Disappointed with the health of the ORA clown fish.

paintballer768 · Aug 27, 2008

Sorry but Ive had 2 clowns die from brooklynella and I would say thats definitely it. The weird thing is the once the fish looked at the stage yours are (in the above pic), they died a couple of hours later.

If its parasitic, I suggest dipping them in formalin-5 or something like that for a few times a day. Gotta act fast with brook. Whats scary is that if you got yours directly from ORA, that means the rest have it too, or are exposed to contaminated water.

EDIT: Pooping long white string? Thats odd for brook...it actually might be parasitic then. Definitely a weird bug theyve got

Pitcom · Aug 27, 2008

Thanks for the advice Jeff. Yeah ORA said if it was brook they'd be dead by now. I've actually talked to 2 people now on other sites who just got a pair same week i did, one pair died and the other was the one i mentioned. Somone else posted on rc that thier lfs had a pair die, not that i know that to be accurate info. It kind of seems to me like a sick batch of fish. My one clown has a deformed pectoral fin as well. I have a good feeling that ORA will help out in some way if the fish perish, but i'd really like to save these guys.

paintballer768 · Aug 27, 2008

Pitcom said:
Thanks for the advice Jeff. Yeah ORA said if it was brook they'd be dead by now. I've actually talked to 2 people now on other sites who just got a pair same week i did, one pair died and the other was the one i mentioned. Somone else posted on rc that thier lfs had a pair die, not that i know that to be accurate info. It kind of seems to me like a sick batch of fish. My one clown has a deformed pectoral fin as well. I have a good feeling that ORA will help out in some way if the fish perish, but i'd really like to save these guys.

Try the dipping them in the solution ORA recommended, or maybe Formalin would help that too. Every LFS should have Formalin, and its only a few dollars. The deformed pectoral fin just makes him a true "Nemo" haha. Hopefully ORA will assist you best they can.

This thread I use for disease ID and etc, and it might help you out.

This is the ID page...
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127010

This is the treatment methods...
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007

Pitcom · Sep 4, 2008

Just wanted to give an update. Both clownfish died last week. Since then, my geo pygmy hawk kicked the bucket and the disease has spread to my orange spot prawn goby and spotted mandarin. I set up a qt tank today and am giving both fish a dip in hydro plex and will begin a furnan 2 cycle. I am really bummed out, this disease the fish had really brought havoc to my tank. I'm going to keep the fish in qt for 5 weeks while the tank stays coral only. I'm hoping by that time whatever is in the water dies since thier will be no host.
I have not been able to identify what sickness these fish have, only that it looked like brook on the clowns. The fish basically loose thier slime coat and thier scales/skin appear to start peeling off. I'm hoping to save the goby, i got him 2 years ago from a reefer who had him for almost 3 yrs, so he's an old guy.

sdietz2469 · Sep 4, 2008

well, i am sorry to hear that.... my picassos i got about 2 months ago seem to keep getting fungus... i lost one, and replaced it, then i got the fungus shortly ofter that.... not too sure if i would buy from ora again.... their regular percs seem to be fine, but the picassos i think are being shipped out way too early and young... all of my fish go threw a 4 day treatment of fungus clear and parasite clear to ensure they dont get sick or bring a nasty parasite into my tank, but these guys seem to be very prone to disease.... i think there is just such a demand on them that they ship really young cuz they ae all pre bought or atleast a waiting list for them....
shane

ofblong · Sep 5, 2008

oceanparadise1 said:
man thats no good i was just about to order some black ones... i might re think this now

The 2 black and whites in my tank that you saw on my members tank page are from ORA. They will actually try and eat Nori out of my hand. I throw about 6 diff types of food in (not all at once but over a period of a week) and they eat every single type of food I put in.

oh and a hijack note im gonna try and play some cod4 this weekend

. Might even start tonight.

Rivers · Sep 5, 2008

Too little too late I guess. Sorry to hear about your losses. The pic you posted looks like amyloodinium or clownfish disease (marine velvet). They should have been hit with an external parasite medication (something with copper). ORA is right about brook. The fish (and all your others) would have been dead within 24 hours. (Quickcure would have worked for it though). They probably recommended the metronidazole for the white stringy poop. I think the fish gets stressed in shipping and you see it break down with diarrhea (white stringy poop in fish) as is seen with people who get nervous (GI track problems, butterflies in stomach, etc.). I have seen this in both wild and TR fish.

At the end of the day the only clowns I have ever had any success with are ORAs both at the retail stores I have worked in and at my home. Their sales staff always seems to be really helpful too. I would call them and explain the story and work with them and your LFS to get you some more!

Rivers · Sep 5, 2008

By the way, the last time I called there they put me directly in touch with a fish health specialist. You may want to call to see if they can have that person contact you.

cl2ysta1 · Sep 27, 2008

That would be bad for ORA to be sending out fish with with brook or velvet. Let alone to have it in their system. Once you have marine velvet or brook in your reef i'm pretty sure it is impossible to get rid of, but I could be wrong.... Our LFS stopped bringing in ORA fish because they were all coming in looking horrible. I'm very sorry about your loss, and hopefully they only were in a QT system.