Clownfish Advice

[luca10]

Hello,

My 32.5-gallon tank has been running for 3 months with stable parameters: 1.025 salinity, 24.5°C temperature, 0 ammonia, and 0 nitrites. I do a 15% water change weekly.

I added two juvenile clownfish (a black one and an orange gladiator) from a reputable local fish store (LFS) that quarantines and medicates their fish with formalin and copper. The owner showed me his quarantine setup in the back.

Initially, both clownfish did well. However, after a week, the orange one stopped eating, started breathing rapidly, became lethargic, and eventually died. The black clownfish continued doing well. The LFS agreed to give me another orange clownfish free of charge as we thought it got stressed from being bullied by the black clownfish - this clownfish has been at the store for over a month and was healthy for that time being. It also thrived initially but then stopped eating 5 days after. But now the black clownfish also stopped eating. No skin discoloration or visible signs of disease, the only thing I notice is fast breathing.

I also have a hawkfish, firefish, watchman goby and crabs which are all doing very well. I'm puzzled as to why the clownfish are not surviving. I'm not sure if there is a bug spreading to them in the tank like brook. I trust this store owner, but im not sure if the bug is in my tank rather than from his store. I want to set up a QT in the future before adding any other new fish, but it's challenging to get medications in Canada, so I'm unsure how to proceed.

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Naekuh]

Can't really help you without pictures of the fish in question.

There are so many things that could be at fault on why that fish died.
Until you find out i would not introduce another fish and for now keep the tank locked down on observation for at least 2 weeks.

The thing you should be worried about is Uronema.
However you said you noticed no skin lesions.

IF your clown had a paracite, introducing a new fish is not a wise thing to do.

If you do not know what killed your fish, medicating your tank is also not a smart thing to do.

Always document everything, take pictures, even after the fish has died on a white paper towel.
This will help the fish medics diagnose, so you can at least start a QT with proper treatment.

 

[luca10]

Can't really help you without pictures of the fish in question.

There are so many things that could be at fault on why that fish died.
Until you find out i would not introduce another fish and for now keep the tank locked down on observation for at least 2 weeks.

The thing you should be worried about is Uronema.
However you said you noticed no skin lesions.

IF your clown had a paracite, introducing a new fish is not a wise thing to do.

If you do not know what killed your fish, medicating your tank is also not a smart thing to do.

Always document everything, take pictures, even after the fish has died on a white paper towel.
This will help the fish medics diagnose, so you can at least start a QT with proper treatment.

I will not be adding any more fish after these clownfish until I find out what’s happening.
Keep in mind the black clownfish was doing fine when the first clownfish died.

All my other fish and inverts are doing good and behaving normally.

Here are photos of the 2 clownfish I have as of today which haven’t ate for 4 days. I have a picture of the 1st clownfish that died but I have to find it on my other phone. The orange one has some white discolouration on his lips - the black one doesn’t. The first clownfish that died also had no discolouration.

 

[Naekuh]

Have you noticed flashing?
Like them trying to scrape themselves?

Not eating can be a sign of flukes.

Did you see them eatting at the LFS or when you first took them home?

I think you should call a fish medic in here and have them hash it out with you.

#fishmedic

 

[luca10]

Have you noticed flashing?
Like them trying to scrape themselves?

Not eating can be a sign of flukes.

Did you see them eatting at the LFS or when you first took them home?

No signs of flashing.

They ate at the fish store and also ate like pigs in my tank for about a week until they suddenly stopped.

I also did a freshwater bath for 5 mins. No flukes came off from what I seen.

 

[luca10]

No signs of flashing.

They ate at the fish store and also ate like pigs in my tank for about a week until they suddenly stopped.

I also did a freshwater bath for 5 mins. No flukes came off from what I seen.

 

[luca10]

Have you noticed flashing?
Like them trying to scrape themselves?

Not eating can be a sign of flukes.

Did you see them eatting at the LFS or when you first took them home?

I think you should call a fish medic in here and have them hash it out with you.

Lol is there a way to get a fish medic into the thread other than #?

#fishmedic

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

It looks like there is no flow in the tank, how are you oxygenating the water? There should be a powerhead in the tank pointing up towards the water surface to create agitation and oxygenate the water.

Can you show a full tank pic? That will usually give some clues.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Rapid breathing, with no other symptoms, only in one species of fish is difficult to diagnose. Velvet is the common disease that causes just rapid breathing, but it spreads to all fish quickly. Water quality issues can cause rapid breathing as the only symptom, but again, all fish would be affected.
Brooklynella often affects only clownfish, but that causes white stringy mucus on the fish before the rapid breathing sets in.

Did you see any white feces or ripped fins on the clownfish?

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

I will not be adding any more fish after these clownfish until I find out what’s happening.
Keep in mind the black clownfish was doing fine when the first clownfish died.

All my other fish and inverts are doing good and behaving normally.

Here are photos of the 2 clownfish I have as of today which haven’t ate for 4 days. I have a picture of the 1st clownfish that died but I have to find it on my other phone. The orange one has some white discolouration on his lips - the black one doesn’t. The first clownfish that died also had no discolouration.

Keep an eye on the hawkfish. They are known to strike at clowns, anthias and gobies. Next time you 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
As with Jay, I dont see signs of brook. The lip discoloration can be from squabbling, or cleaning an area of tank as well as glass surfing which they often do

 

[luca10]

It looks like there is no flow in the tank, how are you oxygenating the water? There should be a powerhead in the tank pointing up towards the water surface to create agitation and oxygenate the water.

Can you show a full tank pic? That will usually give some clues.

I have the return nozzles and 2 power heads aimed at the surface. The clowns remain in the corner of the tank, should I have a power head aimed directly at them?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have the return nozzles and 2 power heads aimed at the surface. The clowns remain in the corner of the tank, should I have a power head aimed directly at them?

Thats a nice tank! Don't change anything, I was just throwing out a possibility but we can scratch that off the list.

 

[luca10]

Rapid breathing, with no other symptoms, only in one species of fish is difficult to diagnose. Velvet is the common disease that causes just rapid breathing, but it spreads to all fish quickly. Water quality issues can cause rapid breathing as the only symptom, but again, all fish would be affected.
Brooklynella often affects only clownfish, but that causes white stringy mucus on the fish before the rapid breathing sets in.

Did you see any white feces or ripped fins on the clownfish?

Jay

I don't see any ripped fins or any skin lesions, however, I have seen some very skinny long clear/white feces - not sure if its from not eating or from disease.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have the return nozzles and 2 power heads aimed at the surface. The clowns remain in the corner of the tank, should I have a power head aimed directly at them?

You need to have the water break the surface tension to form bubbles, not just circulate the water. I use air stones for that, but a lot of people now days don't do that in order to reduce salt spray (that's often a mistake though).

Can you post a clear video? Hosting one on Youtube often works best here.....

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have the return nozzles and 2 power heads aimed at the surface. The clowns remain in the corner of the tank, should I have a power head aimed directly at them?

The clowns may be in corner due to fear from aggression
They also tend to favor corners but not full time

 

[luca10]

The orange clownfish died this morning - these are the photos of it. No obvious skin lesions.

 

[luca10]

You need to have the water break the surface tension to form bubbles, not just circulate the water. I use air stones for that, but a lot of people now days don't do that in order to reduce salt spray (that's often a mistake though).

Can you post a clear video? Hosting one on Youtube often works best here.....

Here is the video. The orange clownfish died today, see above for pictures.

 

[luca10]

The clowns may be in corner due to fear from aggression
They also tend to favor corners but not full time

When they were healthy and eating, they would swim around the back of the tank, but rarely in the front or through the rocks - they would always stick to the back corners. When they got sick, they just stayed in the corner breathing fast. I took a video, but did not see the hawkfish attack them at all. The hawkfish will sometimes dart at the firefish though.

Also see above for the pictures of the dead clownfish.

 

[CDolce]

When they were healthy and eating, they would swim around the back of the tank, but rarely in the front or through the rocks - they would always stick to the back corners. When they got sick, they just stayed in the corner breathing fast. I took a video, but did not see the hawkfish attack them at all. The hawkfish will sometimes dart at the firefish though.

Also see above for the pictures of the dead clownfish.

Hi,
Did you ever find out what happened to your clownfish? The same thing happened to our two clownfish 2 months ago. No outward sign of disease. All other fish in the tank are fine. We would like to add more clownfish since it's been 2 months...but a little hesitant in case it was brooklynella (though didn't look like it).