, the head looking that way is more of the picture blur/fuzzy. What would cause the wound? Aggression is only thing I can think of but I haven't witness any personally, but never know what happens when not present to observe. Guess just had rash of bad luck. Everyone else is doing great.

Usually getting scraped on a rock too hard or simply too much aggression will cause wounds that can get infected. Generally it isn’t contagious.

jfoahs04 · Jun 10, 2022

I'm sorry for your losses. I don't have much constructive to add other than in my nearly 20 years in this hobby, I've had some of my worst luck with clownfish. I've had a few that have been borderline bomb proof (lone survivors of tank crashes), but I've also experienced disproportionate loss relative to some other (supposedly more finnicky) fish. I don't have a good explanation or even hypothesis, but clowns are definitely not as indestructible for me as they are for others.