Desperately Need Advice on unknown clown sickness

Sylvester

New Member
I have a 20 gallon tank 7 months old. I have lost 4 clownfish over the past few months to the same sickness. At around the the 4 week mark they stop eating and die within a week as they become lethargic, lose weight, and have difficulty breathing. I learned my lesson and put two clowns in a QT tank and did 2 rounds of prazi liquid because i assumed it was flukes. today is day 28 and the larger clown literally just stopped eating. I am just beside myself. I have $200 worth of medications on my shelf.. what do i treat with? copper? metro? antiboitc? They aren't flashing, no spots, no injuries, and no other signs of disease. he just stopped eating. Should i do another round of prazi?

Tank - 10g
Temp 77.5
Salinity 1.025
Ammonia ND
Nitrite ND
Nitrate 10



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DaveK

Well-Known Member
With clowns the first thing I would look for is clownfish disease also know as Brooklynella, This usually looks like off color white slime patches. It may be difficult to see on your fish because they are a variety that has a lot of white on them. Brooklynella is very common on clowns, and is easily spread. Treatment is done using formalin baths. Here is a link on how to do it (offsite) - https://www.thesprucepets.com/how-to-treat-ich-diseased-fish-with-formalin-2924989

While your checking the fish also look for marine velvet, also known as Oodinium. This looks like a fine gold dust on the fish, so it is sometimes cald gold dust disease. Treatment is done using copper. This disease can really run through a tank killing a lot of fish in the process.

Good luck with this.
 

Sylvester

New Member
Thank you. I assumed it could not be velvet because it kills so fast and all my clowns i have lost die a slow death over a week after they stop eating. Would it be safe to eliminate velvet?
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
You really have to look for the disease, and velvet can be difficult to see. Also, it's not impossible for the fish to have more than one disease. Best thing to do is check out some online picts of the disease, so you know what your looking for.
 

Sylvester

New Member
Update - after this posted i immediately treated my QT tank with API - General Cure which is prazi and metro. Neither fish ate for 24 hours but after 48 hours fish are eating again. I will also note before treatment my large clown was beginning to experience rapid breathing and unusual sporadic behavior. I really could still use some advice on how to move forward. General Cure directions say to repeat the dose in 48 hours. Should i continue with the General cure or switch over to something like paraguard?
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
The fact that they are eating is a good sign. Hopefully it all works out for you. This is a good time to look over your main tank and check for any possible water problems. You may have had some outside source of contamination, such as using a spray cleaner nearby.
 

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
I see no need to remed them again if theres no signs......but......Keep careful watch.
If it was bacterial, your treatment would be correct. The fact you see positive results in eating is quite encouraging. Whenever a fish does not eat well, that's trouble, always....

If it was a parasite like velvet or Ick, it likely is still in your tank.
If any other fish shows the stop eat, lathargic, then die thing, suspect parasite, if less than a week, go with velvet, it's the fast killer.

This is not to panic you, just to be careful.......
 

Sylvester

New Member
Thanks but the information on these diseases is so inconsistent it makes it almost impossible to treat diseases you can't visually see. These fish were in QT for 28 days. The took 2 rounds of prazi treatment on over the first 10 days where the initial treatment resolved food rejection/heavy breathing symptoms in 24 hours. That doesn't sound like velvet, ich, or brook since prazi won't help those. 28 days later fish don't eat. It certainly can't be velvet because the life cycle is 4 days on velvet. I have read that in some cases 3 or 4 treatments of prazi are necessary to eradicate some stubborn flukes. I am going to continue with prazi for 3 more rounds and then observe. I will post back with the results.
 
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