chiara
New Member
Please Help!! (pics are in the link)
Hi everyone. I'm new to the hobby, my brother recently gave me his 50 gallon reef tank bc he's moving and couldn't take it with him. It was in bad shape at first but i did a water change, replaced the substrate, and added a cleanup crew and so far everything's been looking great on that end.
Here's where the problem starts, the tank came with an all-black clownfish, who I named Salem, this fish is the last survivor of the tank my brother kept. After the tank was fixed up I added another clownfish, followed the advice of the guy at the aquarium shop (a reputable one, I do my research I promise) and got her a small male clownfish. These two together are not an issue, she nipped at him at first but they quickly got along and started swimming together at all times. After waiting some time for them to get used to each other I did some research on good tank mates for clownfish and everything seemed to mention tangs and wrasses, and the guy at the aquarium shop also recommended the same thing, so I brought home a six line wrasse and a scopas tang, quarantined them, and acclimated them to the tank.
Everything seemed to be fine the first day, but the next day Salem would not eat. I chalked this up to stress and decided to wait a little longer to see if she would get used to the new fish and start eating again, at that point i had not witnessed any aggression between the new and established fish. I kept trying to feed her different foods but she was not interested. It has now been four days since she ate. She hasn't been heavily breathing, but sometimes she looks like she's tired and swims very slowly only to have sudden bursts of energy and look just fine. Today I noticed some tears in her fins and little white fuzzy spots on her head, all look like bites/injuries. I immediately removed her from the tank and put her in a temporary quarantine setup. The thing is, none of the other fish are having any problems. The other clownfish is much smaller and easier to spot than her (she is solid black, he is a snowflake clown) so i would expect him to be the more likely target if the newer fish are aggressive, but he seems completely fine, eating, swimming along unbothered with the other fish. Again I have never actually seen any aggression between the newer and older fish in the tank, and i tend to sit right next to it for hours watching the fish with my cat.
So there it is. The above photos are the best I could get of her, she also has a white string of something hanging on to her underneath. Please give me any suggestions for what could be wrong. It looks like the most likely culprit is bullying from the other fish, i just dont understand why the larger and more aggressive clownfish would be getting attacked while the smaller, brighter, more submissive one is not. Could it be fin rot? Parasite? An illness from the original tank before i fixed it up? Is she attacking herself out of stress? How do I help Salem heal? Please help!!
Edit: Yes I'm aware that the scopas tang will outgrow the tank. He is less than 2inches currently and I have already planned to rehome him once he outgrows the tank, and he is not what this post is about, so please dont make assumptions and be condescending in the comments. The other fish are completely fine, showing zero signs of illness or aggression. Salem is currently in a 2.5 gallon hospital tank with a filter, bubbler, live rock, and a small terracotta pot (yes i boiled the pot first). I did not add substrate to it so i would be able to see if she eats any food. I'm going out in a minute to get a heater for her as well. She is still refusing food so if there are any medications that could help that dont require her to eat i would really appreciate suggestions!
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Hi everyone. I'm new to the hobby, my brother recently gave me his 50 gallon reef tank bc he's moving and couldn't take it with him. It was in bad shape at first but i did a water change, replaced the substrate, and added a cleanup crew and so far everything's been looking great on that end.
Here's where the problem starts, the tank came with an all-black clownfish, who I named Salem, this fish is the last survivor of the tank my brother kept. After the tank was fixed up I added another clownfish, followed the advice of the guy at the aquarium shop (a reputable one, I do my research I promise) and got her a small male clownfish. These two together are not an issue, she nipped at him at first but they quickly got along and started swimming together at all times. After waiting some time for them to get used to each other I did some research on good tank mates for clownfish and everything seemed to mention tangs and wrasses, and the guy at the aquarium shop also recommended the same thing, so I brought home a six line wrasse and a scopas tang, quarantined them, and acclimated them to the tank.
Everything seemed to be fine the first day, but the next day Salem would not eat. I chalked this up to stress and decided to wait a little longer to see if she would get used to the new fish and start eating again, at that point i had not witnessed any aggression between the new and established fish. I kept trying to feed her different foods but she was not interested. It has now been four days since she ate. She hasn't been heavily breathing, but sometimes she looks like she's tired and swims very slowly only to have sudden bursts of energy and look just fine. Today I noticed some tears in her fins and little white fuzzy spots on her head, all look like bites/injuries. I immediately removed her from the tank and put her in a temporary quarantine setup. The thing is, none of the other fish are having any problems. The other clownfish is much smaller and easier to spot than her (she is solid black, he is a snowflake clown) so i would expect him to be the more likely target if the newer fish are aggressive, but he seems completely fine, eating, swimming along unbothered with the other fish. Again I have never actually seen any aggression between the newer and older fish in the tank, and i tend to sit right next to it for hours watching the fish with my cat.
So there it is. The above photos are the best I could get of her, she also has a white string of something hanging on to her underneath. Please give me any suggestions for what could be wrong. It looks like the most likely culprit is bullying from the other fish, i just dont understand why the larger and more aggressive clownfish would be getting attacked while the smaller, brighter, more submissive one is not. Could it be fin rot? Parasite? An illness from the original tank before i fixed it up? Is she attacking herself out of stress? How do I help Salem heal? Please help!!
Edit: Yes I'm aware that the scopas tang will outgrow the tank. He is less than 2inches currently and I have already planned to rehome him once he outgrows the tank, and he is not what this post is about, so please dont make assumptions and be condescending in the comments. The other fish are completely fine, showing zero signs of illness or aggression. Salem is currently in a 2.5 gallon hospital tank with a filter, bubbler, live rock, and a small terracotta pot (yes i boiled the pot first). I did not add substrate to it so i would be able to see if she eats any food. I'm going out in a minute to get a heater for her as well. She is still refusing food so if there are any medications that could help that dont require her to eat i would really appreciate suggestions!
