Clownfish Disease.. Please help!

[ThatLAguy]

Hey everyone. Made this account for this post..

My bullet hole clownfish in my nano reef is breathing very heavy, her jaw won't close, and it seems that she has some inflammation around the chin & gills. My tank is about 3 months old, she's been in there for about a month and some days with her pair. Her friend is fine, no issues.

She won't close her mouth, she doesn't eat much lately and she breathes very heavy. There is no coral in the tank that could have hurt her besides zoas, maybe. The only fish in the tank are her and her pair. I have one cleaner shrimp, 2 nassarius snails, and 3 hermits.

I can't set up a QT tank, and I'm afraid to dose meds because I have inverts and corals in my tank. If I make medicated food, the shrimp might eat some and die - my cleaner shrimp is always stealing food and I read some people saying theirs died after eating medicated food. I followed the humble fish guide on a quick FW dip, but it seemed to do nothing.

The clown does not look very happy, and it upsets me that she has to suffer. Help is much appreciated. I have attached photos of her for reference.

Ammonia and nitrites are 0, nitrate is 5> ppm. Ever since I noticed her condition, I've been testing every day. I run my salinity at a steady 1.025, temp is 77 (+/-1)

 

[blaxsun]

#fishmedic

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey everyone. Made this account for this post..

My bullet hole clownfish in my nano reef is breathing very heavy, her jaw won't close, and it seems that she has some inflammation around the chin & gills. My tank is about 3 months old, she's been in there for about a month and some days with her pair. Her friend is fine, no issues.

She won't close her mouth, she doesn't eat much lately and she breathes very heavy. There is no coral in the tank that could have hurt her besides zoas, maybe. The only fish in the tank are her and her pair. I have one cleaner shrimp, 2 nassarius snails, and 3 hermits.

I can't set up a QT tank, and I'm afraid to dose meds because I have inverts and corals in my tank. If I make medicated food, the shrimp might eat some and die - my cleaner shrimp is always stealing food and I read some people saying theirs died after eating medicated food. I followed the humble fish guide on a quick FW dip, but it seemed to do nothing.

The clown does not look very happy, and it upsets me that she has to suffer. Help is much appreciated. I have attached photos of her for reference.

Ammonia and nitrites are 0, nitrate is 5> ppm. Ever since I noticed her condition, I've been testing every day. I run my salinity at a steady 1.025, temp is 77 (+/-1)

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Can you post a short video under white lights?
How many days have you seen symptoms?

If it is flukes (a good chance that it is) a FW dip won't provide immediate relief - instead it will take a few days to improve, then will slowly get worse again. You would want to treat with Prazipro in that case.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Blowing up the image (see below), I see what looks like mucus around the face which suggests it may be brooklynella.
Is fish eating?
Is it breathing rapidly
Has behavior become lethargic?
Are colors faded ?

 

[ThatLAguy]

Blowing up the image (see below), I see what looks like mucus around the face which suggests it may be brooklynella.
Is fish eating?
Is it breathing rapidly
Has behavior become lethargic?
Are colors faded ?

Colors are not faded. She is not acting weird - she just hosts her return pump like usual. She does breath heavy. She does not eat much, but it feels like it is because she can't. When I feed pellets, she used to grab them from the top. Now, she waits until they sink, and she sort of swims through them so they flow into her mouth.. but she only eats like one or two, whereas she used to eat a lot more. I have added another photo here.

 

[ThatLAguy]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Can you post a short video under white lights?
How many days have you seen symptoms?

If it is flukes (a good chance that it is) a FW dip won't provide immediate relief - instead it will take a few days to improve, then will slowly get worse again. You would want to treat with Prazipro in that case.

Jay

Here is a video under white light:

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here is a video under white light:

I'll revise my opinion - that isn't flukes. It seems to be some mechanical damage issue. A tumor could also cause the jaw to be malformed like that, but a tumor would be unusual in a newish fish like that.

Sorry - I don't have any treatment plan for this sort of thing, we can deal with infectious diseases, but when it comes to issues like this, medications won't resolve it.

Could this clown have been lip-locking with the other one?

Jay

 

[ThatLAguy]

I'll revise my opinion - that isn't flukes. It seems to be some mechanical damage issue. A tumor could also cause the jaw to be malformed like that, but a tumor would be unusual in a newish fish like that.

Sorry - I don't have any treatment plan for this sort of thing, we can deal with infectious diseases, but when it comes to issues like this, medications won't resolve it.

Could this clown have been lip-locking with the other one?

Jay

Instead of getting better, she seems to be getting worse. Now she has a white spot on her eye.. please see the photo.

 

[ThatLAguy]

bump

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Instead of getting better, she seems to be getting worse. Now she has a white spot on her eye.. please see the photo.

Tough for me to really see - dark fish under blue lights. If it is spreading, then it could be a secondary bacterial infection.

Jay

Edit - sorry, I wrote this last night but I see it didn't send....

 

[ThatLAguy]

Tough for me to really see - dark fish under blue lights. If it is spreading, then it could be a secondary bacterial infection.

Jay

Edit - sorry, I wrote this last night but I see it didn't send....

She seems to be getting better today. The white spot on her eye is gone, and her mouth is almost closed, but she is still a bit lethargic. just hoping I don't wake up to my cleaner shrimp cleaning up her dead body.