Storm Clown In Distress

[John-]

I am only 6 months into the hobby, so not much experience. I have a Storm Mocha clown having been quarantined for 30 days. Never signs of disease so I did not medicate. Transferred a yellow watchman goby a few days ago from same QT, and doing great. Today, a fire fish in same QT was dead and Clown under severe stress. Breathing heavy at bottom of tank. QT was cloudy, so I moved him to display tank to see if cleaner water would help, but still stressed, so moved him back to QT. Began treating with General Cure and introduced 2ml to 20 gallons to start getting copper level up. Any guidance, thoughts or comments? I am very new at this. The only thing I added to fish QT (after the goby left) was some snails from a coral QT that has been running for 40 days. That coral QT did have what I believed were pods on the glass. Now I am concerned maybe they are flukes.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

A bit confused on your type up. So apologies if I didn't get this right.

Okay just to be clear. The only two fish in the QT tank at the time of death was the firefish and the clown? watchmen was already out of the picture?

1. The firefish could have been bullied by the clown or killed it. (clowns are aggressive to new tank mates). I tend to do lights out while adding new members.
2. firefish death could have spiked ammonia. Cloudy water is clear indicator that bacteria is in overdrive. The heavy breathing is caused by lack of oxygen.
3. Moving the clownfish into another tank is also going to cause it to stress. How long did you wait after moving it to display tank to see any changes to health?

In the future just stay calm. Don't make drastic changes until you assess the situation. I would have pulled what was left of the fish out of the QT. Check ammonia/nitrates. And based off that data do a water change.

For all you know. The clown and firefish fought. Clown won but was severely stressed. Ammonia was fine and pulling the dead fish out would have kept the QT tank stable.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I am only 6 months into the hobby, so not much experience. I have a Storm Mocha clown having been quarantined for 30 days. Never signs of disease so I did not medicate. Transferred a yellow watchman goby a few days ago from same QT, and doing great. Today, a fire fish in same QT was dead and Clown under severe stress. Breathing heavy at bottom of tank. QT was cloudy, so I moved him to display tank to see if cleaner water would help, but still stressed, so moved him back to QT. Began treating with General Cure and introduced 2ml to 20 gallons to start getting copper level up. Any guidance, thoughts or comments? I am very new at this. The only thing I added to fish QT (after the goby left) was some snails from a coral QT that has been running for 40 days. That coral QT did have what I believed were pods on the glass. Now I am concerned maybe they are flukes.

If ramping up copper, cease and get to level in 24 hours as it will allow disease if any to gain a hold of a fish.
Please post a video under white light intensity of the fish for assessment.
Clowns rarely get flukes and video will help determine.
Is fish eating and breathing normal?

 

[John-]

A bit confused on your type up. So apologies if I didn't get this right.

Okay just to be clear. The only two fish in the QT tank at the time of death was the firefish and the clown? watchmen was already out of the picture?

1. The firefish could have been bullied by the clown or killed it. (clowns are aggressive to new tank mates). I tend to do lights out while adding new members.
2. firefish death could have spiked ammonia. Cloudy water is clear indicator that bacteria is in overdrive. The heavy breathing is caused by lack of oxygen.
3. Moving the clownfish into another tank is also going to cause it to stress. How long did you wait after moving it to display tank to see any changes to health?

In the future just stay calm. Don't make drastic changes until you assess the situation. I would have pulled what was left of the fish out of the QT. Check ammonia/nitrates. And based off that data do a water change.

For all you know. The clown and firefish fought. Clown won but was severely stressed. Ammonia was fine and pulling the dead fish out would have kept the QT tank stable.

Thanks...so more info you reminded me. There was a Royal Gramma in the QT as well (was 4 fish, moved the Goby a few days ago), and the Royal Gramma seemed fine, dashed into the rocks when transferred to the display and have not seen since. Hard to believe they fought as they have been QT tank mates for 30 days with zero conflict in the QT. Checked Amonia daily and did 10% water changes every couple of days while monitoring Ammonia. Ammonia and nitrite were fine this morning, not zero, but not toxic either. Did a 35% water change last night when I saw the cloudy water. Clown was is the display for about 40 minutes before I realized, he probably had gill flukes or something and would not survive. So figuring I would lose him regardless figured medicate in the QT. While in the display, he was breathing heavy, barley moving and laying on side or just in the sand.

 

[John-]

If ramping up copper, cease and get to level in 24 hours as it will allow disease if any to gain a hold of a fish.
Please post a video under white light intensity of the fish for assessment.
Clowns rarely get flukes and video will help determine.
Is fish eating and breathing normal?

So I clearly understand, you are saying to not ramp up copper over a few days, but get above 2 in 24 hours? Please clarify I have this right.

 

[Vinaka_vakalevu]

So I clearly understand, you are saying to not ramp up copper over a few days, but get above 2 in 24 hours? Please clarify I have this right.

yes, no ramp is necessary for copper, get it to therapeutic levels

 

[MnFish1]

I am only 6 months into the hobby, so not much experience. I have a Storm Mocha clown having been quarantined for 30 days. Never signs of disease so I did not medicate. Transferred a yellow watchman goby a few days ago from same QT, and doing great. Today, a fire fish in same QT was dead and Clown under severe stress. Breathing heavy at bottom of tank. QT was cloudy, so I moved him to display tank to see if cleaner water would help, but still stressed, so moved him back to QT. Began treating with General Cure and introduced 2ml to 20 gallons to start getting copper level up. Any guidance, thoughts or comments? I am very new at this. The only thing I added to fish QT (after the goby left) was some snails from a coral QT that has been running for 40 days. That coral QT did have what I believed were pods on the glass. Now I am concerned maybe they are flukes.

Sorry I can't read some of the other comment on my phone - so I'll pretend I'm just answering. The cloudy water suggests a nutrient issue, and this in a QT setting suggests an ammonia issue - which the general cure etc will not improve.

That said there is also a hint of disease with the multiple added fish. FWIW (and for other readers) - my opinion is that it's best to not add 'new' animals to an existing quarantine if possible. That said - I would follow the plan recommended on this site (i.e. copper followed by prazipro). Making sure you're parameters are excellent, etc

 

[John-]

UPDATE! Clown on the mend!! Would appreciate advice on how to proceed with gettig him back to dispay tank.

So I hit a full dose of General Cure and ramped copper to 2.5 on 8/21/24. Clown was still struggling, very labored breathing lying listed on bottom of tank two days. Gave a freshwater dip. Did not see flukes drop off. Three days still laboring ad assumed he would be lost. Today, five days in he is swimming around the tank and eating. So fun when this stuff works out. Not out of the woods yet, and not even sure what he had. My guess is flukes just because he was struggling to breath, and I added a couple of snails from an older coral QT that had what I assumed was pods, but could have been flatworms or flukes.

So if has been five days of meds. On Thursday 8/29, I will hit with second treatment of GC to hit any eggs that were laid. How much longer should I continue copper? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[MnFish1]

UPDATE! Clown on the mend!! Would appreciate advice on how to proceed with gettig him back to dispay tank.

So I hit a full dose of General Cure and ramped copper to 2.5 on 8/21/24. Clown was still struggling, very labored breathing lying listed on bottom of tank two days. Gave a freshwater dip. Did not see flukes drop off. Three days still laboring ad assumed he would be lost. Today, five days in he is swimming around the tank and eating. So fun when this stuff works out. Not out of the woods yet, and not even sure what he had. My guess is flukes just because he was struggling to breath, and I added a couple of snails from an older coral QT that had what I assumed was pods, but could have been flatworms or flukes.

So if has been five days of meds. On Thursday 8/29, I will hit with second treatment of GC to hit any eggs that were laid. How much longer should I continue copper? Any advice would be appreciated.

Copper is used for 30 days at the appropriate level. (it's different with chelated copper). So - I would do that protocol at minimum. Since you're using general cure, prazipro may not be as important - i.e. the 2 x 8 day treatments.

HOWEVER, I strongly feel that you should be using prazipro in this case because there is no need for metronidazole, each antibiotic used thats not necessary causes increased resistance - as well as (most important) cumulative toxicity in the fish. Note - I know that Metronidazole and Praziquantel are 2 drugs designed to be together - its adding it to compare I would not recommend.