Clownfish Rapid Breathing

tifa · Apr 13, 2024

Today my clownfish pair (roughly 1-2 years old, no aggression) started breathing rapidly, at least 100bpm with flared gills and rapid mouth movement. I did do a 20% WC today and moved a coral, but nothing wet has been added and all inhabitants are quarantined. I will post photos and videos when the white lights are on. The female is breathing faster than the male and is hiding under a rock arch. Oddly, she went under the rock when the lights went out. Both ate like pigs today and show no visible signs of disease. No mucus, clamped fins, or red gills. Oxygen exchange is fine, too. The only symptoms are extremely fast breathing and possible equilibrium issues with the female (wobbling a bit in place). I could perform a FW dip to test for flukes but am worried about stressing them out more than necessary. I have Prazipro, MetroPlex, and Focus on hand. Inverts and other tankmates are fine and breathing normally. I had a wrasse pass abruptly last fall in which my clowns were breathing a bit heavy, but I think that was due to an ammonia spike from the corpse overnight. Even then, the breathing was not this fast nor has my female ever hid. Help is appreciated.

Tank stats:
Ammonia - 0
Salinity - 1.026
pH - 8.0

EDIT: I did stir a small section of sand to get rid of algae today. Could I have caused a bacterial bloom? Or could this simply be stress from moving things around?

Jay Hemdal · Apr 13, 2024

tifa Welcome to the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Forum!

The #fishmedic team and other knowledgeable members of our community will do our best to help you resolve your questions. Please provide as much of the following as you are able:

Brief description of the issue you are observing and answers to the following questions:
- How long have you had the fish with the condition?
- Did you quarantine with medication when you first acquired the fish? (If Yes, which medication?)
Current water quality measurements
Clear photos of the issue taken using WHITE light and/or a short video of any behaviors (post in your response or on YouTube).

If you can help us by providing as much of the above info as possible, it will make diagnosing and providing recommendations for treatment MUCH easier! The Fish Medic team will get back to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, other members of our community may also share their experience with similar situations and advice that they may have regarding your situation.

You may also feel free to provide a more detailed description of the condition if you wish to share more info than the above list.

Additionally, these links may be useful while you await a response:

vetteguy53081 · Apr 13, 2024

tifa said:
Today my clownfish pair (roughly 1-2 years old, no aggression) started breathing rapidly, at least 100bpm with flared gills and rapid mouth movement. I did do a 20% WC today and moved a coral, but nothing wet has been added and all inhabitants are quarantined. I will post photos and videos when the white lights are on. The female is breathing faster than the male and is hiding under a rock arch. Oddly, she went under the rock when the lights went out. Both ate like pigs today and show no visible signs of disease. No mucus, clamped fins, or red gills. Oxygen exchange is fine, too. The only symptoms are extremely fast breathing and possible equilibrium issues with the female (wobbling a bit in place). I could perform a FW dip to test for flukes but am worried about stressing them out more than necessary. I have Prazipro, MetroPlex, and Focus on hand. Inverts and other tankmates are fine and breathing normally. I had a wrasse pass abruptly last fall in which my clowns were breathing a bit heavy, but I think that was due to an ammonia spike from the corpse overnight. Even then, the breathing was not this fast nor has my female ever hid. Help is appreciated.

Tank stats:
Ammonia - 0
Salinity - 1.026
pH - 8.0

There are a few possibilities. Please post a video under white light intensity of at least 20 seconds for assessment. Regarding freshwater dip- not advised when fish breathing rates are elevated as it will further increase rate increasing risk and even leading to death however aerating the water May help.
The breathing and wobbly swimming often associated with brook but appears some signs are not present especially if it ate

tifa · Apr 13, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
There are a few possibilities. Please post a video under white light intensity of at least 20 seconds for assessment. Regarding freshwater dip- not advised when fish breathing rates are elevated as it will further increase rate increasing risk and even leading to death however aerating the water May help.
The breathing and wobbly swimming often associated with brook but appears some signs are not present especially if it ate

I'll post a video as soon as I can. Don't want to stress them out by turning the white lights back on. As for brook, would a loss of appetite be early or late stage? Could it be flukes?

vetteguy53081 · Apr 13, 2024

tifa said:
I'll post a video as soon as I can. Don't want to stress them out by turning the white lights back on. As for brook, would a loss of appetite be early or late stage? Could it be flukes?

Mid to late stage. With flukes, you will see sudden darting, coughing/yawning effect, hiding, scratching and loss of appetite.