Clownfish acting strange

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

Hello, this is my absolute first post and I am in a bit of a dilemma. This is my first ever salt tank and my first run in with strange behavior such as this: https://imgur.com/gallery/dSHjqaY

Can anyone tell me what it is that is affecting my clownfish and what course of action I should take from this point?

Thanks

Crabs McJones · Jul 11, 2019

Welcome to R2R! I'm sorry about your clown. One thing that strikes me as odd in your link is that the clown won't bend its body to swim. Can you provide us with more info? How long have you had him, did you qt before adding to display tank, what are water parameters and does it have any other tank mates?
#WelcometoR2R
#Reefsquad

Dale_M · Jul 11, 2019

Clownfish do that... often.
They also do other odd behaviors that will drive you nutz.

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Welcome to R2R! I'm sorry about your clown. One thing that strikes me as odd in your link is that the clown won't bend its body to swim. Can you provide us with more info? How long have you had him, did you qt before adding to display tank, what are water parameters and does it have any other tank mates?
#WelcometoR2R
#Reefsquad

Thanks for the quick response! This clown has been in this tank for around a month, he recently got another buddy (another Ocellaris, same size) a week ago. I did not QT before adding to my display tank, and I know that was stupid, I'm setting up a QT tank for any more new fish. I took my water down to my LFS yesterday and the day before and had my water tested (I only have freshwater testing equipment, brand new to salt) and all parameters came back, as they said, completely acceptable and nothing that should be causing any issues. PH was stable, low nitrates, no ammonia, SG at 1.025.

I'm thinking possibly some sort of parasite? He was swimming yesterday on the bottom of the tank along the sand and barely eating, today I walk into the office to find him swimming facing downwards near the surface (near no powerhead or direct flow).

I am open to any suggestions you may have!

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

Dale_M said:
Clownfish do that... often.
They also do other odd behaviors that will drive you nutz.

I had another local hobbyist tell me that he could POSSIBLY just be moody since he recently got a friend added to the tank.

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Welcome to R2R! I'm sorry about your clown. One thing that strikes me as odd in your link is that the clown won't bend its body to swim. Can you provide us with more info? How long have you had him, did you qt before adding to display tank, what are water parameters and does it have any other tank mates?
#WelcometoR2R
#Reefsquad

I did not tell you his tank mates, I apologize.

2 Ocellaris clownfish (including him)
1 firefish
1 mandarin goby
1 orange spot goby
1 yellow watchman goby
1 six line wrasse

Crabs McJones · Jul 11, 2019

Dakoda said:
I did not tell you his tank mates, I apologize.

2 Ocellaris clownfish (including him)
1 firefish
1 mandarin goby
1 orange spot goby
1 yellow watchman goby
1 six line wrasse

Ok so nobody overly aggressive so we can rule out bullying. Some sort of parasite would be my next guess. Any of the other inhabitants showing symptoms of anything?

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Ok so nobody overly aggressive so we can rule out bullying. Some sort of parasite would be my next guess. Any of the other inhabitants showing symptoms of anything?

No, and that's the confusing part to me. Although, I did have another clown pass a week ago, but I took him into the LFS and they said I was likely just unlucky.. they said he looked perfectly healthy and not of any obvious signs of disease. That is why I said he got another buddy, his first one passed. Does that help?

Crabs McJones · Jul 11, 2019

Dakoda said:
No, and that's the confusing part to me. Although, I did have another clown pass a week ago, but I took him into the LFS and they said I was likely just unlucky.. they said he looked perfectly healthy and not of any obvious signs of disease. That is why I said he got another buddy, his first one passed. Does that help?

If that's the case, it's extremely unlucky.
Lets get some more eyes on it @HotRocks @4FordFamily

Kyl · Jul 11, 2019

I'm the local hobbyist and this has me stumped. On break quickly but the traditional signs of things like velvet don't seem to be there (not swimming into a power head, not reclusive, etc), and while I haven't seen the fish outside of pictures / video, there doesn't seem to be the tell tale sheen or skin sloughing for velvet/brook. Tail fins do show tearing and it seems to have been evicted from the RBTA by the new clown, so I had chalked it up to he got beat up a bit and is sleeping on the couch. It doesn't appear to be the same behavior as when I had velvet in my DT.

We're in Canada so with the over the counter medication bans that means no copper, CP and most antibiotics are restricted to vet script only. The only thing I've seen locally available is general cure, methylene blue and furan-2.

BeejReef · Jul 11, 2019

swim bladder? constipation? parasite?

He looks inflated, like u can't get comfortable after a huge meal of mexican take out and tequila

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

Kyl said:
I'm the local hobbyist and this has me stumped. On break quickly but the traditional signs of things like velvet don't seem to be there (not swimming into a power head, not reclusive, etc), and while I haven't seen the fish outside of pictures / video, there doesn't seem to be the tell tale sheen or skin sloughing for velvet/brook. Tail fins do show tearing and it seems to have been evicted from the RBTA by the new clown, so I had chalked it up to he got beat up a bit and is sleeping on the couch. It doesn't appear to be the same behavior as when I had velvet in my DT.

We're in Canada so with the over the counter medication bans that means no copper, CP and most antibiotics are restricted to vet script only. The only thing I've seen locally available is general cure, methylene blue and furan-2.

He JUST died. I pulled him out of the tank. I watched him stop breathing...

His tail looks like it’s melted away.

Crabs McJones · Jul 11, 2019

Dakoda said:
He JUST died. I pulled him out of the tank. I watched him stop breathing...

His tail looks like it’s melted away.

I'm sorry for your loss

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
I'm sorry for your loss

Do I need to be concerned for my other fish?

DeniseAndy · Jul 11, 2019

He definitely had an issue with balancing himself to stay correctly swimming. I am so sorry.

Make sure to get tank bred clownfish and since you have one in there, find a smaller baby to add. May have better luck. Also, before adding a new baby, make sure all other fish stay healthy for a while first. Wishing you the best.

Crabs McJones · Jul 11, 2019

Dakoda said:
Do I need to be concerned for my other fish?

I would definitely keep a close eye on them

BeejReef · Jul 11, 2019

Sorry for you and your fish

Wow.. so fast..
Did you see them fighting at all? My pair of clowns, one ate most of the other's tail off to ensure dominance. It survived though.

Dakoda · Jul 11, 2019

William DeCoursey said:
Sorry for you and your fish

Wow.. so fast..
Did you see them fighting at all? My pair of clowns, one ate most of the other's tail off to ensure dominance. It survived though.

I did not witness any fighting between them, although I’m off at work for 9+ hours a day so I very easily could have missed it.