Clownfish eats and spits out food

[CamoFan]

My female clownfish seems to have stopped eating. I started feeding pellets 3 days ago and she hasn’t touched any offered food. Feeding frozen, pellet, flake and live. PE Mysis and LRA reef frenzy for frozen. Omega One flakes and new life spectrum pellets. Feeding brine as a treat mainly.

I soaked a mix of flake, pellets and PE mysis yesterday soaked in seachem garlic guard and she didn’t touch it. Fed live brine soaked in garlic guard and she ate it but spit it right back out. I’m concerned about possible parasite but I don’t know from where. She’s starting to get skinny while everyone else is eating like no tomorrow.

Any advice?

 

[CamoFan]

Forgot parameters:

Temp:

Salinity: 1.030 (needs to come down)

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: 2.1ppm

Phos: 0.13

Alk: 9.5dKH

Calc: 428ppm

MAG: 1253ppm

 

[CamoFan]

Temp: 79F

 

[vetteguy53081]

Temp: 79F

A couple reasons they do this is low oxygen, gill flukes, non- favored food or other illness
For salinity- you can every 15 minutes bail a quart of water and add RODI same temperature as display tank until you reach 1.024-1.025
Assure your salinity tester is accurate
It’s safe to drop quickly but not raise quickly
See if salinity drop changes this situation
What foods are you feeding?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

What other fish are in with it?
Can you post a video of the clown?
Is it breathing rapidly?
Does it try to take in food, or does it just ignore the food?

Definitely get the specific gravity down to 1.024 or 1.025

Jay

 

[CamoFan]

A couple reasons they do this is low oxygen, gill flukes, non- favored food or other illness
For salinity- you can every 15 minutes bail a quart of water and add RODI same temperature as display tank until you reach 1.024-1.025
Assure your salinity tester is accurate
It’s safe to drop quickly but not raise quickly
See if salinity drop changes this situation
What foods are you feeding?

Using the Hannah digital salinity tester which was recently calibrated with the 35.00ppt solution and confirmed with Red Sea refractometer. I’m feeding a mix of frozen, flake and pellets. For frozen I’m feeding PE Mysis and LRS reef frenzy. For flake I feed omega one (garlic flavored) and for pellets I feed new life spectrum.

I have an FX-4 filter with dual output and an RS-25 gyre moving the water column with plenty of surface agitation.

 

[CamoFan]

What other fish are in with it?
Can you post a video of the clown?
Is it breathing rapidly?
Does it try to take in food, or does it just ignore the food?

Definitely get the specific gravity down to 1.024 or 1.025

Jay

Current stock:

x2 clowns (1 pair)
x1 royal gramma
x1 splendid dottyback (new addition)
x1 Melanurus wrasse
x1 Midas blenny
x3 blue chromis
x1 Blue eye kole tang (new addition)

I have not seen any fin nipping, chasing or any aggression from any of the fish from the past 2 days of observation. The male clown has been hanging with the female and leaves to eat. All other fish are eating strong. Female clown isn’t breathing rapidly and she’s in a spot where I can’t really see her. Behind the rocks and kinda tucked into the rocks. I’ll try to get a video.

I soaked some live brine in garlic guard. She took some in but spit it right out. All other offered goods she used to eat but won’t even bite. It looks like she wants to but doesn’t.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Current stock:

x2 clowns (1 pair)
x1 royal gramma
x1 splendid dottyback (new addition)
x1 Melanurus wrasse
x1 Midas blenny
x3 blue chromis
x1 Blue eye kole tang (new addition)

I have not seen any fin nipping, chasing or any aggression from any of the fish from the past 2 days of observation. The male clown has been hanging with the female and leaves to eat. All other fish are eating strong. Female clown isn’t breathing rapidly and she’s in a spot where I can’t really see her. Behind the rocks and kinda tucked into the rocks. I’ll try to get a video.

O.K., nothing out of the ordinary in your stocking list. In MOST instances, if a new fish brought a disease into the tank, they would show symptoms before the original fish would.

Jay

 

[CamoFan]

O.K., nothing out of the ordinary in your stocking list. In MOST instances, if a new fish brought a disease into the tank, they would show symptoms before the original fish would.

Jay

My LFS is pretty good about treating new stock. I used to work there and if a fish was added that looked sick, we treated the whole tank and wouldn’t sell until treatment ran it’s course.

The kole tang had a busted up tail but in the day and a half I’ve had him, it’s healed up tremendously. Champion algae eater, he’s already getting fat. The splendid dottyback tears anything apart. Pellets, flake, frozen, it doesn’t matter.

 

[CamoFan]

O.K., nothing out of the ordinary in your stocking list. In MOST instances, if a new fish brought a disease into the tank, they would show symptoms before the original fish would.

Jay

Got a video of the clown in question. She popped out for a bit. This is what she’s been doing ever since she stopped eating.

 

[CamoFan]

A couple reasons they do this is low oxygen, gill flukes, non- favored food or other illness
For salinity- you can every 15 minutes bail a quart of water and add RODI same temperature as display tank until you reach 1.024-1.025
Assure your salinity tester is accurate
It’s safe to drop quickly but not raise quickly
See if salinity drop changes this situation
What foods are you feeding?

I’m doing a quick WC now. The FX-4 just decreased my WC time by nearly half. 5GAL out and putting 5GAL in. Will retest.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’m doing a quick WC now. The FX-4 just decreased my WC time by nearly half. 5GAL out and putting 5GAL in. Will retest.

Keep an eye on nitrate levels with FX4. Good filter but if not cleaned reguarly can increase no3 level

 

[CamoFan]

Keep an eye on nitrate levels with FX4. Good filter but if not cleaned reguarly can increase no3 level

Brought down to 1.025-27 (conflicting readings between Hanna digital and refractometer). The female seems more active already. Has ventured out from her location some and is chasing other folk away from her. I’ll give it another half an hour and take out 2.5GAL.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Brought down to 1.025-27 (conflicting readings between Hanna digital and refractometer). The female seems more active already. Has ventured out from her location some and is chasing other folk away from her. I’ll give it another half an hour and take out 2.5GAL.

Tough to see because the video is pretty blue, but does the clown have a lesion on its left cheek?
It isn't breathing fast, but does seem lethargic.

Jay

 

[CamoFan]

I don’t see a lesion there. She’s always has a black mark on her there.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I don’t see a lesion there. She’s always has a black mark on her there.

I'm seeing a lighter colored round spot, in front of and slightly below the head stripe. Blue lights make it difficult to see things, can you repost a video under white light?

Jay

 

[CamoFan]

I'm seeing a lighter colored round spot, in front of and slightly below the head stripe. Blue lights make it difficult to see things, can you repost a video under white light?

Jay

I can. Allow me a little bit, we’re preparing to send our dog across the rainbow bridge.

 

[CamoFan]

I'm seeing a lighter colored round spot, in front of and slightly below the head stripe. Blue lights make it difficult to see things, can you repost a video under white light?

I tried changing the lights to whites only and everyone went into hiding. I took a video where I was able to reduce the blues significantly and can now see the orange on the clown.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I went back though the thread, the spot I saw was just normal, but looked weird due to the blue lights. The fish is lethargic and thin. Getting fish to eat when the stop like this is very difficult. In many cases, there is some internal issue that simple eludes diagnosis.
Here is an article I wrote on fish anorexia:

Chronic Anorexia in Aquarium Fishes

Don't fall into the trap of assuming the fish will begin feeding when it gets hungry enough, or conclude it must be eating something, just not when you are watching.

reefs.com

Jay

 

[CamoFan]

I went back though the thread, the spot I saw was just normal, but looked weird due to the blue lights. The fish is lethargic and thin. Getting fish to eat when the stop like this is very difficult. In many cases, there is some internal issue that simple eludes diagnosis.
Here is an article I wrote on fish anorexia:

Chronic Anorexia in Aquarium Fishes

Don't fall into the trap of assuming the fish will begin feeding when it gets hungry enough, or conclude it must be eating something, just not when you are watching.

reefs.com

Jay

I have a 10gal tank sitting empty right now but can be converted into a hospital tank real quick. Would it be wise to convert and transfer to the tank? Or is this a case where it’s about time to say goodbye?