Clownfish VERY lethargic, swimming slowly, breathing heavy

[Nem0]

I have a week old occelaris clown, who normally does not stop swimming laps around the tank and darting up and down. I noticed last night (around 1am) that he was more lethargic, swimming much slower and near the sand. I thought "oh he's sleeping, no worries". this morning i checked up on him, same stuff. he seems to be "dazed" and swimming slowly with his mouth opening and closing very often. his color is fine, looks healthy besides his motions. he is normally very active and loves to swim in bursts.

another point of concern- a noticed a 1 or 2 white dots on the clown yesterday. now i don't see anything. i initially though ich but now i seriously cannot find anything!

parameters: ammonia 0, nitrite not 0 but between 0 and 0.25 (i had a nitrite spike a couple days ago that i've been fixing), nitrate 10ppm. other tank inhabitants are 1 firefish goby and 1 cleaner shrimp, both doing very well. firefish is not moving slowly or "gasping". all fish are eating fine, it seems like the clownfish wouldn't swim higher in the water column to get food and waited til food sank down to him

any ideas? he's currently in a QT/acclimation box in the main tank

 

[Mical]

Could use some more parameter info - PH, temp, salinity etc.. You haven't mentioned how long tank has been set up and if it's fish only and/or reef set up. The more you give us the easier it is for us to help solve your issue.

 

[Nem0]

Could use some more parameter info - PH, temp, salinity etc.. You haven't mentioned how long tank has been set up and if it's fish only and/or reef set up. The more you give us the easier it is for us to help solve your issue.

yes sorry. PH 8.2, salinity is 1.025, temp 76. FOWLR tank, set up and cycled. been a bit over 1 month. added the firefish in 2 weeks ago, clown this week

 

[Mical]

Clowns are pretty hardy, I'd let him swim around the tank more. You might give him a fresh water dip in RO water and if you have any Prazipro add a teaspoon of that. One of my clowns was roughed up by a carpet anemone pretty hard (fins were chewed up, scars on his sides and eyes puffed up.) I thought for sure it was a matter of time and he's toast. A shot of Prazipro to tank and within the week he was back to normal.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

I have a week old occelaris clown, who normally does not stop swimming laps around the tank and darting up and down. I noticed last night (around 1am) that he was more lethargic, swimming much slower and near the sand. I thought "oh he's sleeping, no worries". this morning i checked up on him, same stuff. he seems to be "dazed" and swimming slowly with his mouth opening and closing very often. his color is fine, looks healthy besides his motions. he is normally very active and loves to swim in bursts.

another point of concern- a noticed a 1 or 2 white dots on the clown yesterday. now i don't see anything. i initially though ich but now i seriously cannot find anything!

parameters: ammonia 0, nitrite not 0 but between 0 and 0.25 (i had a nitrite spike a couple days ago that i've been fixing), nitrate 10ppm. other tank inhabitants are 1 firefish goby and 1 cleaner shrimp, both doing very well. firefish is not moving slowly or "gasping". all fish are eating fine, it seems like the clownfish wouldn't swim higher in the water column to get food and waited til food sank down to him

any ideas? he's currently in a QT/acclimation box in the main tank

Flukes will cause lethargy, yawning, head twitching, heavy breathing. To check for flukes do a FW dip for 5 min and then look for sesame seed looking opaque shapes in the bottom of the container.

Ich can cause similar symptoms and the spots may have been trophants which normally fall of to go into the sand to encyst and basically divide into new parasites.

Velvet is just like ich but kills much faster and your fish will look like it’s covered in sugar.

Brook is just as lethal as Velvet and causes lethargy, sloughing skin, mucous, etc.

Can you post a few pics of the fish?

 

[Saltyreef]

Clowns are pretty hardy, I'd let him swim around the tank more. You might give him a fresh water dip in RO water and if you have any Prazipro add a teaspoon of that. One of my clowns was roughed up by a carpet anemone pretty hard (fins were chewed up, scars on his sides and eyes puffed up.) I thought for sure it was a matter of time and he's toast. A shot of Prazipro to tank and within the week he was back to normal.

So the carpet nem gave your clownfish parasitic worms? Then you treated with prazi and only after a week you deemed the fish better?
Sorry im just trying to understand the reasoning for dosing prazi in this situation and how it would even help(with mild sarcasm [emoji39]).
Also regardless of the issue, follow prazi dosing instructions on the bottle. I think its around 5ml per 10gallons IIRC. Not a shot or a teaspoon....we dont even know what size his tank is lol.
Totally agree with freshwater dip before prazi treating if it is flukes tho.
5 mins tops! And make sure to airate container!

 

[Captain Quint]

..............we dont even know what size his tank is lol.
..................

Do you have the measurements of the tank by chance?

Sorry, you're having issues.

 

[Nem0]

tank is a 9 gallon fluval flex. i believe it is like a 14x14x13 cube. i will be doing a FW dip, following Humblefish's instructions on a reef2reef post.

Flukes will cause lethargy, yawning, head twitching, heavy breathing. To check for flukes do a FW dip for 5 min and then look for sesame seed looking opaque shapes in the bottom of the container.

Ich can cause similar symptoms and the spots may have been trophants which normally fall of to go into the sand to encyst and basically divide into new parasites.

Velvet is just like ich but kills much faster and your fish will look like it’s covered in sugar.

Brook is just as lethal as Velvet and causes lethargy, sloughing skin, mucous, etc.

Can you post a few pics of the fish?

for the pictures, i'm not able to get him to move to the otherside so you can see the whole body. let me know if you guys want more

 

[Nem0]

I'm getting seachem cupramine. additionally, should i get hikari USA prazipro or seachem paraguard?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

I'm getting seachem cupramine. additionally, should i get hikari USA prazipro or seachem paraguard?

I keep on hand,Prazipro (Hikari), General Cure, Metro, Focus, Copper Power, Kanaplex, Furan 2, to cover the basics.

 

[Nem0]

I keep on hand,Prazipro (Hikari), General Cure, Metro, Focus, Copper Power, Kanaplex, Furan 2, to cover the basics.

do you suggest copper power over cupramine?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

do you suggest copper power over cupramine?

Copper power is easier on fish and has a larger therapeutic window. I also strongly recommend the Hanna high range copper checker. If you order one order two extra boxes of reagents (25 per box) as the checker only comes with 6.

 

[Nem0]

Update: did the freshwater dip. i don't see any flukes really, there are some tiny white particles but i think those are more from the water/bucket. nothing the size of sesame seeds / similar to the video humblefish linked

my clown is swimming a bit more but nothing really different, seems like he is breathing heavier now (which makes sense because of the dip)

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Update: did the freshwater dip. i don't see any flukes really, there are some tiny white particles but i think those are more from the water/bucket. nothing the size of sesame seeds / similar to the video humblefish linked

my clown is swimming a bit more but nothing really different, seems like he is breathing heavier now (which makes sense because of the dip)

Just give him some quiet time to recover

 

[Nem0]

its been about 4-5 hours, he seems to be doing worse. now hes lying on his side. i have him in a QT by himself now but i dunno what to do

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

its been about 4-5 hours, he seems to be doing worse. now hes lying on his side. i have him in a QT by himself now but i dunno what to do

Hopefully he pulls through. If your FW dip was properly executed and he doesn’t survive odds are he wouldn’t have made it. I’m sorry.

 

[Nem0]

Hopefully he pulls through. If your FW dip was properly executed and he doesn’t survive odds are he wouldn’t have made it. I’m sorry.

I woke up this morning, and he looks way worse . definitely on his way out. thank you all for the help though

 

[Dom]

its been about 4-5 hours, he seems to be doing worse. now hes lying on his side. i have him in a QT by himself now but i dunno what to do

I would place everything in the tank into QT and treat. Let your tank go fallow for 90 days. Better to play it safe; don't you think?