Why did my oscellaris clown die ?

[Idech]

I’ve been a fish keeper for a very long time, but new to saltwater. I cycled my tank in march and had 2 clowns as my first fish. One jumped and died. I replaced it and the remaining one killed its new mate in less than 24 jours (they were too close in size, my mistake).

Then today, after a 30% WC, I noticed the last clown swimming at the top. I figured I must have forgotten to aim the nozzle back up when I did my maintenance earlier, to create enough surface agitation. So I did that. But the clown remained at the surface. Then a few minutes later, he was swimming erratically. After that it just went downhill and it died within a few minutes.

I noticed he looked emaciated and had kind of a whitish fuzz on his skin. But very little, only noticeable if you got very close to him.

What am I doing wrong ? Are clown fish the betta fish of the saltwater world ? For the life of me, I could not manage to keep betta fish.

The clown was fed flakes (Vitalis platinum marine flakes) once a day and mysis shrimps twice a week. All the corals are doing well, the snails also and so is the tail spot blenny. Tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5 gallons. I was busy working on my new 75 gallons so wasn’t paying as much attention to the Evo but top offs were done every night and feeding every day. WC every 4 weeks. Maybe that’s the problem?

Parameters are 0 ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Temp 78 F. No phosphates. PH 7.8 last time I checked. Salinity 1,024-1,025.

I’m very torn as clowns are my favorite fish and I was so happy about moving them in my 75 gallons. But I don’t want to buy more only to have them die. :-(

(if someone needs a picture of the dead fish I took some)

 

[Sharkbait19]

Pics would help.

Clowns aren’t the bettas, more like the convict cichlids. Small but powerful and mean. And breed easily.

More seriously, white film sounds kind of like brooklynella, which is common in clowns and very deadly. Formalin is the most effective, I had success treating it with copper and freshwater dips, but it was mild and early. This is why quarantining is so important in saltwater, even more than freshwater. It stops disease spread.
@Jay Hemdal is our resident disease expert, he can help more.

 

[Idech]

Pics would help.

Here they are, but the white fuzz doesn’t show on the pics.

More seriously, white film sounds kind of like brooklynella, which is common in clowns and very deadly. Formalin is the most effective, I had success treating it with copper and freshwater dips, but it was mild and early.

I’ve had this fish for 7 months now. If he was sick when I got him, wouldn’t it have shown before that ?

 

[BoneDoc]

If you want your fish to live well you’d probably would do better by feeding them more often. I feed pellets and frozen at least twice a day. Feeding minimizes aggression too

 

[Sharkbait19]

Some diseases can stay dormant for a while, but I would expect brook to show fast.
How long was it alone? Depending on how recently it had been with others disease is a likely possibility.

 

[Idech]

If you want your fish to live well you’d probably would do better by feeding them more often. I feed pellets and frozen at least twice a day. Feeding minimizes aggression too

I can do that if it’s what needs to be done. I’ve just never had to feed fish more than once a day.

They were fed twice a day, twice a week, when I fed mysis shrimps.

 

[Idech]

Some diseases can stay dormant for a while, but I would expect brook to show fast.
How long was it alone? Depending on how recently it had been with others disease is a likely possibility.

It‘s been 2 weeks since I introduced the new clown that died in 24 hours.

So he’s been alone since then, but there is still the blenny in the tank.

I’ve looked at brooklynella, and it definitely looks very similar to what he had. I was planning on adding the blenny to the 75 gallons, but now I won’t for sure.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Give it time to see what happens. Brook is not fun, I lost my entire first wave of fish to it (in a cocktail of it, flukes, ich, and velvet…thanks petco), now I quarantine.
2 weeks is usually ample time for a disease to show.

 

[Tamberav]

Here they are, but the white fuzz doesn’t show on the pics.

I’ve had this fish for 7 months now. If he was sick when I got him, wouldn’t it have shown before that ?

looks like disease to me. I can see the outline.

You can infect fish with anything wet added, fish, corals, inverts… whatever.

Disease and parasites is a big thing on the salt water side as we have so many wild collected stuff in our tanks.

 

[Idech]

Give it time to see what happens. Brook is not fun, I lost my entire first wave of fish to it (in a cocktail of it, flukes, ich, and velvet…thanks petco), now I quarantine.
2 weeks is usually ample time for a disease to show.

Thanks, I’ll wait two weeks then and reassess.

Is there a « most preferred » quanrantine protocole that is very successful ? I’ll try to look for it and study it.

I was thinking about buying only captive bred fish from now on. Would that solve the problem without having to quarantine ?

 

[Idech]

You can infect fish with anything wet added, fish, corals, inverts… whatever.

Are you saying I can bring disease that my fish might die of simply by adding a coral ? So corals can give diseases to fish ?

Or do you mean corals can bring undesirable life to a tank?

 

[Tamberav]

Are you saying I can bring disease that my fish might die of simply by adding a coral ? So corals can give diseases to fish ?

Or do you mean corals can bring undesirable life to a tank?

They can bring in disease since they are wet and also a few diseases form cysts and attach to substrate/rock/frag plugs/shells and so on as part of the life cycle. This means they can attach to skeletons of corals, frag plugs, any rock or sand attached to it, snails ect.

Getting disease from fish is more likely and in this case it was probably the other clown that made this one sick. Especially if it is brook.

But I thought you should be aware. Some research in the disease forums may save you some money. It is the reason the 45 day fallow (fishless) period exists. To starve out parasites and break the life cycle once a tank has been exposed.

 

[Idech]

But I thought you should be aware. Some research in the disease forums may save you some money. It is the reason the 45 day fallow (fishless) period exists. To starve out parasites and break the life cycle once a tank has been exposed.

Thank you, I’m glad you told me.

So this 45 days fallow period, does it apply to corals as well or can I add new corals to the tank no problem ?

 

[Tamberav]

Thank you, I’m glad you told me.

So this 45 days fallow period, does it apply to corals as well or can I add new corals to the tank no problem ?

You could add corals and inverts if you are just trying to fallow out what is already in the tank. Can't be sure they don't bring in something new.

Some people have a coral QT tank just for fallow.

 

[Idech]

I have to admit I’m rather confused about this fallow period, quarantine and disease prevention/treatment in quarantine.

It all seems very complicated and a pita. Some people swear by it (and there seems to be so different views and methods) while others say it’s not needed.

I guess I’ll have to do a lot of reading but it’s hard to know what exactly should be done and how.

But what about the blenny that’s still in the tank ? What do I do about him ? Is he going to die of brooklynella too ?

 

[Sharkbait19]

If the clown got brook, it’s likely the blenny will have been exposed. Try separating to another tank to use as a qt, hard to assess while it’s in the tank.
I am a firm believer in quarantine and fallow, because I lost everything to a disease outbreak.
Because coral and inverts can carry disease in, it’s best not to add them during fallow (you can dip first to remove most pests/disease). Before going on fallow you can always buy a whole bunch of inverts/coral to keep you entertained though.

 

[Idech]

If the clown got brook, it’s likely the blenny will have been exposed. Try separating to another tank to use as a qt, hard to assess while it’s in the tank.
I am a firm believer in quarantine and fallow, because I lost everything to a disease outbreak.
Because coral and inverts can carry disease in, it’s best not to add them during fallow (you can dip first to remove most pests/disease). Before going on fallow you can always buy a whole bunch of inverts/coral to keep you entertained though.

I’m confused. I’m going fallow in the Evo, right ? To be precise, does fallow just mean not adding fish, corals or inverts ?

If so, then can I just assess the blenny in the Evo, since it’s already set-up and nothing else will be added in there ?

You say I could add corals before going fallow. What would be the use of that and wouldn’t I risk just bringing in more pests to have to deal with ?

Sorry, this is just not registering right with me.

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

Pics would help.

Clowns aren’t the bettas, more like the convict cichlids. Small but powerful and mean. And breed easily.

More seriously, white film sounds kind of like brooklynella, which is common in clowns and very deadly. Formalin is the most effective, I had success treating it with copper and freshwater dips, but it was mild and early. This is why quarantining is so important in saltwater, even more than freshwater. It stops disease spread.
@Jay Hemdal is our resident disease expert, he can help more.

Agreed!

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’m confused. I’m going fallow in the Evo, right ? To be precise, does fallow just mean not adding fish, corals or inverts ?

If so, then can I just assess the blenny in the Evo, since it’s already set-up and nothing else will be added in there ?

You say I could add corals before going fallow. What would be the use of that and wouldn’t I risk just bringing in more pests to have to deal with ?

Sorry, this is just not registering right with me.

Going fallow is a way to starve parasites. It means to have absolutely no fish in the system. If there is a single fish, the parasites can survive and reproduce. Without a fish host, they die, hence why the blenny cannot stay.
The reason I suggest adding things before hand is that though parasites can come in, with nothing to feed on they will die, so no harm done.

 

[Idech]

@Sharkbait19 thank you, now it’s clear !

Can the blenny be infected and not show signs ? I’m just trying to see if there is a way I can avoid having to set up a third tank just for the blenny.