newer tank, clownfish with stringy white feces

[Realamerican13]

tank is 6 weeks old, 2 frostbite clowns were QT'd in friends tank for 6 weeks prior and completely healthy. Have been in my tank for 2 weeks, added 7 nassarius snails, 3 conch snails, and 3 tequila snails over the last few days. They were eating sustainable aquatics hatchery diet, just switched 2 days ago to hikari marine. Testing done just now shows .25 ppm ammonia and 20 ppm nitrates (API test kit). Just noticed stringy white feces from both fish and they do seem to be breathing a little heavy. Here is one of the fish. Any help greatly appreciated, preparing water for a water change now. Any help/advice greatly appreciated

 

[DeniseAndy]

If you are getting ammonia readings, something is not balanced. You should rarely get them in a reef system (once fully cycled and no major deaths). Feed the fish some food soaked in metronidazole (or a food with that contained in it) and focus. This will get any internal parasites out of fish. My concern is the ammonia if that is an accurate reading. How are the inverts?

 

[BeejReef]

Hang in there RealAmerican!

There are some questions that will help the experts give you a more informed opinion.

How old is your tank and rock? When did it finish cycling?
What is your water source?
Any parameters you have... Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Alkalinity, ph, temp
I know you've listed some, but a full run-down is very useful.

Hopefully it's nothing.... fish got the runs from a change in diet, maybe a tiny ammonia spike from the addition of a lot of snails. I have no idea though, so it's best to get your background info together in case it turns serious.

One thing I would do is be sure you have good oxygen exchange until you get some more advise. Be sure one of your powerheads is rippling the surface.

 

[W1ngz]

Change tests for ammonia to confirm. API will very frequently show false-positive low levels of ammonia. It's never yellow, always some shade of really pale green.

Stringy poo is usually an indication of a parasite. See the above post for treatment if it persists for more than a couple of days.

 

[Realamerican13]

sechem ammonia badge is showing 0 ammonia, inverts are absolutely thriving, and very active. Tests done were Ammonia (I did it twice- showed .25 ppm), nitrite 0, PH 8.0-8.2, nitrate 20 ppm. Tank is 6 weeks old, took about a month to cycle. Fish are approaching 2 weeks in the tank (no other fish) Previously live rock was used (I did do a phosphate test before adding the fish, it was 0), live sand, and I get rodi water from a friend and use tropic marin pro reef salt.

 

[Realamerican13]

Did a 4 gallon water change, ammonia still reading .25 ppm and nitrates 20 ppm, I think the test kit is inaccurate. Went to 2 LFS that also use API testing so no use in having them test. LFS recommended “fish keeper” to treat any possible disease, as well as 4 gallon water changes every other day. They said my alkalinity was very low (5) and PH was 8 which he viewed as low. Should I try seachem focus and metronidazole? Unfortunately I work nights, won’t be able to observe them much over the next few days. As of this afternoon they were swimming and eating fine. Any harm in using those meds if they’re fine?

 

[Mjrenz]

The heavy breathing is little concerning, most likely the api test kit is giving you a false positive for ammonia. I would recommend starting with a freshwater dip to rule out flukes and feeding food soaked with api general cure and focus which contains metronidazole and praziquantel that will deal with internal parasites and worms. If flukes are present you can use prazipro dosed in the water column twice 5 to 7 days apart. The link for praziquantel also contains instructions for food soaking

Freshwater Dip

Freshwater Dip What It Treats – Provides temporary relief for a wide range of diseases: 1) Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium ocellatum) 2) Brooklynella hostilis 3) Uronema marinum 4) Flukes (Monogeneans) 5) Black Ich (Turbellarians) Can be used to confirm the presence of Flukes (see video...

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Praziquantel

Edit: this is older information, a new post is here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/ Praziquantel (de-wormer) What It Treats – Flukes (Monogeneans), Black Ich (Turbellarians), and intestinal worms. How To Treat – There are a few aquarium products which...

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