Strange Clownfish Tail

newreefkeeper96 · Feb 19, 2021

Hi everyone, so today I finally went out and picked up my first pair of clowns. This might be me freaking out for no reason but after spending so much money on some snowflakes I just need to know..

Is there something wrong with the bottom (male) clowns fins? He doesn’t seem to be opening his tail as much as the female... any help is appreciated! You’ll see in the video that the female has a white spot on her tail but they we’re in QT at LFS with a few other semi aggressive fish. They seem to be very similar in size with what I assume is the female only 0.5cm longer. Both have been swimming around the tank and playing in the current all day so they don’t seem to be unhappy or sick.

Note: floated and drip acclimated for over an hour. The stores salinity was much lower than mine so took my time and lowered the salinity slightly in the tank (only 2 clowns in there). The female seems to be chasing the male a bit and nipping but nothing too bad. Nitrate: 5. Nitrite: 0. Amm: 0. pH: 8.2. Salinity: 32. Temp: 27C

Jay Hemdal · Feb 19, 2021

Hi, welcome to Reef2Reef!

Yes, that closed fin and swimming motion is a general sign of a problem. Very clear video (thanks!) but perhaps a bit too clear, I think I can see a ich trophont or two. The larger clown may have a spot of Lymphocystis on its tail (no worries about that).

What was the salinity difference between the dealer's tank and yours?

Are both fish eating well?

Are you able to set up a treatment tank and dose with copper?

Jay

newreefkeeper96 · Feb 19, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
Hi, welcome to Reef2Reef!

Yes, that closed fin and swimming motion is a general sign of a problem. Very clear video (thanks!) but perhaps a bit too clear, I think I can see a ich trophont or two. The larger clown may have a spot of Lymphocystis on its tail (no worries about that).

What was the salinity difference between the dealer's tank and yours?

Are both fish eating well?

Are you able to set up a treatment tank and dose with copper?

Jay

Oh no!
Yes both are eating perfectly.

The shops salinity was around 1.01 and mine was 1.025.

I only have the 2 clowns in there so definitely can dose with anything.
What do you recommend?

Jay Hemdal · Feb 19, 2021

newreefkeeper96 said:
Oh no!
Yes both are eating perfectly.

The shops salinity was around 1.01 and mine was 1.025.

I only have the 2 clowns in there so definitely can dose with anything.
What do you recommend?

1.010? That is low hyposalinity, you need to move fish up from that very slowly, over days! I would wait a day or two to make sure the fish have adapted and then, if there are still spots, maybe start a copper treatment.
Jay

newreefkeeper96 · Feb 19, 2021

It was 1.019.
I lowered my tank to 1.02 when I added them. I will be bringing the salinity up slowly over the next week or so.

Okay thank you so much! I appreciate the help!

Jay Hemdal · Feb 19, 2021

newreefkeeper96 said:
It was 1.019.
I lowered my tank to 1.02 when I added them. I will be bringing the salinity up slowly over the next week or so.

Okay thank you so much! I appreciate the help!

Oh, ok, that isn’t so much of a change then!
Jay