SOS Clown Emergency

jefra · Aug 2, 2019

I found my female clown this morning in the bottom corner on the tank laying one-sided against the sand breathing very heavily. She also can't maintain buoyancy and is just floating around from the gentle flow that's going into the acclimation box. The only change I did was remove my gyre pump the night before these symptoms started to soak it in vinegar and clean it. I still haven't added it back into the tank so there's no bacteria bloom from residual vinegar. I haven't added any new fish in over two months and all other fish (including the male clown) are acting completely healthy and normal. I turned on my air pump with two wooden airstones, then immediately did a temperature/pH adjusted freshwater dip for 5 minutes, and there was no sign of flukes. The air pump is still running.

I don't believe there's any issue with my water parameters, since the issue is isolated to one fish and everything is within normal levels. I don't dose anything other than kalk in my top off water and do 20% water changes biweekly.

She's currently in a little acclimation box with a small piece of rock and filter floss while I set up a 10 gallon for quarantine treatment. I have general cure, furan-2, and chelated copper (Copper Power) on hand. In the mean time, any and all advice is appreciated. I've had these beautiful Picasso clowns for over a year now, they were my first fish, my favorites, and are very sentimental.

I currently have three thoughts:

Fight related infection. I have a Rolland's Damselfish that is territorial but rarely towards my clown pair (they were my first fish and long established). There are no visible wounds, but her caudal fin is a bit frayed and discolored.
Lack of oxygen due to gyre removal and/or increased aggression due to lower flow?
Swim bladder disease due to congenital defect or other unknown cause.

Water Chemistry

Temperature: 80°F
Specific Gravity: 1.026 via Milwaukee Seawater Refractometer
Ammonia: 0 via Ammonia Alert Badge
Nitrite: 0 via via Hanna Colorimeter
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm via API test strips (not ideal I know, but I don't have high nutrient issues)
Phosphate: 0.1 ppm via Hanna Colorimeter
Alkalinity: 10 dKH via Hanna Colorimeter
Calcium: 400 ppm via Hanna Colorimeter
Magnesium 1350 ppm via Salifert kit

jefra · Aug 2, 2019

Mjrenz · Aug 2, 2019

Here is some information that may help you save her. The only thing I can say for sure is that it doesn't look like a swim bladder disorder, if it was the fish would be struggling to swim down and would not be laying on the bottom of the container. It looks like something is going on with her fins but I'm not confident enough to say what. You should get some help soon

alprazo's "salvage protocol"

Reposted with permission. Salvage protocol for very sick fish. Almost daily I read a post from someone describing a fish sick from either ich or velvet and can predict that it will not make it to the morning. There are several techniques that can be employed to reduce the metabolic demands...

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