Please assist clownfish spots

NewFishMom101 · Feb 3, 2022

Hello
New 36 gallon tank. One month old. Cycled with Dr Tims. Added two clowns this past Saturday. Noticed spots in smaller one two days ago. I’ve looked at pics of ich and brooks but not sure. Please let me know what you think.

The Fish Tank Hobbyist · Feb 3, 2022

I would like to know what that is too. One of my Clowns appeared to have something like that for a day or two when I first added it in the tank several years ago. They seemed to disappear overnight and never came back.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 3, 2022

NewFishMom101 said:
Hello
New 36 gallon tank. One month old. Cycled with Dr Tims. Added two clowns this past Saturday. Noticed spots in smaller one two days ago. I’ve looked at pics of ich and brooks but not sure. Please let me know what you think.

Hi, it does look like this fish has a moderate case of ich, Cryptocaryon. You’ll need to treat this, and it will likely spread to other fish in the tank. There are three effective treatments for this, but all require some way for you to isolate fish from invertebrates for the extended treatment time….this usually means a second tank. The three treatments are: copper, hyposalinity or tank transfer method.
Jay

NewFishMom101 · Feb 4, 2022

Thank you. I thought I understood what I should do but now I believe I may have not implemented appropriately. I got a 2.5 gallon tank to serve as treatment tank. I moved the two clowns (only fish in DT) into the tank. Removed filter from pump, added heater and tank water, then the ich treatment. But now as I'm reading more seems like the QT tank should be cycled but I had no option to do that at this point. Will the two fish be okay in this tank for treatment? It says three days to treat... So can they go back to display after if no other spots?

Jay Hemdal · Feb 4, 2022

What ich medication are you using?

With an non-cycled tank, you’ll need to test ammonia daily, and keep it below 0.5 ppm. Water changes are one way to do this, but bacteria in a bottle products usually work better. As I said, this is going to be tough to do.
Jay

NewFishMom101 · Feb 5, 2022

Kordon rapid cure. It says dose for three days. I have microbacter7 so I can add some of that.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 5, 2022

Yes - the microbacter will help with the ammonia issue.
The Kordon product is a wild card. Years ago, rapid cure simply wouldn’t work for marine ich - it was for freshwater only, despite being sold as a saltwater cure. I just looked it up and I see they have changed the ingredients slightly. Maybe it works better now, but I’m still worried.
Jay

NewFishMom101 · Feb 5, 2022

I didn't have a lot of choices close to me. Town with more selections is 40 miles away and on a weekday/school night, I couldn't do that. Wal-Mart was my only option.

NewFishMom101 · Feb 10, 2022

Update: So the Kordon's Rapid Cure did not rapid cure any ich that my babies had!

So, yesterday I set up a 10 gallon (rather than the tiny 2.5 gallon) and dosed with Copper Power. Tested with Hanna, measured 2.56 ppm... so starting their 30 day treatment. DT will stay empty except for corals and tiny crabs CUC. If I'm reading posts accurately, looks like DT will need to be fallow for 45 days prior to returning the clowns. If I'm missing anything, please advise. Thank you again for your assistance.
As a side note, when I bought the clowns the LFS recommended feeding them TDO Chroma Boost size small pellets. They never really liked it and even though it says sized for small fish, it was almost like they were struggling to get it down. I bought some brine and mysis shrimp and gave them that last night and today - they love it, chase it around and eat all they can find. The other food would just sink to the bottom and not be consumed. And even though packages say "remove uneaten food" - that's not very easy to do.

NewFishMom101 · Feb 10, 2022

My DT has corals (Xenia and Zoa) and crabs - can I / should I increase the water temp? Can I without impacting my other livestock? Run around 77.3 or 4 most days.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 10, 2022

NewFishMom101 said:
My DT has corals (Xenia and Zoa) and crabs - can I / should I increase the water temp? Can I without impacting my other livestock? Run around 77.3 or 4 most days.

Please understand that the 45 day plan is a minimum. Higher temperatures help ensure that will be long enough, but to be more certain that the ich dies out, you may want to go longer if the QT is stable for the remaining fish. The zoas and crabs will be fine a bit warmer (81 F.) but the Xenia may not be.

Remember that copper takes up to three days to start to work, so you may not be out of the woods yet.

Pelleted foods do need to be sized just right, since the fish cannot easily masticate them into smaller bits. Smaller sizes, or softer foods often work better.

Jay

CayeCaulker · Feb 10, 2022

Ich.

From what I have read it takes 70-80 days to break the life cycle in the tank. UV can help control the consecration of the parastate. May help the fish have a fighting chance. It will not cure it. Takes a fish free system to break the cycle.

Not sure I would risk playing with temperature. 81 seems safe however if your system is stable I wouldn't rock the boat too much.

I would set up a quarantine system and once it is cycled and stable keep fish out of your show system for three months. Stop Drop and Roll. You have ich Ricky Bobby.

NewFishMom101 · Feb 15, 2022

Hello. I'm coming up on one week of the copper power treatment. The largest clown seems to be doing well, but the smaller one has been breathing very fast for several days. The last two days I haven't seen him eat anything. He lays on the bottom on his side, or even in one very soft fake plants I put in there. Then sometimes he will swim around fairly "normal". Any thoughts on what I could do to help him eat? I've put food almost right in front of him, he looks at it, but then swims away. Tried brine shrimp, pellet food and flakes.
One day I think he's a goner (spelling?) then the next day I think he might make it. Poor little baby.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 15, 2022

Can you post a short video of both of the clowns?
Jay

NewFishMom101 · Feb 15, 2022

NewFishMom101 · Feb 15, 2022

NewFishMom101 · Feb 15, 2022

I also noticed the big fish keeps picking at smaller one so I just ordered a divider.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 15, 2022

NewFishMom101 said:
I also noticed the big fish keeps picking at smaller one so I just ordered a divider.

Ad divider is a good idea. The difference between the two fish is huge - one is fine and the other is doing very poorly. Normally, when a fish is doing poorly like that (rapid breathing, etc.) the problem is either a water quality issue or a disease that would affect both fish about equally. I cannot account for the difference here. One side note, be sure to siphon off the uneaten food promptly from the tank, don't let it decompose there.

Have you tested the ammonia recently?
Is the copper level still at a full dose?

Jay

NewFishMom101 · Feb 16, 2022

Ammonia is between 0 and 0.25 ppm. API test kit... it's not as yellow as 0 but not as green as 0.25
Copper is 2.47 ppm Hanna
I'll clean out the old food today and change a small portion of water.
When I got the two fish, they were much closer in size. The small one seems like he's shrinking - I haven't seen him eat for the last two days at least. I'll post a video of the day I got them, you can see they both look fine and are closer in size.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 16, 2022

NewFishMom101 said:
Ammonia is between 0 and 0.25 ppm. API test kit... it's not as yellow as 0 but not as green as 0.25
Copper is 2.47 ppm Hanna
I'll clean out the old food today and change a small portion of water.
When I got the two fish, they were much closer in size. The small one seems like he's shrinking - I haven't seen him eat for the last two days at least. I'll post a video of the day I got them, you can see they both look fine and are closer in size.

Sounds good - but don't be afraid to change larger amounts of water - as long as you match the salinity and temperature, you can easily change 25% or more. Smaller changes really don't help much.

Jay