Sickly clown, need help

[KingSyn]

Hello fellow reefers, so I’ve had this clown fish for about a year, I got the pair from drreefsquarentinedfish.com and never had any issues with them. However I’ve noticed after seeing my sisters clowns who are much younger than mine, that my smaller clown was definitely stunted in growth. I started paying careful attention to him and noticed he seemed very lethargic (laying in the sand in a cave and barely moving) and at times was breathing very rapidly. He seems to be eating when I feed the tank, but he still seems very skinny, to the point I think you can see the outline of his bones even though his belly is full and round. None of my other fish have this problem and my mama clown is very big and healthy. Please help, I don’t want to lose this guy but have no idea what to do for him. Params and a video below, thanks for your time!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello fellow reefers, so I’ve had this clown fish for about a year, I got the pair from drreefsquarentinedfish.com and never had any issues with them. However I’ve noticed after seeing my sisters clowns who are much younger than mine, that my smaller clown was definitely stunted in growth. I started paying careful attention to him and noticed he seemed very lethargic (laying in the sand in a cave and barely moving) and at times was breathing very rapidly. He seems to be eating when I feed the tank, but he still seems very skinny, to the point I think you can see the outline of his bones even though his belly is full and round. None of my other fish have this problem and my mama clown is very big and healthy. Please help, I don’t want to lose this guy but have no idea what to do for him. Params and a video below, thanks for your time!

Fish is thin and breathing somewhat rapid. Other than other clown, how are other fish behavior?
Assure ammonia and temperature not elevated.
Has fish lost color?

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Hello fellow reefers, so I’ve had this clown fish for about a year, I got the pair from drreefsquarentinedfish.com and never had any issues with them. However I’ve noticed after seeing my sisters clowns who are much younger than mine, that my smaller clown was definitely stunted in growth. I started paying careful attention to him and noticed he seemed very lethargic (laying in the sand in a cave and barely moving) and at times was breathing very rapidly. He seems to be eating when I feed the tank, but he still seems very skinny, to the point I think you can see the outline of his bones even though his belly is full and round. None of my other fish have this problem and my mama clown is very big and healthy. Please help, I don’t want to lose this guy but have no idea what to do for him. Params and a video below, thanks for your time!

Following

 

[KingSyn]

Fish is thin and breathing somewhat rapid. Other than other clown, how are other fish behavior?
Assure ammonia and temperature not elevated.
Has fish lost color?

All other fish are behaving normally, are fat and healthy.
Temp is 78
no ammonia elevation
And seems like his face is pale

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Have you added any new animals in the last month?

Could this clown possibly just been losing ground in terms of weight over time? Eventually, when that happens, the fish just "crashes" and starts breathing fast and acting "off".

Jay

 

[KingSyn]

Have you added any new animals in the last month?

Could this clown possibly just been losing ground in terms of weight over time? Eventually, when that happens, the fish just "crashes" and starts breathing fast and acting "off".

Jay

Nope haven’t added anything new in a while.
This has been in going for a while, just never realized how small he was in comparison to another pair.

 

[KingSyn]

Here’s another video showing how skinny and the round belly

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Here’s another video showing how skinny and the round belly

Yes - the clown is really skinny. What happens is then, the fish starts using its liver as a food source. Once the liver has been used, the fish starts showing other symptoms like lethargy, rapid breathing. There isn't anything you can do for them at that point, sorry.

Jay