Hello,
My clownfish has a parasitic or internal bacterial infection- pooping long clear and sometimes white strings- I haven’t seen white since I started medicating the tank. He is refusing food still. I have had him for almost a week from Petco.
My tank:
I have a 20 gallon nuvo fusion, my tank has been running for a month. It was cycled, I added more fish, and my ammonia had spiked to about .25-1 ppm over the last week in my test results. I did a large almost 100% water change last night and dosed more nitrifying bacteria.
It looks like my ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 10-20 ppm today with API test kit. My salinity I keep at 1.025, I keep temp 77.5-78 with the apex. My pH probe is off I think I need a new one (calibrated twice) because it says my pH is 7.3, but my API test kit showed 7.8.
I have my protein skimmer running but without the cup just for aeration purposes attached to a CO2 scrubber.
Disease Observation:
I have 2 clownfish- one clownfish is eating and healthy, the other one has been pooping long strings of clear to white feces. The entire time I have had him I have not seen him accept any kind of food at all. He is skinny, I can see the bone that runs lengthwise across his body. He always breathes rapidly. It started as what looked like ich- but based on some advice on this thread it was likely lymphocystis. It was just one white dot. I manually removed it with a Qtip. He started with fading patches of color on his body and scratching against the back of the tank. He is swimming fairly normal, no erratic crazy swimming, he’s not gasping for air, he hangs out in the mid section height of the back of the tank. 2 days ago I noticed back fin fraying. Today his rear fin is practically gone. His eyes are clear, no fungal infection growing. His patches of fading color seem to be improving.
Disease Diagnosis:
I suspect he has multiple things going on. I suspect malnutrition- obviously- he hasn’t eaten. Internal parasitic worms or bacterial infection, maybe even flukes. I also suspect secondary bacterial fin rot maybe due to poor water quality over the last week with the ammonia spike I had combined with malnutrition.
Disease Treatment:
20 gallon Nuvo
I dosed the tank starting about 3 days ago with 3 mL prazipro and 6 level scoops of sulfaplex. I did a full water change last night and redosed the tank. No chemical filtration running, protein skimmer is on but without the cup for aeration.
Today I dosed with 10 mL stressguard and 10mL paraguard. I also added prime to defoxify any ammonia spike I might have. I have kanaplex coming tomorrow just in case but I think sulfaplex and paraguard might be enough for internal and external bacterial infection? I know kanaplex is better absorbed for fish that are not eating.
I am concerned about his tail fin rot and the fact he is refusing any and all food that is offered to him.
I have tried a large variety of frozen food, 2 different kinds of flake food, 2 different kind of pellet food, added garlic, added brightwell vitamarin c... he won’t eat, period. I also dosed the tank with vitamarin C and Seachem Vitality into the water hoping to be absorbed by the fish.
I am not sure if I am doing the right things, I don’t know if I can save this fish because he won’t eat, I also don’t know if what I am doing is working. Advice would be much appreciated!
I attached some photos of the fish from 2 days ago when he still had his tail fin to today with no tail fin. You can see the scratch marks on the back of the tank- he’s not scratching anymore though which is good. It’s hard to take pictures that are clear, but I had just fed the tank in the picture and I even tried feeding copepod powder and plankton.
My clownfish has a parasitic or internal bacterial infection- pooping long clear and sometimes white strings- I haven’t seen white since I started medicating the tank. He is refusing food still. I have had him for almost a week from Petco.
My tank:
I have a 20 gallon nuvo fusion, my tank has been running for a month. It was cycled, I added more fish, and my ammonia had spiked to about .25-1 ppm over the last week in my test results. I did a large almost 100% water change last night and dosed more nitrifying bacteria.
It looks like my ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 10-20 ppm today with API test kit. My salinity I keep at 1.025, I keep temp 77.5-78 with the apex. My pH probe is off I think I need a new one (calibrated twice) because it says my pH is 7.3, but my API test kit showed 7.8.
I have my protein skimmer running but without the cup just for aeration purposes attached to a CO2 scrubber.
Disease Observation:
I have 2 clownfish- one clownfish is eating and healthy, the other one has been pooping long strings of clear to white feces. The entire time I have had him I have not seen him accept any kind of food at all. He is skinny, I can see the bone that runs lengthwise across his body. He always breathes rapidly. It started as what looked like ich- but based on some advice on this thread it was likely lymphocystis. It was just one white dot. I manually removed it with a Qtip. He started with fading patches of color on his body and scratching against the back of the tank. He is swimming fairly normal, no erratic crazy swimming, he’s not gasping for air, he hangs out in the mid section height of the back of the tank. 2 days ago I noticed back fin fraying. Today his rear fin is practically gone. His eyes are clear, no fungal infection growing. His patches of fading color seem to be improving.
Disease Diagnosis:
I suspect he has multiple things going on. I suspect malnutrition- obviously- he hasn’t eaten. Internal parasitic worms or bacterial infection, maybe even flukes. I also suspect secondary bacterial fin rot maybe due to poor water quality over the last week with the ammonia spike I had combined with malnutrition.
Disease Treatment:
20 gallon Nuvo
I dosed the tank starting about 3 days ago with 3 mL prazipro and 6 level scoops of sulfaplex. I did a full water change last night and redosed the tank. No chemical filtration running, protein skimmer is on but without the cup for aeration.
Today I dosed with 10 mL stressguard and 10mL paraguard. I also added prime to defoxify any ammonia spike I might have. I have kanaplex coming tomorrow just in case but I think sulfaplex and paraguard might be enough for internal and external bacterial infection? I know kanaplex is better absorbed for fish that are not eating.
I am concerned about his tail fin rot and the fact he is refusing any and all food that is offered to him.
I have tried a large variety of frozen food, 2 different kinds of flake food, 2 different kind of pellet food, added garlic, added brightwell vitamarin c... he won’t eat, period. I also dosed the tank with vitamarin C and Seachem Vitality into the water hoping to be absorbed by the fish.
I am not sure if I am doing the right things, I don’t know if I can save this fish because he won’t eat, I also don’t know if what I am doing is working. Advice would be much appreciated!
I attached some photos of the fish from 2 days ago when he still had his tail fin to today with no tail fin. You can see the scratch marks on the back of the tank- he’s not scratching anymore though which is good. It’s hard to take pictures that are clear, but I had just fed the tank in the picture and I even tried feeding copepod powder and plankton.