1 Yr. Established Clownfish Suddenly Bloated and Breathing Heavier

[george9]

Appreciate both of you for your advice! I will plan on QT’ing both clowns tomorrow morning and begin the treatment when the metro arrives. Since both clowns came from the same place I’m just going to treat both of them so I don’t have to treat the other at some point later on, and it might be comforting for them to stay together

 

[george9]

Less than 24 hours into the metro treatment and his appetite is already coming back.
He is very active in QT and ate NLS pellets this morning so good sign! The instructions say to repeat dosage every 2 days for up to 3 weeks or until symptoms disappear. Is there a minimum length of time you recommend?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Less than 24 hours into the metro treatment and his appetite is already coming back.
He is very active in QT and ate NLS pellets this morning so good sign! The instructions say to repeat dosage every 2 days for up to 3 weeks or until symptoms disappear. Is there a minimum length of time you recommend?

Hmmm, I normally treat every other day for three treatments (so six days). You should wait two weeks after the third treatment for any relapse. If seen, then you can try another 3x course of meds.

Jay

 

[george9]

Ending the 3rd dose today, and he still has clear poop hanging from him at times. I am going to go for a 4th dose. His appetite has increased dramatically, he is eating pellets like a machine which is good. The only symptom remaining is the clear poop.

Is it typical for it to take many treatments before the poop improves?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Ending the 3rd dose today, and he still has clear poop hanging from him at times. I am going to go for a 4th dose. His appetite has increased dramatically, he is eating pellets like a machine which is good. The only symptom remaining is the clear poop.

Is it typical for it to take many treatments before the poop improves?

No - the feces should have darkened within a day or so of its appetite picking back up - I’m not sure what’s going on here.
Jay

 

[george9]

No - the feces should have darkened within a day or so of its appetite picking back up - I’m not sure what’s going on here.
Jay

I typically feed them once per day, which may be too little - I am going to assume the clear mucus could be due to them having no food to expel at times. I am going to feed them small amounts 3-4x per day and observe from there to see if it stops the mucus poops.

Overall mostly positive signs though - voracious appetite, very active, and normal breathing again.

 

[george9]

Haven’t noticed any more clear strings hanging from the clownfish in question that stopped eating but I did see it in the larger female today (I am treating both fish just to be safe)

I am at a loss as to why it could still be happening. There are no brown segments in it, it’s purely a 2” string of clear mucus. There is no white to it, and it is not opaque whatsoever. These fish have been with me for a year, tank raised, never exposed to wild caught fish so an internal parasite of some sort seems so improbable. I see no pinching or bulging stomachs and they’re showing no secondary symptoms any more besides periodic clear poop and are eating like monsters.
It must be something I am feeding them? My fridge broke this week (whoo hoo) so all of my frozen food is garbage and I don’t want to feed them thawed/refrozen food that may be bad especially when dealing with digestive issues. So, I only have various NLS and Omega one Pellets to offer them until next week when I have a functional freezer. Could it be from a strictly pellet diet? I would think the poop would at least have some brown in it from the pellets they’re eating.

While I periodically still see the clear poop, I haven’t been able to catch a “healthy” poop either so maybe they are having regular movements and I am only catching the times they’re pooping nothing out. Maybe I am being too concerned over this since they are very active and healthy-seeming fish otherwise

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Haven’t noticed any more clear strings hanging from the clownfish in question that stopped eating but I did see it in the larger female today (I am treating both fish just to be safe)

I am at a loss as to why it could still be happening. There are no brown segments in it, it’s purely a 2” string of clear mucus. There is no white to it, and it is not opaque whatsoever. These fish have been with me for a year, tank raised, never exposed to wild caught fish so an internal parasite of some sort seems so improbable. I see no pinching or bulging stomachs and they’re showing no secondary symptoms any more besides periodic clear poop and are eating like monsters.
It must be something I am feeding them? My fridge broke this week (whoo hoo) so all of my frozen food is garbage and I don’t want to feed them thawed/refrozen food that may be bad especially when dealing with digestive issues. So, I only have various NLS and Omega one Pellets to offer them until next week when I have a functional freezer. Could it be from a strictly pellet diet? I would think the poop would at least have some brown in it from the pellets they’re eating.

While I periodically still see the clear poop, I haven’t been able to catch a “healthy” poop either so maybe they are having regular movements and I am only catching the times they’re pooping nothing out. Maybe I am being too concerned over this since they are very active and healthy-seeming fish otherwise

I have a Darwin clown that has been fed 100% NLS for the past 2 years with no issues at all. Omega One should be comparable.

Spironucleus/Hexamita are two commensal gut protozoans in fish that sometimes get out of control and cause white mucusy feces (not clear though). This can happen to any fish, even long term captives.

Jay

 

[george9]

I have a Darwin clown that has been fed 100% NLS for the past 2 years with no issues at all. Omega One should be comparable.

Spironucleus/Hexamita are two commensal gut protozoans in fish that sometimes get out of control and cause white mucusy feces (not clear though). This can happen to any fish, even long term captives.

Jay

Out of curiosity, do you have any thoughts on soaking pellet food in magnesium sulphate and feeding? I am reading a thread about it here and it may be worth a shot since it’s so harmless - https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/treating-hexamita-aka-spironucleus.339362/

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Out of curiosity, do you have any thoughts on soaking pellet food in magnesium sulphate and feeding? I am reading a thread about it here and it may be worth a shot since it’s so harmless - https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/treating-hexamita-aka-spironucleus.339362/

Well, soaking pellets won't work, the Epsom salts will just rinse off as fast as they soaked in, and you'll have no idea as to the dose. You could try that if you made up some gelatin diet. Here is an article i posted on the subject:

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

This article offers information about developing medicated foods for aquarium fish

www.reef2reef.com

The dose for Epsom salts is 3% by weight.

Jay

 

[george9]

Well good news to report - both clowns are exhibiting healthy poop now and no more symptoms. I know you said simply soaking pellets in epsom salt wouldn’t work because you don’t know the exact concentration in the food, but I thought it was worth a shot since metro (4 rounds) wasn’t doing the trick. I figured if I can get them to eat enough pellets with at least a *little* epsom salt in it after hitting the water even though I don’t know the exact concentration, it couldn’t hurt at least. I made a 3% epsom salt solution and let the pellets soak it up before feeding as described in the thread I linked above.

It seemed to work because day 2 into the epsom pellet diet I stopped seeing stringy clear poop and by day 7 they were pooping brown clouds as they should. Not sure if I can chalk this up to the epsom salt because I also was treating with metro for a couple weeks before I tried the pellets but it seemed to work for me!

 

[george9]

So a few months have gone by with the clowns back in the main tank and no issues but the past few days I am noticing the larger female now has white poops and is *slightly* less interested in certain foods. Back in January it was my male that had these poops and stopped eating completely but now it is my female (although she is still eating decently)

This just leaves me scratching my head because I’ve added nothing to the tank since the fish were treated back in January/February. I’ve been feeding a larger variety of foods including Rod’s and LRS which they slowly have been warming up to. Their primary diet is mainly NLS thera A pellets, Seaweed extreme pellets and Formula 2 flakes with the frozen food alternated as well. I am soaking everything in Selcon before feeding the fish. The female is now less interested in the pellets but is showing a good response to Marine Cuisine and Formula 2 Flakes so I am not doing anything drastic yet.

Could feeding them too much at one time cause a digestive issue maybe? Maybe too much protein at one time? I noticed in the last couple weeks when I would I feed pellets with Selcon, they stick together and she would eat large globs of pellets at once which may be upsetting to her digestive track? May explain why she is now turned off from pellets

I feed typically once a day because of my work schedule. I had a pair of wild clowns about 10 years ago that never had this intermittent issue and their poops were always brown clouds and they ate like pigs 24/7. I am doing nothing differently with these designer tank breds and they end up with a weird stomach issue that seems to come and go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So a few months have gone by with the clowns back in the main tank and no issues but the past few days I am noticing the larger female now has white poops and is *slightly* less interested in certain foods. Back in January it was my male that had these poops and stopped eating completely but now it is my female (although she is still eating decently)

This just leaves me scratching my head because I’ve added nothing to the tank since the fish were treated back in January/February. I’ve been feeding a larger variety of foods including Rod’s and LRS which they slowly have been warming up to. Their primary diet is mainly NLS thera A pellets, Seaweed extreme pellets and Formula 2 flakes with the frozen food alternated as well. I am soaking everything in Selcon before feeding the fish. The female is now less interested in the pellets but is showing a good response to Marine Cuisine and Formula 2 Flakes so I am not doing anything drastic yet.

Could feeding them too much at one time cause a digestive issue maybe? Maybe too much protein at one time? I noticed in the last couple weeks when I would I feed pellets with Selcon, they stick together and she would eat large globs of pellets at once which may be upsetting to her digestive track? May explain why she is now turned off from pellets

I feed typically once a day because of my work schedule. I had a pair of wild clowns about 10 years ago that never had this intermittent issue and their poops were always brown clouds and they ate like pigs 24/7. I am doing nothing differently with these designer tank breds and they end up with a weird stomach issue that seems to come and go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

IDK for certain, but it may just be a relapse. As I had mentioned Hexamita/Spironucleous are normal gut protozoans. Under some conditions, their numbers grow, and the fish develop symptoms. Did you dose the tank with metronidazole before? Can you try it again?

Jay

 

[george9]

IDK for certain, but it may just be a relapse. As I had mentioned Hexamita/Spironucleous are normal gut protozoans. Under some conditions, their numbers grow, and the fish develop symptoms. Did you dose the tank with metronidazole before? Can you try it again?

Jay

Definitely will try it again if she completely stops eating but am reluctant to move her now since she is eating and is showing no secondary symptoms to the clear poop.
I fed some brine last night to maybe loosen things up and today she is eating frozen food (mixture of Rod’s and Marine Cusine) with even more vigor than yesterday but still is spitting pellets out and barely going after them.

Fingers crossed that I just went heavy on the pellet diet recently and switching to more frozen for a while will get her digestion moving more.

I’ll keep this thread updated if anything changes! These clowns definitely are definitely keeping me on my toes.

 

[george9]

Quick update with some good news (mainly to help anyone stumbling on this thread in the future)

The clown in question has resumed feeding on pellets with extreme vigor as of today, after a few days of feeding strictly a blend of Rod's, LRS and Emerald Entree for a few days. Interestingly along with her eating pellets again, her poop is no longer mucus strings and is a very light reddish brown/grey which is the same color as most of the shrimps she has been consuming. This is the first day with no mucus poops so not fully out of the water yet but I think I've seen enough to attribute this to diet. I don't think its a coincidence that things immediately changed after dropping pellets and flakes and going strictly frozen.

What I think caused this incident of mucus poops: the week leading up to this digestive issue, I fed mainly NLS thera A pellets soaked well in Selcon. This would cause multiple 1mm pellets to clump and they'd end up getting eaten by the fish in larger 5-6 pellet clumps. She seemed to love it, but over a week or so of consuming these pellet clumps with each feeding I think it agitated her digestive system. At least that is my working hypothesis for now. In the future I will make sure to break up any clumps, these are not large tangs and definitely need smaller pieces of food lol.


Will continue on a strict frozen diet over the next week (with maybe a few veggie pellets here and there) and update if anything changes!