Clowns struggling

[Twotoedsloth]

I am new to the hobby here,

I have had these clowns for about 10 weeks, 6 weeks in QT and a month or so in the new tank.

they were doing great, and then a week ago they were hanging a lot up by the pumps and I didn’t think much of it.
But then one went down hill fast with rapid breathing, but no other sign of a problem, and this guy is now heading in the same direction.
There is also a cardinal fish in there that is just hanging out and all good. They were eating well up until a day ago.
But I don’t see any other problems other than rapid breathing and very lethargic.

he was gulping for air at the surface so I thought maybe lack of oxygen, so I put in another pump (I was only running 1) and set one to agitate the surface more. I also did a 50% water change and then he just went to the bottom similar to the other one so I pulled him out.

any thoughts?

40 gallon tank, 3 fish only

parameters were all good yesterday when I tested them.

 

[TheSharksDen]

When you say parameters are good, what are they? Any changes recently, WC, ect?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

A Tank pic will help a lot

 

[Twotoedsloth]

When you say parameters are good, what are they? Any changes recently, WC, ect?

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 1
Phosphate = .25 mg/l (might be in between .25 and .5)
Salinity = 1.025
Temp. 76

I run a Huval 207 canister filter

and I have 2 powerbeads in there.

I just have 3 fish in there, all quarantined and saw no problems. and they have been in the tank eating like pigs and swimming around all carefree and joyful, and then suddenly all this.

and the Cardinal is still just sitting there looking all grumpy eating like a pig still.

oh and no changes recently. I do 10% WC every week. and I just did a 50% or so WC when all this went down.

 

[Twotoedsloth]

A Tank pic will help a lot

Not the best pic, but there it is. I have the clown now up in an isolation box. He’s just laying there all sad. Still alive though, so maybe I can save him.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

looks nice , I would just caution to keep the water surface very aggitated to help with gas exchange, oxygen has to travel down further in cube tanks, so have good flow in the tank. A protein skimmer really helps oxiginate the water

 

[Twotoedsloth]

looks nice , I would just caution to keep the water surface very aggitated to help with gas exchange, oxygen has to travel down further in cube tanks, so have good flow in the tank. A protein skimmer really helps oxiginate the water

Yes, put in another pump and put one at the surface to get more agitation. I’m going to order a protein skimmer.

I just hope that’s the issue and not something more sinister.

 

[Twotoedsloth]

Yes, put in another pump and put one at the surface to get more agitation. I’m going to order a protein skimmer.

I just hope that’s the issue and not something more sinister.

looks nice , I would just caution to keep the water surface very aggitated to help with gas exchange, oxygen has to travel down further in cube tanks, so have good flow in the tank. A protein skimmer really helps oxiginate the water

Well, no improvement so far, so either prolonged oxygen deprivation that or can’t recover from or something more sinister.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I was just giving a tank suggestion but I’m not a fish medic. I think it’s #fishmedic they can help more in regards to fish health.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Well, no improvement so far, so either prolonged oxygen deprivation that or can’t recover from or something more sinister.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I read through the thread, and a definitive diagnosis isn't clear to me - as long as you have good surface agitation (with bubbles) you can rule out low oxygen or high carbon dioxide.

That leaves gill disease - the most common one is velvet/Amyloodinium. However, that affects all fish rapidly and they stop eating and die in a couple of days.

One gill disease that can affect certain species over others, not show as spots, and kills more slowly is gill flukes. That can be treated with Prazipro, 2x, spaced 8 days apart, with really good aeration and a 25% water change before the second treatment. However, clownfish do not get this disease as commonly as other fish do, so that clouds my daignosis.

Jay

 

[Twotoedsloth]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I read through the thread, and a definitive diagnosis isn't clear to me - as long as you have good surface agitation (with bubbles) you can rule out low oxygen or high carbon dioxide.

That leaves gill disease - the most common one is velvet/Amyloodinium. However, that affects all fish rapidly and they stop eating and die in a couple of days.

One gill disease that can affect certain species over others, not show as spots, and kills more slowly is gill flukes. That can be treated with Prazipro, 2x, spaced 8 days apart, with really good aeration and a 25% water change before the second treatment. However, clownfish do not get this disease as commonly as other fish do, so that clouds my daignosis.

Jay

Flukes was the other option I was looking into. I'm going to do a freshwater bath today to see if I can see anything that may fall off.

and I overnighted some Prazipro, my local stores don't have any. So I'll give that a go. He's still alive, and this is day three of the heaving breathing.

Here's another question, as I was thinking back, and reading about oxygen deprivation, They were exhibiting some signs of it about a week ago. They were swimming at the top, swimming next to the flow, they weren't quite as active as they were before.

I was concerned so I was looking up information and mostly what I got from all that was "Clownfish are weird and do that stuff all the time" - so I didn't pursue anything until the heavy breathing started.

my question is, if they were in a low oxygen environment for a week, could they recover from that, or is the fact that there is no improvement possibly from that prolonged deprivation? I've upped the flow quite a bit in the tank and the surface agitation and the little isn't improving.

Anyway, I'll do a FW dip today and hopefully that Prazipro will make it here while it's still alive and I'll do that as well and see if Flukes is the answer.

Those were the only two possibilities I could find. Most of the other things have symptoms that I'm just not seeing. So it's very confusing.

thanks so much for your help.

James

 

[Twotoedsloth]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I read through the thread, and a definitive diagnosis isn't clear to me - as long as you have good surface agitation (with bubbles) you can rule out low oxygen or high carbon dioxide.

That leaves gill disease - the most common one is velvet/Amyloodinium. However, that affects all fish rapidly and they stop eating and die in a couple of days.

One gill disease that can affect certain species over others, not show as spots, and kills more slowly is gill flukes. That can be treated with Prazipro, 2x, spaced 8 days apart, with really good aeration and a 25% water change before the second treatment. However, clownfish do not get this disease as commonly as other fish do, so that clouds my daignosis.

Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Flukes was the other option I was looking into. I'm going to do a freshwater bath today to see if I can see anything that may fall off.

and I overnighted some Prazipro, my local stores don't have any. So I'll give that a go. He's still alive, and this is day three of the heaving breathing.

Here's another question, as I was thinking back, and reading about oxygen deprivation, They were exhibiting some signs of it about a week ago. They were swimming at the top, swimming next to the flow, they weren't quite as active as they were before.

I was concerned so I was looking up information and mostly what I got from all that was "Clownfish are weird and do that stuff all the time" - so I didn't pursue anything until the heavy breathing started.

my question is, if they were in a low oxygen environment for a week, could they recover from that, or is the fact that there is no improvement possibly from that prolonged deprivation? I've upped the flow quite a bit in the tank and the surface agitation and the little isn't improving.

Anyway, I'll do a FW dip today and hopefully that Prazipro will make it here while it's still alive and I'll do that as well and see if Flukes is the answer.

Those were the only two possibilities I could find. Most of the other things have symptoms that I'm just not seeing. So it's very confusing.

thanks so much for your help.

James

Sorry, I don't know about long term effects from oxygen deprivation in fish...I've never heard of it, or seen it myself, but maybe? Most low oxygen events are acute - the fish either die outright, or when the oxygen level goes back up the fish recover.

Jay

 

[killer2001]

I would get an airstone in there temporarily just to see if they respond to the added aeration. Plop it right in at the center of the tank. On top of that, I would also look into raising temp to 78-79 degrees to see if the clowns become more active in warmer waters. Verify temperature with multiple devices. And raise the temperature slowly over a few days.

 

[Lavey29]

Was it a medicated QT before the DT or just observational?

 

[Twotoedsloth]

Was it a medicated QT before the DT or just observational?

It was 40 days observational. And had been in the tank for over a month.

and with a day of solid flow and agitation the little guy has made a come back. He's swimming around much more normally now. He still hasn't eaten yet, so I'm keeping a very close eye on him, but the breathing is back to normal. I added in an air stone as well just to make sure.

hopefully he starts eating again soon.

 

[Twotoedsloth]

and I will forever do a medicated QT from here on out for sure just to cover all my bases as much as possible.

 

[Twotoedsloth]

HE ATE!! And is swimming around like normal. Hopefully he’s all good.

thanks
All

 

[Twotoedsloth]

Update:

he ate for a few days, then stopped eating the last day or so. But he’s swimming around and befriended the cardinal. Just won’t eat.
I’m not sure what to do with him.

 

[Twotoedsloth]

My question, and probably my plan, is to dose the tank with PraziPro. I only have the one clown and the cardinal fish in there, no corals or inverts.
But I do have some coming from Dr Reef very soon so I want to get to the bottom of this before adding any new fish.
Does that seem legit?