Clownfish died from unknown causes?

[Oiseaufeu]

Hi,

Pumpkin, my clownfish just died this morning. He wasn’t acting lethargic for a whole week. Just since yesterday. He was also spinning or doing backflip when trying to swim away. My other clown seems fine. Except that she stays at one spot with hair algae. It went so quickly that I’m not sure that I would have been able to prevent his death or cure him. I’ve done a water change today because I really needed to do one. The weirdest part was that my female was acting completely normal yesterday. Now, she’s in a single spot upside down. Just hanging there and moving sometimes as if hosting hair algae. I’ll monitor her very close though.

Does anyone know what could my clown fish have died from? Symptoms only showed up one day before dying. I’ve been feeding them pellets since I don’t have frozen food anymore. I’m so scared for Halloween (clownfish) as she is the last fish standing in my tank now.

I haven’t introduced anything new to the tank at all. I now have to wait a bit before introducing a new smaller clown as my black clown has become female.

 

[TX_REEF]

sorry for your loss :( can you provide details about your tank size and age, as well as water parameters?

 

[Jekyl]

Can you please provide additional photos and a video?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi,

Pumpkin, my clownfish just died this morning. He wasn’t acting lethargic for a whole week. Just since yesterday. He was also spinning or doing backflip when trying to swim away. My other clown seems fine. Except that she stays at one spot with hair algae. It went so quickly that I’m not sure that I would have been able to prevent his death or cure him. I’ve done a water change today because I really needed to do one. The weirdest part was that my female was acting completely normal yesterday. Now, she’s in a single spot upside down. Just hanging there and moving sometimes as if hosting hair algae. I’ll monitor her very close though.

Does anyone know what could my clown fish have died from? Symptoms only showed up one day before dying. I’ve been feeding them pellets since I don’t have frozen food anymore. I’m so scared for Halloween (clownfish) as she is the last fish standing in my tank now.

I haven’t introduced anything new to the tank at all. I now have to wait a bit before introducing a new smaller clown as my black clown has become female.

Two things I see here that are likely contributors are Fin damage suggesting aggression from a tankmate, likely another clown and fish is somewhat thin which suggest other fish ate food first, or internal issue.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

Two things I see here that are likely contributors are Fin damage suggesting aggression from a tankmate, likely another clown and fish is somewhat thin which suggest other fish ate food first, or internal issue.

Thanks. I only had a clownfish with him. I probably won’t add another clownfish after Pumpkin. Yeah, he’s been eating but not much.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

Can you please provide additional photos and a video?

This is the only photo that I have and videos won’t load on this site. I was checking water temps as I was very worried about it and thought this was the issue. I will get a backup heater as the one that I have didn’t turn on when it felt like water you wouldn’t swim in.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi,

Pumpkin, my clownfish just died this morning. He wasn’t acting lethargic for a whole week. Just since yesterday. He was also spinning or doing backflip when trying to swim away. My other clown seems fine. Except that she stays at one spot with hair algae. It went so quickly that I’m not sure that I would have been able to prevent his death or cure him. I’ve done a water change today because I really needed to do one. The weirdest part was that my female was acting completely normal yesterday. Now, she’s in a single spot upside down. Just hanging there and moving sometimes as if hosting hair algae. I’ll monitor her very close though.

Does anyone know what could my clown fish have died from? Symptoms only showed up one day before dying. I’ve been feeding them pellets since I don’t have frozen food anymore. I’m so scared for Halloween (clownfish) as she is the last fish standing in my tank now.

I haven’t introduced anything new to the tank at all. I now have to wait a bit before introducing a new smaller clown as my black clown has become female.

Sorry to hear, but you need to go into "damage control" mode now, in order to try and save the other clownfish. Is the remaining clown breathing fast? We need more background information though - this post explains that:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...sease-treatment-and-diagnosis-section.775547/

 

[Oiseaufeu]

Sorry to hear, but you need to go into "damage control" mode now, in order to try and save the other clownfish. Is the remaining clown breathing fast? We need more background information though - this post explains that:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...sease-treatment-and-diagnosis-section.775547/

Thanks! My other clown doesn’t seem to be breathing fast and try to host hair algae. I’ll keep a close eye on her now.

 

[Rottenninja]

My female clown fish just did this! I saw a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye and went over to the tank and found it floating like stunned. It would move a little and then shoot across the tank with no control. It was dead within the hour.

No idea what the cause was. My royal gramma is the most aggressive tank mate. Only change was running a reactor for rowaphos to bring my phosphates down, which had been extremely high for months.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My female clown fish just did this! I saw a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye and went over to the tank and found it floating like stunned. It would move a little and then shoot across the tank with no control. It was dead within the hour.

No idea what the cause was. My royal gramma is the most aggressive tank mate. Only change was running a reactor for rowaphos to bring my phosphates down, which had been extremely high for months.

Rowaphos shouldn't have caused that. It sounds like your fish was either going through "death throes" of something startled it and it hit the wall too hard. Clownfish rarely do that though.

 

[Rottenninja]

Rowaphos shouldn't have caused that. It sounds like your fish was either going through "death throes" of something startled it and it hit the wall too hard. Clownfish rarely do that though.

I meant the rapid drop in PO4. It was really high for months

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I meant the rapid drop in PO4. It was really high for months

That would have no effect on the fish - just as if you did a water change to lower the PO4.....