Clowns white string

[Username177013]

Hello everyone, I was wondering why my clown has a white string attached to his body?
I have not fed them yet since I got them yesterday.
Ammonia:1
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
PH:8.5
The other clown does not have this at the moment.

 

[KrisReef]

Is that coming out of a hole on the side of the fish or out of the vent-hole?

Looks like some kind of parasite exiting the fish, perhaps?

 

[Username177013]

Yes its on the side of fish. Should I return the clown since my LFS told me I could return the fish if anything happened to it.

 

[KrisReef]

That is up to you. I don't know you, but some folks would try to nurse it back to health because going back to the fish store won't ensure the fish gets any medical attention. I myself would want to identify the disease and figure out if having that pest exiting the fish creates a potential contamination issue to my other fishes? I would guess not, but that is just my guess, not something I would give to you as a recommendation to work with.

If you have kids that are watching, I would take it back. If you don't want to medicate, I would probably take it back, but if you feel like feeding it well and hoping that gets it over the issue that might be all that is required.

Lets ask for some real pesty knowledge ( ) to get you a more useful diagnosis if we can.

@ReefSquad , @Humblefish

 

[elorablue]

This is interesting. I saw a very similar thing yesterday. A white "string" hanging off the underside of one of my juvenile frostbite clowns. It was about an inch long but he swam by the powerhead and it blew off. The fish seems well and is eating normally. Nothing to see today.

 

[atul176]

This is interesting. I saw a very similar thing yesterday. A white "string" hanging off the underside of one of my juvenile frostbite clowns. It was about an inch long but he swam by the powerhead and it blew off. The fish seems well and is eating normally. Nothing to see today.

I had something similar happen to me. It was likely an internal parasite, and it infected my healthy clown. They all died unfortunately. You should try treating with API general cure with seachem focus. Your fish might be perfectly fine, but IME I wouldn’t risk it.