Emergency! Clown fish pair lying down. Are they dying?

[emmasmithhy]

So I have two clownfish and got them about two weeks ago. I have noticed some small spots on the black fish. Probaly ich and I have cupramine copper treatment arriving tomorrow. But today they have got a lot worse. The brown on has been breathing heavily for a few days and doesn’t eat much and now the orange one is breathing heavy aswell.
I have done a freshwater bath on the brown one but seems to have got worse. I have also added an ammonia remover today as I though that might be the case but no improvement in activity yet.
I have read about possibly doing a 37.5% formalin bath and a QT but I can’t find any products for that in my country.
what should I do? I don’t want them to die they were expensive! Please help!

 

[Tamberav]

Can you post a photo?

Is the tank cycled? You said you tested ammonia so wasn’t sure.

 

[emmasmithhy]

Can you post a photo?

Is the tank cycled? You said you tested ammonia so wasn’t sure.

Yes my tank has been going cycled since December and no issues until I got the fish.

 

[ragnarokreviews]

Yes my tank has been going cycled since December and no issues until I got the fish.

I'm not sure, but when I see fish looking like this with rapid breathing laying down, its usually because of low oxygen, shock, or both. One time I almost killed everything in my tank because I put in this medicine stuff from Petco and I barely managed to save everything except some macro algae and a snail by pulling them out, putting them in clean new salt water and running them by hand back and forth through it until they got the old stuff out of their system, and mixing and performing a new 85% water change on the fly to the tank. I warmed up the water and everything as fast as I could. Got it mixed up in about 45 minuets. Turns out the meds from Petco ate up the O2 they needed in the water despite my filter system running. You could also have just poor oxygenation? Anything you added or changed recently? what are your parameters?

 

[emmasmithhy]

Im not sure, but when I see fish looking like this with rapid breathing laying down, its usually because of low oxygen, shock, or both. One time I almost killed everything in my tank because I put in this medicine stuff from Petco and I barely managed to save everything except some macro algae and a snail by pulling them out and doing a 85% water change on the fly. Turns out it ate up the O2 they needed in the water despite my filter system running. You could also have just poor oxygenation? Anything you added or changed recently?

i will put an air stone in now to see. i bought a torch and hammer the other day but they were heavy breathing before that

 

[ragnarokreviews]

i will put an air stone in now to see. i bought a torch and hammer the other day but they were heavy breathing before that

That's a good start for now. I am sure other people here will also have more insight too.

 

[Grumblez]

The mocha clown looks a bit like brook

Brooklynella

Brooklynella hostilis (updated 6-9-2023) What You Need To Know: * This is most often seen with clownfish, but it can afflict other fish (usually in the gills) as well. When a clownfish has Brook, the skin will appear to be peeling or sloughing off. Which is actually excess white mucous coming...

humble.fish

 

[Grumblez]

Although it could just be that it's color is fading due to stress. The air stone will help you might want to consider a fresh water bath and then putting them in a sterile salt water set up until tomorrow.
@jayhemdal

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm not sure, but when I see fish looking like this with rapid breathing laying down, its usually because of low oxygen, shock, or both. One time I almost killed everything in my tank because I put in this medicine stuff from Petco and I barely managed to save everything except some macro algae and a snail by pulling them out, putting them in clean new salt water and running them by hand back and forth through it until they got the old stuff out of their system, and mixing and performing a new 85% water change on the fly to the tank. I warmed up the water and everything as fast as I could. Got it mixed up in about 45 minuets. Turns out the meds from Petco ate up the O2 they needed in the water despite my filter system running. You could also have just poor oxygenation? Anything you added or changed recently? what are your parameters?

Not low oxygen or shock but mucus in the gills.

 

[ragnarokreviews]

Not low oxygen or shock but mucus in the gills.

Ooooh yeah that would do it too! I have not run into that yet but that is good to look out for.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not stress, not bad water- Its a clown disease known as brooklynella. Theyre laying because they are lethargic due to factors described below. The most noticeable symptom of Brooklynella is the heavy amount of slime that is produced by a fish that has contracted this parasite. As the disease progresses, a thick whitish mucus covers the body. This will usually start at the head and spread outward across the entire body. Skin lesions appear and it is not uncommon for signs of secondary bacterial infections. Other signs of brook are fish scraping up against objects, rapid respiration and fish often gasping for air at the surface as the gills become clogged with mucus. Very quickly the fish will become lethargic, refuse to eat, and its colors will fade as you have noticed.
Typical treatment is a standard formalin solution is mixed with either fresh or saltwater in a separate treatment container. Initially, all fish are given a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration, followed by continued treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank (QT). Of course, the longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this disease.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief may be provided by giving fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.