Clown fish disease identification and treatment recommendation

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

Clown stopped eating today and stays in a corner. I can see some white spots but I don't have any experience on diseases and treatments. Information and advice highly appreciated.

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

#reefsquad

fishguy242 · Sep 19, 2023

#fishmedic

MnFish1 · Sep 19, 2023

Unfortunately, I can't see the video (some browsers do not work with R2R). If you could provide more information - was it QT'd, other symptoms (breathing, etc) - bullying, and your parameters? It is a somewhat odd pattern that suggests stings from 'something'. How long have you had the fish? Introduced anything recently?

nereefpat · Sep 19, 2023

I highly suspect flukes (external parasitic worms), because of the shape/color/size of those spots and also because of the shaking the clown is doing.

You might want to do a freshwater dip with matching temperature tapwater. That would know some off and also help to confirm. Then treat with Prazi Pro right in the tank.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 19, 2023

I agree, try a 5 minute freshwater dip and see if that provides temporary relief. This could also be Brooklynella, and a FW dip will give some relief to that as well. However, dips are not full treatments, so you will need to follow up with a good treatment.

Do you have a second treatment tank (probably not)
What other animals are in with this clownfish?

Jay

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

Sorry for the delay, I was busy with work.

The context is that I've got him 3 weeks ago from a fellow reefer. I quarantined for a couple of days for observation but I didn't do any treatments. I've got it together with a cleaner shrimp.

My DT is 15G about 3 months old, with a few soft corals, a cleaner shrimp, and a few snails. You can check my build thread for more details.

Water quality seems good as of today but I've been having some issues a few weeks back. Today PH is 8.0, I changed about 5 gal on Saturday. Salinity is 1.025 today.

I've another thank which I can make into treatment tank (10G). I've another 10 QT which has a few corals right now.

@Jay Hemdal do you agree on Prazi Pro be recommended for my case? Maybe I can get by tomorrow. I only have SuperIck cure I used my FW fish and API General Cure today.

Thank you everyone for the advice!

MnFish1 · Sep 19, 2023

nereefpat said:
I highly suspect flukes (external parasitic worms), because of the shape/color/size of those spots and also because of the shaking the clown is doing.

You might want to do a freshwater dip with matching temperature tapwater. That would know some off and also help to confirm. Then treat with Prazi Pro right in the tank.

Interesting - I have not seen those types of spots. Its too bad that the videos do not work on my system

MnFish1 · Sep 19, 2023

danielm5 said:
Sorry for the delay, I was busy with work.

The context is that I've got him 3 weeks ago from a fellow reefer. I quarantined for a couple of days for observation but I didn't do any treatments. I've got it together with a cleaner shrimp.

My DT is 15G about 3 months old, with a few soft corals, a cleaner shrimp, and a few snails. You can check my build thread for more details.

Water quality seems good as of today but I've been having some issues a few weeks back. Today PH is 8.0, I changed about 5 gal on Saturday. Salinity is 1.025 today.

I've another thank which I can make into treatment tank (10G). I've another 10 QT which has a few corals right now.

@Jay Hemdal do you agree on Prazi Pro be recommended for my case? Maybe I can get by tomorrow. I only have SuperIck cure I used my FW fish and API General Cure today.

Thank you everyone for the advice!

Jay will answer - but - I don't think there is any downside to using it - since you didn't do it before. Aeration is important. I would not use SuperIck Cure. Api General cure would be second to prazipro IMHO

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

I did 5 min FWD. I really can't see anything in the water. There are very few white dots and I strongly suspect they're just sand. Here's a video afterwards:

These are a few captures from the video:

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

MnFish1 said:
Interesting - I have not seen those types of spots. Its too bad that the videos do not work on my system

I'm sorry about that. I've captured a few screenshots but it's kind of hard to see anyways:

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

Is this "hole" normal? I see only on one side:

MnFish1 · Sep 19, 2023

danielm5 said:
Is this "hole" normal? I see only on one side:

No - the hole is not normal. And to me the spots on the new pictures look different than the other first picture (which looked more like 'flat' lesions - which I interpreted as an anemone sting, etc. The clown is having no other symptoms, correct? We'll see how the others weigh in - but I might consider reef rally pro which can help with Brook, bacterial infections and others where it's a little 'unclear'. Supposedly helps with flukes as well. Brooklynella seems so common in clowns that its often the first Go to - lets see what @nereefpat and @Jay Hemdal have to say about the new pictures. I do think a hospital tank set up would help in any case (which I believe you planned)

nereefpat · Sep 19, 2023

On General Cure and Prazi Pro:

General Cure has Prazi in it, but it also has metronidazole in it. That makes it a good deworming med, but I would not put metro in a reef. That's why I usually recommend Prazi Pro. Prazi can be used full-strength in a reef with no problem for corals or motile inverts. Do it once, then do another dose a week later.

MnFish1 · Sep 19, 2023

nereefpat said:
On General Cure and Prazi Pro:

General Cure has Prazi in it, but it also has metronidazole in it. That makes it a good deworming med, but I would not put metro in a reef. That's why I usually recommend Prazi Pro. Prazi can be used full-strength in a reef with no problem for corals or motile inverts. Do it once, then do another dose a week later.

Do you think the new lesions on the picture suggest flukes or something else

nereefpat · Sep 19, 2023

MnFish1 said:
Do you think the new lesions on the picture suggest flukes or something else

I don't know what to think about the big hole in the head.

The other spots look to me like flukes (those bigger Neobenedenia variety), and if some fall off during a dip that can leave holes. Flukes can stick to a fish pretty well, and they don't all usually fall off during a short dip.

I don't suspect ich, mostly because it didn't look right in the first pic/vid, and I don't see much on the fins.

We'll see what Jay thinks.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 19, 2023

danielm5 said:
Is this "hole" normal? I see only on one side:

Im seeing secondary bacterial lesions often post Brook or skin issue and often confused with ich. Brook, flukes, bacterial - best universal treatment will be Ruby Rally pro otherwise Seachem Neoplex. To confirm clearly - Can you eliminate blue lighting and post a video of fish under that light?

Jay Hemdal · Sep 19, 2023

danielm5 said:
Sorry for the delay, I was busy with work.

The context is that I've got him 3 weeks ago from a fellow reefer. I quarantined for a couple of days for observation but I didn't do any treatments. I've got it together with a cleaner shrimp.

My DT is 15G about 3 months old, with a few soft corals, a cleaner shrimp, and a few snails. You can check my build thread for more details.

Water quality seems good as of today but I've been having some issues a few weeks back. Today PH is 8.0, I changed about 5 gal on Saturday. Salinity is 1.025 today.

I've another thank which I can make into treatment tank (10G). I've another 10 QT which has a few corals right now.

@Jay Hemdal do you agree on Prazi Pro be recommended for my case? Maybe I can get by tomorrow. I only have SuperIck cure I used my FW fish and API General Cure today.

Thank you everyone for the advice!

Skip the super ich cure. If you can get General cure, it combines Praziquantel with Metronidazole, so that covers two drugs at the same time. HOWEVER, that won't really be safe for the snails or the soft corals. The only medication that would be is Ruby Reef Rally Pro or praziquantel.

Jay

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

MnFish1 said:
No - the hole is not normal. And to me the spots on the new pictures look different than the other first picture (which looked more like 'flat' lesions - which I interpreted as an anemone sting, etc. The clown is having no other symptoms, correct? We'll see how the others weigh in - but I might consider reef rally pro which can help with Brook, bacterial infections and others where it's a little 'unclear'. Supposedly helps with flukes as well. Brooklynella seems so common in clowns that its often the first Go to - lets see what @nereefpat and @Jay Hemdal have to say about the new pictures. I do think a hospital tank set up would help in any case (which I believe you planned)

I do have a ball anemones (or something like that). There's a video here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f...ered-in-my-reef-tank-is.1000482/post-11623538

I didn't mention because I didn't think about thaht before. Could that be stinging him? There more or less same size as the clown fish when fully open at night.

danielm5 · Sep 19, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Im seeing secondary bacterial lesions often post Brook or skin issue and often confused with ich. Brook, flukes, bacterial - best universal treatment will be Ruby Rally pro otherwise Seachem Neoplex. To confirm clearly - Can you eliminate blue lighting and post a video of fish under that light?

I tried to do my best but it's hard to see for me: