Vertical Clown

Diesel_Rice · May 14, 2021

Hi everyone! I’ve read that some Clowns love to swim vertical, so I’m just checking if you guys may think this is the case. His slime coat is looking a little odd, but otherwise is doing everything else just fine. He’s in my DT now after doing his copper treatment beforehand and he took it like a champ, water parameters are perfect. Should I be worried?

Diesel_Rice · May 14, 2021

Since it didn’t seem to upload right:

fachatga · May 14, 2021

Can’t say if this guy is okay but for what it’s worth my clowns do that all the time. Every day. They’re odd fish lol.

zukihara · May 14, 2021

Mine does it all day every day. He ain't right.

Jay Hemdal · May 14, 2021

Diesel_Rice said:
Since it didn’t seem to upload right:

While it’s true clowns can swim weird, this one has some milky skin and it isn’t holding its fins extended like it should. It’s waggle is a bit weak.
What did the copper treatment consist of?
Jay

Diesel_Rice · May 14, 2021

Two weeks of Cupramine, then into a clean tank. He gave no signs until day three where he started doing this. Do they need to be yanked back out and re-medicated? They’re the only fish in the tank with just inverts in there, do I need to pull the inverts out as well and quarantine the whole tank as well as my hospital tank? @Jay Hemdal

Jay Hemdal · May 15, 2021

Diesel_Rice said:
Two weeks of Cupramine, then into a clean tank. He gave no signs until day three where he started doing this. Do they need to be yanked back out and re-medicated? They’re the only fish in the tank with just inverts in there, do I need to pull the inverts out as well and quarantine the whole tank as well as my hospital tank? @Jay Hemdal

Although I usually run 30 days of copper, many people go with two weeks and as long as the dose was held at full levels, that should have been o.k.

Another thought is this - what if your display has the issue and the clown caught it from there? The timing lines up (3 days) and if some invertebrate fish carried something into your tank, it could have been lurking there, ready to infect the clown....just a thought.

Another thought - I reread your post and saw "they" - that implies two clowns. Clownfish dynamics can be tricky - clowns that got along can start to fight, and many clowns will be on their best behavior when you are in the room, and then show aggression when you are not. I don't see ripped fins here, but the other clown could be keeping this one vertical in the corner...if yo0u have another clown and it is fine, then disease is less likely and some in-fighting more so.

Jay

Diesel_Rice · May 15, 2021

I'm wondering if it is behavior then, that's interesting. There are two Clownfish and one Lawnmower Blenny, but all three went through the copper together. The only other thing would be the tank itself, but there's only inverts in there (a couple blue leg hermits, 3 snails and an emerald crab) that have been cleaning the diatoms in the tank preparing it for the fish to get out of QT. The rock I used was a fresh piece of Marco and the sand was clean as well, so there should've been nothing to infect the tank and "lay in wait". This is a headscratcher for sure. I will add there was zero issue until they were introduced to the tank but they both did the vertical thing in there as well on the last two days of QT, but also acted fine otherwise, I just chalked it up to them being weird as i've read *everywhere*.

Both Clowns do the vertical corner thing, one just does it a lot more than the other and when they leave the corner, they're very lively. The one I showed in the video is a little clamped more than it should be, but acts fine otherwise once he leaves said corner. Is there any way it could just be that they're not used to flow? My QT is of course just bare basic while my DT has flow for corals in the future @Jay Hemdal

Jay Hemdal · May 15, 2021

Just an observation - see in the first picture, how the clown above is holding its fins "proud" and the one below and to left is a bit clamped? That could just be from the way the two fish were at the second the photo was taken, but if they stay with that difference, that's what I was talking about as being a possible symptom of an issue.

Jay