Clownfish discoloration disease

[ashtonp]

Hey everyone,

I lost a pair of clownfish overnight and wondering if anyone can identify what may have gone wrong. I had them in a Fluval Evo 13.5 with a watchman goby and yellow coris wrasse. The wrasse has some white/opaque spots under blue light so I’m wondering if it gave these guys a parasite? I’m not sure what to do other than keep an eye on the surviving fish.

Water Parameters:
Alk 9.0, Mg >1600ppm, Ca 480ppm, Nitrate 0.5ppm, Ammonia 0ppm, Salinity 34.5ppt

I've checked out some other threads and seems that there is no answer/root cause identified for a similar case a few months ago. I live in Canada (southern Ontario) so getting Metro, Focus, Prazi, etc. here is next to impossible (unless someone knows a way).

 

[Sharkbait19]

@Jay Hemdal
Do you have pics from before the eyes died or of the other fish?
Brooklynella is a common killer of clowns.

 

[ashtonp]

@Jay Hemdal
Do you have pics from before the eyes died or of the other fish?
Brooklynella is a common killer of clowns.

 

[ashtonp]

They were perfect, this was taken on December 22, 2021

 

[Sharkbait19]

Many diseases kill very fast, brook does in only a few days.
The discoloration does look similar to uronema, which is near impossible to treat, though usually the sores are more red.
Did they act off before dying: flashing, swimming into flow, lethargy, lack of appetite?
Pics of the wrasse could help too.

 

[ashtonp]

Many diseases kill very fast, brook does in only a few days.
The discoloration does look similar to uronema, which is near impossible to treat, though usually the sores are more red.
Did they act off before dying: flashing, swimming into flow, lethargy, lack of appetite?
Pics of the wrasse could help too.

Here's a pic of the wrasse on the one side

 

[ashtonp]

Many diseases kill very fast, brook does in only a few days.
The discoloration does look similar to uronema, which is near impossible to treat, though usually the sores are more red.
Did they act off before dying: flashing, swimming into flow, lethargy, lack of appetite?
Pics of the wrasse could help too.

No abnormal behaviour, no lethargy or lack of appetite either

 

[Sharkbait19]

Here's a pic of the wrasse on the one side

Looks normal

 

[ashtonp]

Looks normal

this is the other side of the wrasse. The skin looks more opaque under blue light but its hard to capture on camera. No abnormal behaviour from this guy also, he eats well and usually has a fat stomach. No signs of grazing the rocks or glass either, so I think it may be just scratching from diving into the sand.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey everyone,

I lost a pair of clownfish overnight and wondering if anyone can identify what may have gone wrong. I had them in a Fluval Evo 13.5 with a watchman goby and yellow coris wrasse. The wrasse has some white/opaque spots under blue light so I’m wondering if it gave these guys a parasite? I’m not sure what to do other than keep an eye on the surviving fish.

Water Parameters:
Alk 9.0, Mg >1600ppm, Ca 480ppm, Nitrate 0.5ppm, Ammonia 0ppm, Salinity 34.5ppt

I've checked out some other threads and seems that there is no answer/root cause identified for a similar case a few months ago. I live in Canada (southern Ontario) so getting Metro, Focus, Prazi, etc. here is next to impossible (unless someone knows a way).

In this case, you want to look towards an acute, fast acting issue, since both clowns died overnight and with little apparent symptoms prior to that.

Can you get some clear pics and video of the yellow coris?
Does the aquarium contain invertebrates? Are they all o.k.?

Jay

 

[ashtonp]

In this case, you want to look towards an acute, fast acting issue, since both clowns died overnight and with little apparent symptoms prior to that.

Can you get some clear pics and video of the yellow coris?
Does the aquarium contain invertebrates? Are they all o.k.?

Jay

Hi Jay,

Hopefully this video shows the details a little more. I have 3-4 blue leg hermits, a nassarius snail, a turbo snail, a trocheus snail, and a conch in here too and they all seem fine.

 

[ashtonp]

I don't think my video worked, so here are some close up pics of the right side of the wrasse where the blotching/opaque white is under the blue light

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Jay,

Hopefully this video shows the details a little more. I have 3-4 blue leg hermits, a nassarius snail, a turbo snail, a trocheus snail, and a conch in here too and they all seem fine.

I was able to view the video by downloading it on my desktop (it wouldn't work on my phone).

The wrasse looks pretty good - I can just barely see the discolored patches ion the video, they don't show up as much under white light as they did under blue.

It does not look like a protozoan disease, or flukes. That pretty much leaves a bacterial skin infection as the third most common cause of this, but that is just a guess. I wonder if the clownfish had a different issue?

Sorry, but I do not see a clear course of treatment here. If it wasn't for the sudden loss of the clowns, I'd be inclined to say don't worry, just watch it....

Jay

 

[ashtonp]

I was able to view the video by downloading it on my desktop (it wouldn't work on my phone).

The wrasse looks pretty good - I can just barely see the discolored patches ion the video, they don't show up as much under white light as they did under blue.

It does not look like a protozoan disease, or flukes. That pretty much leaves a bacterial skin infection as the third most common cause of this, but that is just a guess. I wonder if the clownfish had a different issue?

Sorry, but I do not see a clear course of treatment here. If it wasn't for the sudden loss of the clowns, I'd be inclined to say don't worry, just watch it....

Jay

Thank you Jay, I appreciate the effort you put in to help me and I appreciate the diagnosis. I am stumped, as are a few members of my reefing community that I reached out to as well.

The most plausible explanation I’ve received so far is that perhaps it was a bad batch that I selected from, as designer clowns are likely prone to inbreeding due to demand and perhaps they didn’t have the strongest genetics.

I was advised to look at the fish’s scales under a microscope to see if it was possibly uronema, which I did do albeit using the fish intact under the scope (pics attached).

I now wonder what my next step should be as far as adding another pair to the tank. Likely I’ll just have to watch things for a few months or try some dither fish like mollies to test if the issue happens again.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you Jay, I appreciate the effort you put in to help me and I appreciate the diagnosis. I am stumped, as are a few members of my reefing community that I reached out to as well.

The most plausible explanation I’ve received so far is that perhaps it was a bad batch that I selected from, as designer clowns are likely prone to inbreeding due to demand and perhaps they didn’t have the strongest genetics.

I was advised to look at the fish’s scales under a microscope to see if it was possibly uronema, which I did do albeit using the fish intact under the scope (pics attached).

I now wonder what my next step should be as far as adding another pair to the tank. Likely I’ll just have to watch things for a few months or try some dither fish like mollies to test if the issue happens again.

Did you see any motion under the microscope? Things moving around? That is a sign of protozoans.
Jay

 

[ashtonp]

Did you see any motion under the microscope? Things moving around? That is a sign of protozoans.
Jay

I did not observe any motion under the scope at a magnification of 120x, nothing seemed to be moving around

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I did not observe any motion under the scope at a magnification of 120x, nothing seemed to be moving around

O.K. Uronema will definitely move around, even ich trophonts will tumble around a bit.

Jay

 

[Rick's Reviews]

It might sound adnormal to scientists,
I'm a confused to be honest

 

[Rick's Reviews]

It might sound adnormal to scientists,
I'm a confused to be honest

I don't own microscope so in lamens terms, in a language we can all understand please.. what could of caused this

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I don't own microscope so in lamens terms, in a language we can all understand please.. what could of caused this

That's the problem - I don't know the cause, just trying to figure it out....

Jay