Black Storm Qt trouble. Need help ASAP!!

[JenniferMcK]

About 5 days ago I bought 5 storm clownfish. 4 from a hatchery, another from a fish store that quarantined before selling. The 4 from hatchery are teeny tiny about an inch, the other one from different fish store, is bigger maybe 1.5 inches. So upon arrival, they all went through methylene blue bath bc of shipping for so long and were added to 20 gal sterile qt. Bc of them being so small, I let them settle for the night and the next morning started ramping up copper. The 4 babies from the hatchery are doing great eating well and taking copper well. But once I hit about 1.00 in copper power, the bigger one from the different seller, stopped eating and staying more than less on the bottom of the tank, still swimming, but sometimes laying there, upright, but almost like it's tired. So I contacted the seller and he informed me he treated with CP before shipping for around 10 days. So I figured I'd give this fish another day and see what happens. I decided to add spectrogram. Added it yesterday. Copper is at 1.50, and figured with them being babies, I'd raise it to 1.75 to 2 and keep there for 14 days, then transfer to another sterile qt. I know they don't have velvet, brook or anything else. I'm thinking that this fish may not be tolerating copper bc of previous CP treatment and have been thinking about pulling it from the tank. I have a few small 3-4 gal temporary tank from petco that I can put it in with a bubbler and heater, and do ttm, but I wanted advice first. I've never been successful with ttm. @HotRocks i follow your protocall, so I was wondering what your advice is or anyone else that has had this problem. I don't wanna lose this fella, I named her ms piggy bc of how it ate before raising copper. It's $150 fish also. The other 4, I'm actually quarantining for some else. I've been doing that a lot lately so that's why I've made multiple posts about multiple fish, incase anyone was wondering about that. TIA

 

[HotRocks]

About 5 days ago I bought 5 storm clownfish. 4 from a hatchery, another from a fish store that quarantined before selling. The 4 from hatchery are teeny tiny about an inch, the other one from different fish store, is bigger maybe 1.5 inches. So upon arrival, they all went through methylene blue bath bc of shipping for so long and were added to 20 gal sterile qt. Bc of them being so small, I let them settle for the night and the next morning started ramping up copper. The 4 babies from the hatchery are doing great eating well and taking copper well. But once I hit about 1.00 in copper power, the bigger one from the different seller, stopped eating and staying more than less on the bottom of the tank, still swimming, but sometimes laying there, upright, but almost like it's tired. So I contacted the seller and he informed me he treated with CP before shipping for around 10 days. So I figured I'd give this fish another day and see what happens. I decided to add spectrogram. Added it yesterday. Copper is at 1.50, and figured with them being babies, I'd raise it to 1.75 to 2 and keep there for 14 days, then transfer to another sterile qt. I know they don't have velvet, brook or anything else. I'm thinking that this fish may not be tolerating copper bc of previous CP treatment and have been thinking about pulling it from the tank. I have a few small 3-4 gal temporary tank from petco that I can put it in with a bubbler and heater, and do ttm, but I wanted advice first. I've never been successful with ttm. @HotRocks i follow your protocall, so I was wondering what your advice is or anyone else that has had this problem. I don't wanna lose this fella, I named her ms piggy bc of how it ate before raising copper. It's $150 fish also. The other 4, I'm actually quarantining for some else. I've been doing that a lot lately so that's why I've made multiple posts about multiple fish, incase anyone was wondering about that. TIA

I have moved fish from therapuetic copper tanks to therapeutic CP tanks many times to separate aggressors or whatever else it may have been without any issues at all.

Clowns usually tolerate copper without issue. I would move the clown to a med free tank and see if it starts eating again. Then you will know if it was copper sensitivity.

 

[JenniferMcK]

I have moved fish from therapuetic copper tanks to therapeutic CP tanks many times to separate aggressors or whatever else it may have been without any issues at all.

Clowns usually tolerate copper without issue. I would move the clown to a med free tank and see if it starts eating again. Then you will know if it was copper sensitivity.

Ive heard of it not being a problem either. But it's the only thing I can think of. It has no visible symptoms of anything wrong with it. It just stopped eating after reaching 1. I'm going to try moving it. What should I do it the fish doesn't improve after moving?

 

[HotRocks]

Ive heard of it not being a problem either. But it's the only thing I can think of. It has no visible symptoms of anything wrong with it. It just stopped eating after reaching 1. I'm going to try moving it. What should I do it the fish doesn't improve after moving?

I would suspect something else going on. It's probably just a coincidence that it stopped during copper. There are so many other things it could be, with intestinal parasites or worms being at the top of the list.

 

[JenniferMcK]

I would suspect something else going on. It's probably just a coincidence that it stopped during copper. There are so many other things it could be, with intestinal parasites or worms being at the top of the list.

I do suspect hat as well as I've seen it have long stringy poop. But how to I treat it for intestinal worms if I can't get it to eat? Dose the water with GC?

 

[HotRocks]

I do suspect hat as well as I've seen it have long stringy poop. But how to I treat it for intestinal worms if I can't get it to eat? Dose the water with GC?

Yes, and hopefully enough medication will be absorbed that the fish will start eating again.

 

[JenniferMcK]

Yes, and hopefully enough medication will be absorbed that the fish will start eating again.

I just wanted to thank you once again for the invaluable advice. Happy to report my baby black storm is eating again. I dosed GC into water, it pooped a stringy whitish clear turd about 2 inches long and has more coming out. I'm going to give it a day to make sure its eating well and then start on medicated food and continue with ttm since his other tank mates are 3 days at therapeutic and I don't want to restart the clock with them being so tiny and fragile, or risk him going lethargic again. Only problem is, is that the clown is so small, it's only eating hatchery .8 mm pellet food. If I put the GC in the pellets and mix with focus+selcon+garlic, it will clump. So important question is can I let the medicated food dry out completely to where I can put it in a ninja blender or will that spoil the food or meds?

 

[HotRocks]

I just wanted to thank you once again for the invaluable advice. Happy to report my baby black storm is eating again. I dosed GC into water, it pooped a stringy whitish clear turd about 2 inches long and has more coming out. I'm going to give it a day to make sure its eating well and then start on medicated food and continue with ttm since his other tank mates are 3 days at therapeutic and I don't want to restart the clock with them being so tiny and fragile, or risk him going lethargic again. Only problem is, is that the clown is so small, it's only eating hatchery .8 mm pellet food. If I put the GC in the pellets and mix with focus+selcon+garlic, it will clump. So important question is can I let the medicated food dry out completely to where I can put it in a ninja blender or will that spoil the food or meds?

You are welcome, I'm happy to hear he is eating again!!!

As far as medicating pellet food, just add some RO water. To soften it up. Then mix in your additives making a mash. I would then refrigerate it and use it for 3-5 days. Then toss it and make new.

 

[HotRocks]

I just wanted to thank you once again for the invaluable advice. Happy to report my baby black storm is eating again. I dosed GC into water, it pooped a stringy whitish clear turd about 2 inches long and has more coming out. I'm going to give it a day to make sure its eating well and then start on medicated food and continue with ttm since his other tank mates are 3 days at therapeutic and I don't want to restart the clock with them being so tiny and fragile, or risk him going lethargic again. Only problem is, is that the clown is so small, it's only eating hatchery .8 mm pellet food. If I put the GC in the pellets and mix with focus+selcon+garlic, it will clump. So important question is can I let the medicated food dry out completely to where I can put it in a ninja blender or will that spoil the food or meds?

I am just curious, did you dose the GC into the copper tank? Or move the fish to a clean tank and then dose the GC?

 

[JenniferMcK]

I am just curious, did you dose the GC into the copper tank? Or move the fish to a clean tank and then dose the GC?

Moved to sterile tank with fresh saltwater no copper. I wasn't sure if it were the worms or the copper that was making it not eat. I received the fish on the 4th and up until 3-4 days ago, this fish was knocking the other 4 fish out of the way to get to food. The day it stopped eating was the day I brought copper up to 1.00. Not sure if that's what it was, but the seller did say he treated CP before he shipped. Me being me, I don't trust anyone else to quarantine my fish. So I started copper the morning after they arrived and decided since they're so tiny, to bring it up like I do my wrasses. When it stopped eating I dosed spectrogram and gave it 2 days to see what happened. It then started not swimming very well and staying on the bottom mostly. Then it started to 'rest' after swimming a few minutes, rest then swim, so on... so I turned the powerhead off and cranked up another airstone to compensate, along with the hob I use. When that didn't help I started getting another tank ready for it. The other 4 fish were and are still doing awesome. Never missed a beat on eating or swimming. Active little boogers tbh. I'm continuing the spectro with the 4 and will be continuing with metro full course treatment with the 1 along with another GC dose in 6 days. It wasn't ammonia or water quality issues as I do waterchanges every other day sometimes everyday if needed and use biospira when started and as prn. I suck out all extra food after feedings, which are 8 and 5. My husband says I'm the fish army doctor bc of how I schedule them lol. I'm actually doing an experiment with another fish atm, with CP. Never used CP and I bought this fish from petco and he was looking bad, which I inquired about on another post the other day. It's actually doing very well. Looking better and swimming very good and eating ok. And with water changes every day I've got ammonia under control. And yes both tanks are more than 10 feet away from each other and I use separate water buckets, hoses, etc. Here's a pic of them before I moved the 1, which is the biggest.