My clowns are getting sick! Need some advice..

[archer]

Hello everyone,

Well, its been a month since I started with my 55 gallon and since yesterday am noticing something odd with my clown fish. It was only one fellow initially and today I see the other one too with the same symptoms. There is some white stuff by the mouth and fins. Both clowns have them now! One of the clowns stopped eating since today and he just picked a spot low by the sand bed and refuses to move around!! ..hopefully it is not too late!
I spoke to my lfs, and got some medication for ich. Haven't started yet.

I checked the water parameters, and everything looks good. ph was slightly low and I have added ph buffer to get it back up.

Did google a lot and read couple of threads in the forum, hope am not missing anything. Is this the Lymphocystis infection?? I recently added a Skunk shrimp (the medic fellow), will he be of any help?

Give me some directions. Thanks.

 

[Brandon78]

Im not sure what ya got, but keep searching some of the stickies here for fish disease and treatment. Someone will jump in soon that knows im sure, best of luck, and welcome to RS.

 

[dmatt88]

Can ya snap a few pics? Leebca is the resident guru on fish disease n treatment so make sure u look thru.

..........I live my life as a warning to others.

 

[archer]

Yeah, I will try and get some pics in today!

 

[DaveK]

It's hard to tell with out a picture, but the first disease I'd suspect is clownfish disease, officially known as Brooklynella hostilis. Looks like gray irregular patches. Treatment is Formalin, and time is of the essence. Like all diseases treatments, this should be done in a quarantine tank.

 

[archer]

Herez the picture. He is really low today and the other one has developed a similar white stuff. Just one spot though.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Here a way to post bigger pics, so everyone can see the details... in a large pic

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ay-post-pics-photobucket-nanoreefing4fun.html

 

[Blue Space]

can't tell from that pic. can you try another? closer the better.

 

[Blue Space]

you'll want to setup a hospital tank now. if you don't have one hit up walmart for a 10 gal or so tank with a heater. if you're treating for ich you won't want to treat the fish in the display tank.

 

[archer]

Hope these pics show up big!

 

[archer]

It is actually like a secondary growth...some white tissue growing!! ....this guy is breathing heavily and seems to be low near the sand. Refuses to eat!
The other clown I have is starting to have a small growth like this guy. He seems to be active ....eats well. Hopefully i can do something before its too late.

Thanks for your input so far guys... am working to get a 10 gal tank setup for treatment.

 

[kmaintl]

You want to QT fast. If it's still eating, that's a good sign. When they are small like this, not eating for a couple days can terminate them.

 

[ddelozier]

Sounds like a Parasitic infection. QT Fast. Look up Brooklynella and Clown Parasitic infections. could also be Amyloodinium(velvet)

Most likely solutions are going to be FW Dip, or Formaline treatment. Neither should be done with the fish in the MT.

 

[Roots]

Fluke maybe? Or Brooklynella and what your seeing is excess mucous and sloughing off of skin. Treatment is needed immediately. I would suggest Formalin Dips as long as there are no open red or bloody wounds anywhere on the fish. Otherwise Freshwater dips may help to alleviate some of the symptoms and buy you some time.

Do not put medications into your display tank. Most are not invertebrate safe and some react with sand and rock in the tank. Setup a bare bottom Hospital Tank to treat them and house them until they are healthy.

Many fish diseases can kill quickly especially since buy the time we can see the symptoms it often means that the disease has been present for quite some time but ha just now reached the point of being bad enough to see outwardly. Many parasites attack the gills first and so are not outwardly apparent. Not eating is a bad sign. If a fish won't eat it's immune system will continue to drop and saving them prove very difficult.

I am currently going through some issue with my clowns as well.

 

[ddelozier]

hit Walmart/target for a 10g starter kit, make some fresh SW, heat and test it, but very soon they should be in the hospital tank. Bare Bottom, but if it comes with a powerfilter, run that with carbon/floss unless/untill you intend to treat with Formaline. If you do Formaline treatment, read instructions carefully, and remove carbon. FW dip may buy time, but it may also stress the fish. Been there and done that. I battled ich and Brook. By the time i got treatment going, it was too late for 1 of the 2.

I treat every fish i buy now(clowns especially) for brook and ich(antibiotics, formaline, fresh water dips etc) for a month in a QT before they go into my DT.