Super finicky Clown - What to feed?

[Santiimari]

Hey guys, I have two clowns, and the smaller one is a super finicky eater. He does not get excited about food, he will either swim up to food and then let it hit the ground or instantly spit it out. He is SO much skinnier than the bigger clown, and I am worried he's going to be dead soon. I am posting the same pic twice where I kinda circle the skinnny-ness. The orange clown has noticeably thicker sides.

We have tried several different types of pellets:
New Life Spectrum Marine Fish
Sustainable Aquatics Hatchery Diet
DKI Complete Feed Soft pellets
Mysis Shrimp Doused in Garlic
Tig Pods from Algae Barn (i do see them going after these but from my understanding these are not very nutritious)

He might eat maybe a pellet a day...if we are lucky and it isn't spit out. We also had medicated their foods with Metroplex + focus bc of stringy white poops, but we try to also feed un-medicated foods with just garlic to temp him. He used to eat much more voraciously when he first arrived

*Sometimes* the orange clown does nip at him when feeding...is there something I can do about that? Get a clear box and feed him in the box alone?

What are some other types of foods I can purchase to maybe tempt him , and also any boosters like fishy vitamins I can try???


General Tank Deets
40Gal, running since March, just hit the Algae stage. Only two clowns, live rock, copepods/ampipods, Chaeto and some bristle-worms in there.
NH3 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10~20, Sal 1.025, tested every week. Weekly ~5 Gal water change.

 

[El_Guapo13]

You said he has white stringy poop? Sounds like he might have a parasite or a disease of some sort.

#reefsquad

 

[PicassoClown04]

White stringy poop is never a good sign. Mine eat LRS frozen reef nano. I think the variety of chopped up stuff in there helps him, plus it kinda releases juices which I think smell nice to them.

 

[Santiimari]

You said he has white stringy poop? Sounds like he might have a parasite or a disease of some sort.

#reefsquad

Yes, we have been using medicated food combo (pellets and mysis) soaked in Metroplex + focus /Garlic - but if he won't eat it...I don't know how to cure him! We thought maybe the meds made it gross, but even if we try unmedicated foods he isn't tempted.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Yes, we have been using medicated food combo (pellets and mysis) soaked in Metroplex + focus /Garlic - but if he won't eat it...I don't know how to cure him! We thought maybe the meds made it gross, but even if we try unmedicated foods he isn't tempted.

I saw in your previous thread that you had a clown that also was super thin and not eating which you returned and then it died. Did this current clown come from the same place?

 

[Santiimari]

White stringy poop is never a good sign. Mine eat LRS frozen reef nano. I think the variety of chopped up stuff in there helps him, plus it kinda releases juices which I think smell nice to them.

Yeah, trying to treat with Metroplex + focus /garlic...but he wont eat even if the medication is not used. I will search up LRS frozen reef Nano, thank you!!

 

[Santiimari]

I saw in your previous thread that you had a clown that also was super thin and not eating which you returned and then it died. Did this current clown come from the same place?

Yes it did come from the same place But this one we watched eat before buying, so I think it's a ME problem.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Yes it did come from the same place But this one we watched eat before buying, so I think it's a ME problem.

Not necessarily. It could already have been exposed to whatever parasite or pathogen the other one had been infected with but had yet to srat showing any symptoms back before you bought it.

Unfortunately, this could also meant that your tank might have been exposed to it as well, which could potentially result in the other clown also catching it. Although, if you are feeding medicated food and the other clown is eating healthy, then it will probably be okay due to it unknowingly taking preventative measure against whatever the other one has.

The next issue is treating the tank to kill off the pathogen/parasite so no future additions get exposed to it.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Please tell me that is a typo and your salinity is not actually at 2.05 dkh....

 

[Santiimari]

Please tell me that is a typo and your salinity is not actually at 2.05 dkh....

Oh god!! Haha yes typo

 

[Santiimari]

Not necessarily. It could already have been exposed to whatever parasite or pathogen the other one had been infected with but had yet to srat showing any symptoms back before you bought it.

Unfortunately, this could also meant that your tank might have been exposed to it as well, which could potentially result in the other clown also catching it. Although, if you are feeding medicated food and the other clown is eating healthy, then it will probably be okay due to it unknowingly taking preventative measure against whatever the other one has.

The next issue is treating the tank to kill off the pathogen/parasite so no future additions get exposed to it.

should I pull this guy out and QT ? I do have a QT tank that had been housing some crabs for a month (was gonna hold them for 76 days before putting in DT) Or do you think that would stress him too much and cause more issue?

 

[El_Guapo13]

Oh god!! Haha yes typo

okay good.

 

[El_Guapo13]

should I pull this guy out and QT ? I do have a QT tank that had been housing some crabs for a month (was gonna hold them for 76 days before putting in DT) Or do you think that would stress him too much and cause more issue?

Its worth a shot. I have never had to quarantine anything myself, and the only diseases I have experienced in any of my tanks were ich in my freshwater tank, and hookworms in the same tank. Treated both and no issues since. And that was like, 10 years ago give or take. I mean, the only two fish left from back then are a 16 year old Striped Raphael Catfish, and a 17 year old Silver Dollar, but all the other fish died of old age (or were eaten by one of the turltes we used to have before we made a pond for them).

Which is why I was hoping to get some reef squad members in here for their help with how to treat diseases and quarantining fish as I have be3ry little experience in doing so myself. Guess I will just hit them up again #reefsquad

 

[Santiimari]

Hey thanks for trying!! I will say that going forward I am following Humblefish QT method to the Tee, but well, these two are already in here so I can only try my best. I don’t know if I will want to buy a third fish if the second fish goes the same way the first did, so I am trying to not get to that point. Also, that’s so amazing that you have had those fish that long!!! Very inspiring for me on the struggle bus

 

[Santiimari]

Also, in case anyone wants to take a look....uhhh, fish poop pic?

 

[El_Guapo13]

Only other thing I can do is hit up some reefers who have helped me in the past with advice ad tips, and beg their forgiveness for disturbing their sleep lol
@KJ
@Crabs McJones
@vetteguy53081
@fishguy242
@Peace River

 

[fishguy242]

hi sorry to hear ,agree w @El_Guapo13 ,stingy white poop infection, doing rt thing w qt to try to get to eat more,will not be bothered by larger believe female by now by size,one other note when better use acclimation box for a day or two in main tank,some expert advice on poop and meds @vetteguy53081 ,thanks, best wishes w clown,keep us posted

 

[vetteguy53081]

That notates an internal infection which will affect feeding. PraziPro is the cure for this.
you can try brine shrimp and flakes in the mean time

 

[Crabs McJones]

General cure plus focus soaked into food for internal parasites.

 

[Miller535]

I would buy some live brine or black worms if you can. Just to get some food in his belly. Then I definitely would treat with prazi pro. I know not all agree, but I treat all new arrivals now with two rounds of prazi pro.