Clownfish death :( What's the cause?

[nicolebrzu]

I had two ocellaris clowns. One of them I got over 2 months ago, one of them a month ago. A few days ago the second one disappeared. I couldn't find him anywhere. There was no change in ammonia or anything but I did a water change just in case he died. During the water change I found him. He was inside of an empty shell being eaten by bristle worms.

Late last night I was peaking into my tank with a flashlight and my other clown looked a bit funny. So I turned the lights on. He looked extremely pale and his face and body were sunken in. He hasn't eaten for the past two days, I thought maybe it was stress related because his friend died. Anyway, he let me scoop him up with my hand... normally he swims away fast as lightning. Very strange, so I set up a QT for him so I could keep a better eye on him. This morning he was dead

I have no idea what is causing this!!! These were my first two fish (my tank is 5 months old) and now I am terrified to get more fish. All of my corals are doing great. All of my water tests are perfect except for Ca and Alk but I don't think this would cause their death (see my other postings if your interested on my Ca problem...)

Any ideas and thoughts? I'm very upset and don't want this to happen again

 

[sasquatch]

sorry to hear, also sorry there is no answer and could have been from several things, best advise I can give...only buy tank raised

 

[jpsika08]

Sorry about your losses.

Have you made all possible tests to your water? At least the most important for fish?

Ammonia (Mentioned already) - Nitrite - Nitrate - Alk - Salinity - Ph, - Temp?

Any new addition to the tank?

Also, maybe the first clown that died was bullied by the other and the second one died of stress, remember that clowns usually must go in together as they're very territorial, as I read above you introduced a second one with one month's difference.

Just blowing ideas out so you can determine the cause.

 

[justinw]

sorry about the losts, its never nice loosing a fish. but always do water test and a water change may be ideal. as jpsika08 mentioned, clowns can be territorial, its always best to put then into the tan kas pairs. it could have been stressed related, but did you notice anything different with the fish? maybe a disease? with the QT you had setup i would keep that up if you could. what i like doing when i get new fish or coral is to quarantine the new fish or coral for about 4 weeks, just to make sure they are healthy and well. getting new fish or coral is always fun, but it is always good to be catious. if a new fish dies while in the QT, atleast you prevented nitrates and anything that may have been wrong with the fish into the main show tank. i hope this helps you.

 

[mbdave]

Sorry to hear you lost your fish.
Clownfish especially wild are prone and usually have brooklynella. It sometimes will not show up for sometime, and wild clowns as in all wild fish should be quarentined in fact myself when I did get wild clowns I would treat them right out of the gate. This is a pretty good page on disease;
Brooklynella hostilis and Uronema marinum | UltimateReef.Com
If they were in fact wild this is probably what took your fish and trust me you are not the first to fall victim to this. I recommend reading the page I posted and other pages learning what you can to erradicate this.
After this if you want clownfish invest in great farmed or "TR" clownfish they are much hardier and IMC do not have disease.

Good luck,
Dave

 

[nicolebrzu]

I'm not sure if these fish were tank raised or wild caught. They were both only about 1 inch in size, still juvenile. They were both very vibrant and active, followed each other everywhere. The only confrontation I ever saw was when I first added the second clown, the first did a little dance in front of the other, almost looked like a seizure. Since then, they have done everything together, never leaving each others side.

Tests I perform on a weekly basis are ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, salinity, pH, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, temperature. Like I said before, everything has been fine except still trying to get ca/alk/mg under control but from my reading, that should only affect my corals, not so much the fish.

Thanks for the article mbdave. It sounds like this is possible. My fish had no lesions at all that I noticed. However, the rest of the symptoms sound very much like the death of the second clown. Without the lesions, is this still a possible cause? If that is the case, should I be concerned for the health of my corals and inverts in the display tank catching this pathogen?

Any other possiblities? Or tips for the next clowns? How long do you think I should wait to add another set to the tank?