Clown fish physical trauma

[Resilient]

I have a clownfish that seems to have a significant amount of physical trauma that it suffered last night. It was in good health yesterday and today appears to be missing an eye and has some white around its mouth. My assumption is that it got into a fight with something. The take has been stable for the past 3 months or so. No new introductions.

There is a lawnmower blenny, 2 springeri damesels, 1 other clown fish and 2 pithos crabs in a 40 gallon.

I just want to confirm this looks like damage suffered in a physical fight and not a disease that I need to treat.

He is currently swimming in the top back corner of the tank and is still somewhat active but refusing food.

 

[Formulator]

2 springeri damesels

These fish are from satan himself. No doubt they are the vicious culprits. I would remove them and toss them in my garden. Wouldn’t even give them the luxury of a toilet flush…

That said, some of the white looks like it could be brook, but I’m not sure that would result in the loss of an eye. That’s the kicker to me.

 

[PharmrJohn]

These fish are from satan himself. No doubt they are the vicious culprits. I would remove them and toss them in my garden. Wouldn’t even give them the luxury of a toilet flush…

That said, some of the white looks like it could be brook, but I’m not sure that would result in the loss of an eye. That’s the kicker to me.

Intense. Did a double take on that eye (or lack thereof). Not Good Mav.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a clownfish that seems to have a significant amount of physical trauma that it suffered last night. It was in good health yesterday and today appears to be missing an eye and has some white around its mouth. My assumption is that it got into a fight with something. The take has been stable for the past 3 months or so. No new introductions.

There is a lawnmower blenny, 2 springeri damesels, 1 other clown fish and 2 pithos crabs in a 40 gallon.

I just want to confirm this looks like damage suffered in a physical fight and not a disease that I need to treat.

He is currently swimming in the top back corner of the tank and is still somewhat active but refusing food.

A clown will fight with another clown typically but 43 years and never seen a clown pull an eye however my suspects are the damsels.
One way to confirm while hit and miss is next time you go to feed, set your cell phone on video mode for about 30 mins and drop a little food and walk away - YOU MUST walk away as they know youre there. Often the aggressor is a bully at feeding time.
Review the video and see who it may be

 

[Resilient]

A clown will fight with another clown typically but 43 years and never seen a clown pull an eye however my suspects are the damsels.
One way to confirm while hit and miss is next time you go to feed, set your cell phone on video mode for about 30 mins and drop a little food and walk away - YOU MUST walk away as they know youre there. Often the aggressor is a bully at feeding time.
Review the video and see who it may be

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

There was some bickering and fin nipping when folks were first introduced but I haven't seen anything resembling aggression for months. I'll give this a shot and see if it generates any evidence.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

There was some bickering and fin nipping when folks were first introduced but I haven't seen anything resembling aggression for months. I'll give this a shot and see if it generates any evidence.

The only thing I would add here is that it is pretty rare for a healthy fish to lose an eye to another animal - their escape response is just too strong to allow that to easily happen - however, a fish that is weakened due to some other issue is much more prone to this happening.