Not Again! Please help with clown - Pic attached

[rmlevasseur]

I ordered two indo ocean ocellaris from LiveAquaria, a small and a medium. The small guy ate great from the start. The medium lumbered, never ate, and died 10 days later.

LiveAquaria was great, and sent me a new one, even free shipping. This one is much bigger, but is acting the same exact way the one that died did. He won't eat, lumbers, and breathes fast. I got him yesterday (acclimated perfectly), and today I notice this white patch on him. I do have a RBTA in the tank, but to my knowledge neither clown has seemed interested.

What do you think of this white patch, and how should I treat it? I haven't set up a QT because I only intended on the two clowns and the goby. Water tests perfect, other fish and corals doing great. I do have a QT set up now but its still too new for fish. Help!

[lcstorc]

I would put this in the fish disease forum then the experts are more likely to notice it. I have no idea, but I would give LiveAquaria a call. They are very helpful and perhaps they have dealt with this before.
Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[rmlevasseur]

I did call them, no help. I forgot about the disease forum, but maybe more visible here.

[rlcline76]

That is a nice white patch. I would be afraid of amyloodinium and would seriously consider yanking that fish out of that tank. If there is a goby in there, you probably will not be able to treat them both in the same hospital tank (which is why you will want to observe fish in QT before tossing them in to the DT from now on). Yep, hopefully you can get some extra help in the disease forum. Lee could probably pinpoint your culprit better and quickly!

[lcstorc]

Is he gasping for air at the top of the tank. Does he appear to have excessive slime coat? I'm trying to do some searches for you. The more information you can give the better. It is very unusual to get bad fish from Live Aquaria but anything can happen.
Try to give more details about exactly what he is doing.

[rmlevasseur]

No, he is not gasping at the top, but he is breathing abnormally fast. He kinda hovers in a corner close to the gravel. Except for that patch, he has no other visible signs of infection.

I do have a new nem in the tank, and I did think that maybe he was acclimating to the nem. Unfortuntately I have never seen him go near it. He did eat a very little yesterday, and "flirted" a little with the smaller clown, but today he's just been kinda limp. He is acting very much like the one that died. The small clown is a very aggressive eater.

[rmlevasseur]

i'm uploading a video to photobucket, will post in a few

[lcstorc]

Does any of this sound like it?

1. <LI bkXW6="1" pRbmf="1">Problem Definition:
   
   There are many diseases that make a clown fish sick including Velvet or Oodinium, White Spot Disease, Brooklynella and Clownfish Disease. Apart from these diseases, excess algae and increased ammonium, nitrite and nitrate levels can also make a clown fish sick. White Spot disease is caused by a parasitic organism called Cryptocaryon irritant.
2. Symptoms:
   
   Symptoms vary from disease to disease, but the most common symptoms are the appearance of white spots on the gills; the fish is often seen scratching itself against objects and because of clogged gills the fish keep surfacing for air. The distinct features of each disease are seen in other symptoms. When the fish begins to lose color in patches you can be certain the infection is White Spot Disease. If cysts are manifested and a velvety powder-like substance is seen on the body, the disease is most likely Velvet or Oodinium. If the body of the fish has cysts accompanied by white mucus-like matter, the infection is Brooklynella or Clownfish Disease.

[rlcline76]

I apologize for not knowing much about your tank history.
What kind of goby do you have and how long have you had it? Gobies can be quite disease resistant but I QT them all the same because I have lost a few to illness. Lost them during a marine velvet episode (this is why I QT, because I messed up) so they can get sick...and depending on where this goby came from, environmentally, could be asymptomatic. I humor all sorts of possibilities.

[rlcline76]

Definitely google brooklynella

[rmlevasseur]

oh weird, the patch seem to be getting larger before my eyes, and there is a thin layer of dead skin coming off. Here is a vid.

Video of sick clown - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[rmlevasseur]

yep, my money is on brooklynella

[prow]

get him in the QT ASAP and start treatments. use a hyposalinity tank, not helpful against the pathogen but will help with O2 demands. use lots of flow and a airstone, need big time aeration of the water here. treat with formalin while in the hospital. dont worry about the biofiltration so much. just do daily or even twice daily testing and change water accordingly. also get some AmQuel to deal with ammonia and reduce the need more frequent water changes. still need to do water changes.

[rmlevasseur]

This fish has been euthanized. It was freaking scary how fast that little patch was spreading. I live in rural MN, and I don't have quick access to formalin or amquel - I would have had to wait for a shipment.

I hated doing it, but I thought it was best. I had a fowlr for 10 years, and in my experience this guy wasn't going to make it. There will be no more fish purchased until the QT is stable and running. I am also going to be hesitant to purchase any more fish online. I am not going to ask LiveAquaria for a refund of this fish, although I am very convinved that they sent me two ill fish. Maybe all the indos were in the same tank. I dunno. Next clown will be tank raised and I will just have to hope he finds the nem.

[Dentoid]