Clownfish Weird Behavior

[brandong]

Over the past 5 days, one of my clowns has completely stopped eating. He just kind of slowly swims in place and stares off, almost like a blank look. He doesn’t react when food hits the water (mysis, pellets, brine), while the other clown is perfectly normal and eating aggressively.

A few days before this started, I noticed white stringy poop from him as well. No visible marks, spots, or physical damage on the body. Tank params are stable and other fish are acting normal.

Tank info:
• 30 gallon reef
• Tank age: ~3 months
• Salinity: 1.025
• Temp: ~78°F
• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: 6–9
• Phosphate: 0.16–0.35
• Alk: 8.6–9
• Calcium: 560 (running high but stable)

Other fish:
2 clowns (only 1 affected)
Purple Firefish
Midas Blenny
Flame Hawkfish

Corals are doing fine overall (Duncan, toadstool, xenia).

I ordered API General Cure and it arrives tomorrow. Since I don’t have a QT tank, I’m planning to treat in the display (removing carbon, increasing surface agitation, etc).

Does this sound consistent with internal parasites / intestinal infection to you guys?
Has anyone successfully treated a clown with these same symptoms?

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks

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[Jay Hemdal]

Over the past 5 days, one of my clowns has completely stopped eating. He just kind of slowly swims in place and stares off, almost like a blank look. He doesn’t react when food hits the water (mysis, pellets, brine), while the other clown is perfectly normal and eating aggressively.

A few days before this started, I noticed white stringy poop from him as well. No visible marks, spots, or physical damage on the body. Tank params are stable and other fish are acting normal.

Tank info:
• 30 gallon reef
• Tank age: ~3 months
• Salinity: 1.025
• Temp: ~78°F
• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: 6–9
• Phosphate: 0.16–0.35
• Alk: 8.6–9
• Calcium: 560 (running high but stable)

Other fish:
2 clowns (only 1 affected)
Purple Firefish
Midas Blenny
Flame Hawkfish

Corals are doing fine overall (Duncan, toadstool, xenia).

I ordered API General Cure and it arrives tomorrow. Since I don’t have a QT tank, I’m planning to treat in the display (removing carbon, increasing surface agitation, etc).

Does this sound consistent with internal parasites / intestinal infection to you guys?
Has anyone successfully treated a clown with these same symptoms?

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks

I would avoid using General Cure in your tank. The praziquantel component in it is safe, but the metronidazole can be harmful to invertebrates.

How long have you had this clownfish?