Clown acting lethargic - anything I can do?

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TheLoneSeaMonkey

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Here are pictures
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Jay Hemdal

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Well he just went crazy, zipped all over the tank, got stuck to the filter and then died in like a 2 minute period ☹️ I don’t see any signs of disease on him now that I can see him closer. His color did wash out as soon as he died but that was it. He has one tiny white spot on one fin. Should I be putting my other fish in QT or treating her for anything?

Sorry to hear.

Without a microscope, we can't really say. Just watch your other fish for signs of similar rapid breathing. I know it is hard to count, but what I do is video the fish, then use the stopwatch on my phone and count the number of breaths in a certain time span and then work that out for number of gill beats in one minute. That number is typically less than 120 on a healthy fish.

My fear is that this could be velvet, Amyloodinium. That can kill fish very quickly.


Jay
 
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Sorry to hear.

Without a microscope, we can't really say. Just watch your other fish for signs of similar rapid breathing. I know it is hard to count, but what I do is video the fish, then use the stopwatch on my phone and count the number of breaths in a certain time span and then work that out for number of gill beats in one minute. That number is typically less than 120 on a healthy fish.

My fear is that this could be velvet, Amyloodinium. That can kill fish very quickly.


Jay
If my other fish was going to come down with any of these things, is there an incubation period that I should be thinking about? She looks ok, but now I am questioning whether she is doing some head shaking or if she is just being a clownfish :confounded-face:

I was able to pick up some tetra test strips today (not ideal, I know, but all I could find locally) and interestingly, I got very different readings than the LFS did yesterday on my DT. pH looks like it is about 8 in both tanks (which makes sense since I use the same water and salt) but I got about 40 ppm for nitrates and it looked like the faintest pink on the nitrite pad, but less than 0.5ppm. Alkalinity looked a bit low at 120 also. I just put a seachem ammonia badge in too just for extra info, it is still reading safe. My red sea test kit is supposed to be here tomorrow so I will test again when that arrives. I think I may pick up a Hanna checker for salinity too because my refractometer read 1.025 and the Hanna checker at the LFS read 1.020 which is a pretty significant difference (and yes, I am calibrating every day, both for 0 with RODI and I have a calibration fluid that is 1.026). I also tested the QT tank and it read 0 for nitrites and nitrates, less alkalinity at about 80 though. I did not have an airstone in there, I just have a HOB filter. I run a protein skimmer in my DT, which I think means I don't need an airstone? I feel like for every thing I learn there are 100 more things I don't even know that I don't know! :face-with-spiral-eyes:
 

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If my other fish was going to come down with any of these things, is there an incubation period that I should be thinking about? She looks ok, but now I am questioning whether she is doing some head shaking or if she is just being a clownfish :confounded-face:

I was able to pick up some tetra test strips today (not ideal, I know, but all I could find locally) and interestingly, I got very different readings than the LFS did yesterday on my DT. pH looks like it is about 8 in both tanks (which makes sense since I use the same water and salt) but I got about 40 ppm for nitrates and it looked like the faintest pink on the nitrite pad, but less than 0.5ppm. Alkalinity looked a bit low at 120 also. I just put a seachem ammonia badge in too just for extra info, it is still reading safe. My red sea test kit is supposed to be here tomorrow so I will test again when that arrives. I think I may pick up a Hanna checker for salinity too because my refractometer read 1.025 and the Hanna checker at the LFS read 1.020 which is a pretty significant difference (and yes, I am calibrating every day, both for 0 with RODI and I have a calibration fluid that is 1.026). I also tested the QT tank and it read 0 for nitrites and nitrates, less alkalinity at about 80 though. I did not have an airstone in there, I just have a HOB filter. I run a protein skimmer in my DT, which I think means I don't need an airstone? I feel like for every thing I learn there are 100 more things I don't even know that I don't know! :face-with-spiral-eyes:
This isn’t a water quality issue as those affect everything in the tank more or less equally. Fish diseases hit more randomly.
I’m still worried about velvet. What is the other clown’s breathing rate now?
Jay
 
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This isn’t a water quality issue as those affect everything in the tank more or less equally. Fish diseases hit more randomly.
I’m still worried about velvet. What is the other clown’s breathing rate now?
Jay
It’s hard to tell, her gills are moving hardly at all, but if I count mouth openings it’s around 120, she doesn’t look at all like she is struggling like the other one did.
 
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This morning she still looks ok and is still vigorously eating, but she is also rubbing herself against rocks. How do I know what to treat her for?
 

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This morning she still looks ok and is still vigorously eating, but she is also rubbing herself against rocks. How do I know what to treat her for?
That it is still feeding tends to point away from velvet and more to gill flukes. It is not a definite diagnosis, but you might consider doing the tank with Prazipro.

Jay
 

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