Dying Clownfish, Any Assistance Appreciated

[Chriskim858]

Hello,
My clownfish has been acting weird and just laying in the sand, barely moving. I gave it food but it ate from the bottom when it usually comes up to eat. I see bruising on his side but I’m not sure if that’s from the other clownfish hitting him which I’ve seen recently. Thoughts?
Salinity - 1.23
Nitrates - 0
Ammonia - 0
Temp - 78

Any help is greatly appreciated

I just did a water change of 20%
it is a nano tank 10 gallon and they are 3 months old. I feed them Bryne shrimp

I did a 1/2 dose of metro and erythromycin recommended by the lfs. He was active when I put it in but he back to laying on the side on the floor. I just got them yesterday.

Tank was cycled two weeks ago using dr. Tim’s and ammonia and I waited another week before getting these guys. The other one is very active so I don’t think it’s he water or the diet.. I really don’t want to lose him but I know sometimes they don’t make it when they just get purchased. Please help

It looks like he’s trying to swim up but he can’t, he moves for food. I tried to do a fw duo but he would hide and I didn’t want to stress him as his white stripes have lost a lot of color, it looks yellowish like the sand. Very concerned. Took my water to the lfs so they can check as well and it all checked out. Out of ideas...

There are no other fish nor coral.
I have the aqua flow 70 and a wave maker pushed upwards for air circulation but it’s a 10 gallon tank.

Worst case I don’t know if I should remove him into a different tank because if he dies, ammonia will get released and it can be harmful to the other clownfish yes? They are both babies so I feel like they will be heavily impacted. It’s heartbreaking to see the one clownfish trying to o help my dying one to stay up.

 

[Chriskim858]

The only thing I can add is that he is breathing very heavily as he is laying down. He threw up like a small white stringlike thing and then ate it again... wasn’t the pictures of poop from unomera? Or whatever the disease is with the white string discharge, that one was way longer than what I saw by 4-5x

 

[Chriskim858]

Current situation

 

[Birdbrains?]

I am sorry about that.
How is it doing now?
Stress is always a possibility when moving fish, and their system shuts down, for about 12 hours if they stress. Perhaps the smaller fish just got the upper hand and scared the bigger fish, perhaps the salinity was not 100% aligned with the tank water from the store and the bigger clown got stressed more than the small one. Either way, the smaller clown does not seem to be acting submissively towards to bigger clown and it is probably trying to take this as an opportunity to gain rank.

Do you have something like an isolation box that you can use to separate the smaller clown to give the bigger some more rest? They can vomit if they get too full, so that it threw up might just be because it cannot digest right now because of it's condition. White slime usually comes from digestion fluids so the white string might not be worm/disease related. If the fish dies, you should probably give a huge portion of worm cure to the healthy fish to be on the safe side.

I am not sure that you can save this fish, it seems very weak now. But when they are subdued by another fish, they can become paler, so perhaps getting the smaller fish away from it, with a box or a separation wall, might help alittle.

 

[Chriskim858]

I don’t but currently they are both now acting the same behavior and the healthy one was very active before. Not sure if it was due to using up all his energy to protect the sick one or not. I think I’m going to a lfs and getting a qt and separating them.

 

[Chriskim858]

Sick one is still alive and I did another 25% water change. Everything is reading zero still.

 

[Chriskim858]

Current situation

 

[Birdbrains?]

Oh darn!
Medication could be eating up the oxygenation, try putting in an air tube in the main tank also?

 

[Chriskim858]

Okay thanks, I also have a wave maker tilted upwards for more air. Will call the lfs i got the fish from in a few hours and see what to do

 

[Chriskim858]

The brown one is back to normal, just the zombie clown that’s sick

 

[Birdbrains?]

The brown one is back to normal, just the zombie clown that’s sick

Good, keep on fighting nice and easy! I couldn't make out any bruised area on the clips or pictures, so I can't really tell what is up but lack of oxygen could make them exhausted as well. I don't know the behaviour of ocellaris very well but when I introduced my smallest polymnus, it was damaged and scared, and it kept hiding in a crack between the glass and rock. It was pale at first and after emerging from the crack, it still stayed in the area near where it was first placed. It took a lot of persuasion from the other polymnus to get the scared one to come out of that spot. Don't stress, just figure out if they are sick or stressed and what type of meds they need so you can help them. Your fish was still eating so that is a really good sign so far.

 

[Krully]

It’s probably not the cause or the only issue but you shouldn’t rely on brine shrimp for feeding. It has poor nutritional value unless it’s freshly hatched. Feed mysis or flakes, a balanced diet is always better even for our little fishes. Best of luck

 

[Chriskim858]

What should the water hardness be? The LFS is asking and said it could be that nd that they won’t replace him

 

[Chriskim858]

It’s probably not the cause or the only issue but you shouldn’t rely on brine shrimp for feeding. It has poor nutritional value unless it’s freshly hatched. Feed mysis or flakes, a balanced diet is always better even for our little fishes. Best of luck

The mysis is too big and the brine shrimp is newly hatched. So it says on the box, but I’ll try to get some garlic flakes too to help with potential worms?

 

[Ron Popeil]

try raising your temperature up to 82.

 

[Chriskim858]

I gave him to the lfs to see if they can get him back to health. I found some discharge in the tank when I was taking him out. I think he threw up and was a bit more active. I’m hoping they can heal him, I will wait and see. He said my water perimeters were all optimal

 

[Birdbrains?]

The water hardness in oceans is about 7, but you can keep it higher in tanks to stabilise pH swings. I don't know what ocellaris can take but generally it is said that any water parameter got to be changed slowly for fish to adapt. Garlic flavoured fish food should get most fish eating happily, Copepods and rotifers are also great food, and not as low on nutrient as brine shrimps.

Okay, sounds good, hopefully the lfs will get it back up again, don't be too sad about it.

You have to remember that fish use a a survival tactic of spawning tons and tons and tons of babies but in nature many of them would be too weak to survive and they become prey to other things. When we buy from tank raised fishes, nothing has been eating away at the weaker from the bunch, so sometime they just aren't the strong individual & it just doesn't go as we want it to go. Hopefully your fish was just shocked and can still recover and get back to your tank.