Is my clownfish sick

Cmarie0411 · Oct 21, 2020

Hello. I am very new to saltwater aquarium. It have only had fish in it for one month . My levels are normal when I test the water. It’s 76 degrees. I have no live rock, just fish. 55 gal tank. We introduced 3 Blue green Chromis then a month later we introduced 2 clownfish. I have the clown fish have been in the tank about 4 days. They were doing fine and eating/swimming normal until today. I noticed the small clown fish was in the corner of tank swimming very strange. And then the closer I looked I noticed it looked like it had a dark belly that I am sure was not dark when I got him. The bigger clown hasn’t been acting strange but today I noticed a small white pimple like bump near its eye. It’s slightly red around the edges. Does anyone have any insight? I’m clueless and googling the internet suggest a million different things. Thanks!

AfaceInTheCrowd · Oct 21, 2020

I think pictures might help you get more help on this

Jay Hemdal · Oct 21, 2020

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Yes, a good picture would help. Another good diagnostic tool is to take a short video of the fish and post it to Youtube and then put the link up here. If a picture is worth a 100 words, then a video is worth 5000 (grin).

Can you also give us the actual readings of the water quality? Ammonia, salinity and pH if you know them.

Thanks,

Jay

Cmarie0411 · Oct 21, 2020

Cmarie0411 said:
Hello. I am very new to saltwater aquarium. It have only had fish in it for one month . My levels are normal when I test the water. It’s 76 degrees. I have no live rock, just fish. 55 gal tank. We introduced 3 Blue green Chromis then a month later we introduced 2 clownfish. I have the clown fish have been in the tank about 4 days. They were doing fine and eating/swimming normal until today. I noticed the small clown fish was in the corner of tank swimming very strange. And then the closer I looked I noticed it looked like it had a dark belly that I am sure was not dark when I got him. The bigger clown hasn’t been acting strange but today I noticed a small white pimple like bump near its eye. It’s slightly red around the edges. Does anyone have any insight? I’m clueless and googling the internet suggest a million different things. Thanks!

Ok here are some of the best pics I could get. It was pretty difficult to get a good one. Since I wrote this, the small clown fish was in the corner of the tank completely vertical with his head pointing down for quite a few hours. He didn’t move at all and was completely straight up and down. I just went back to take pictures for this thread and now he is swimming around again, seems To be swimming normal. I will try to get video later today. Also, the larger clown fish with the red pimple on his nose hasn’t left the bottom of the tank. Looks like sometimes he is even leaned over on his side? He didn’t eat today either. The redness on his face looks worse.

dark belly

another pic of dark belly

larger clown with red/white near eye

close up of red/white

thanks in advance everyone! I could use any guidance

Jay Hemdal · Oct 21, 2020

We need to rule out ammonia as being an issue, can you test for that?
Jay

Cmarie0411 · Oct 21, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
We need to rule out ammonia as being an issue, can you test for that?
Jay

It’s been 0 every time I have tested.

j.falk · Oct 21, 2020

Cmarie0411 said:
It’s been 0 every time I have tested.

Have you tested it today?

Cmarie0411 · Oct 21, 2020

I tested it right before I wrote the thread late last night

j.falk · Oct 21, 2020

The straight up and down is how clownfish tend to sleep/rest. I would consider it normal.

The one with the red mark on his face is definitely not doing good. The color is very pale, the fins are clamped (pulled in) and the red spot is a sure sign of something being wrong with it. Ammonia burns tend to look like that.

Cmarie0411 · Oct 21, 2020

j.falk said:
The straight up and down is how clownfish tend to sleep/rest. I would consider it normal.

The one with the red mark on his face is definitely not doing good. The color is very pale, the fins are clamped (pulled in) and the red spot is a sure sign of something being wrong with it. Ammonia burns tend to look like that.

I will test again. Do you think I should remove him from the tank?

j.falk · Oct 21, 2020

Personally, I would...especially with how bad it looks. Fish that look like that don't tend to last long. You could try putting it in a hospital tank and possibly treating it with medicine per whatever Jay recommends...but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

As for your ammonia test kit...check to make sure it hasn't expired.

j.falk · Oct 21, 2020

One other thing, it looks like you have freshwater decorations in a saltwater aquarium. The painted plastic decorations have the possibility of degrading in your tank and releasing toxins in the water. I would recommend taking them out and adding some live rock to your tank instead.

Cmarie0411 · Oct 23, 2020

Cmarie0411 said:
Ok here are some of the best pics I could get. It was pretty difficult to get a good one. Since I wrote this, the small clown fish was in the corner of the tank completely vertical with his head pointing down for quite a few hours. He didn’t move at all and was completely straight up and down. I just went back to take pictures for this thread and now he is swimming around again, seems To be swimming normal. I will try to get video later today. Also, the larger clown fish with the red pimple on his nose hasn’t left the bottom of the tank. Looks like sometimes he is even leaned over on his side? He didn’t eat today either. The redness on his face looks worse.

dark belly

another pic of dark belly

larger clown with red/white near eye

close up of red/white

thanks in advance everyone! I could use any guidance

Cmarie0411 · Oct 23, 2020

Thank you for all the input! I went out and bought a better testing kit. Ammonia level is reading 1. I did take the sick fish out of the tank but he only lasted a few hours. All other fish seem to be doing fine right now. Going to work on fixing levels. Thanks again!!

j.falk · Oct 23, 2020

Water changes...you need to dilute the ammonia before it causes more problems with your other fish. Ammonia should always read 0 in a healthy tank.

j.falk · Oct 23, 2020

Are you using some kind of freshwater rock as a substrate? It kind of looks like crushed coral...but not what I'm used to seeing. It almost looks like some type of limestone substrate.