Clownfish with Inflamed Gill on One Side

[goopyy]

Hi, I have a pair of clownfish that I introduced into my tank 3 days ago. The female is perfectly fine but I noticed the male isn’t eating, and he has a red gill on only one side of his body. He isn’t acting lethargic and looks okay otherwise. Can someone help me what might be wrong with him?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, I have a pair of clownfish that I introduced into my tank 3 days ago. The female is perfectly fine but I noticed the male isn’t eating, and he has a red gill on only one side of his body. He isn’t acting lethargic and looks okay otherwise. Can someone help me what might be wrong with him?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I see swollen or inflamed gills on clownfish fairly often, but I cannot explain why it is only on one side of the fish and not both. Typically, gill infections from parasites affect both sides of the fish at the same time.

Could this be a traumatic injury? Could the one clown have bitten the other on the gill? That would explain why only one side is affected.

Still, the not eating is a serious symptom.

Can you post a video of both fish?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi, I have a pair of clownfish that I introduced into my tank 3 days ago. The female is perfectly fine but I noticed the male isn’t eating, and he has a red gill on only one side of his body. He isn’t acting lethargic and looks okay otherwise. Can someone help me what might be wrong with him?

Please post a 30 second video using white light intensity, no blue focusing on side that has issue to see if there is injury, or a parasitic isopod as examples.
Is this a new tank?

 

[W31Olds]

Is it possible his gill was damaged while netting?

 

[goopyy]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I see swollen or inflamed gills on clownfish fairly often, but I cannot explain why it is only on one side of the fish and not both. Typically, gill infections from parasites affect both sides of the fish at the same time.

Could this be a traumatic injury? Could the one clown have bitten the other on the gill? That would explain why only one side is affected.

Still, the not eating is a serious symptom.

Can you post a video of both fish?

I did have them shipped to me so I was thinking maybe it could just be stress related? Other than the gill he doesn’t have the other symptoms of something like fluke or brooklynella from what I see online

 

[lyo333]

I did have them shipped to me so I was thinking maybe it could just be stress related? Other than the gill he doesn’t have the other symptoms of something like fluke or brooklynella from what I see online

Was the gill area already like this when you received the fish? One of the biggest drawbacks with captive-bred clowns is the potential for gill deformities during the rearing process.
How is the breathing rate? Is it labored or rapid? Captive-bred specimens can sometimes have shortened gill covers, which makes them look like they are gasping even when they are fine. But if the breathing is heavy, it could be a sign of something else.

 

[goopyy]

Was the gill area already like this when you received the fish? One of the biggest drawbacks with captive-bred clowns is the potential for gill deformities during the rearing process.
How is the breathing rate? Is it labored or rapid? Captive-bred specimens can sometimes have shortened gill covers, which makes them look like they are gasping even when they are fine. But if the breathing is heavy, it could be a sign of something else.

The breathing rate looks the same as the clown thats okay. Does the video I attatched work? I can't see it on my end.

 

[lyo333]

Was the gill area already like this when you received the fish? One of the biggest drawbacks with captive-bred clowns is the potential for gill deformities during the rearing process.
How is the breathing rate? Is it labored or rapid? Captive-bred specimens can sometimes have shortened gill covers, which makes them look like they are gasping even when they are fine. But if the breathing is heavy, it could be a sign of something else.

The breathing rate looks the same as the clown thats okay. Does the video I attatched work? I can't see it on my end.

I can't see the video on my end either, but if the breathing is steady, that’s a great sign. Usually, if there’s inflammation or a parasite in the gills, you’d see very rapid or labored breathing. Shortened gill covers are unfortunately a common 'quality control' issue with mass-produced captive-bred clowns.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I did have them shipped to me so I was thinking maybe it could just be stress related? Other than the gill he doesn’t have the other symptoms of something like fluke or brooklynella from what I see online

I can sort of see swelling on both gills, one side worse than the other.

As said, gill deformities are common on captive raised clowns, but that doesn’t cause them not to eat.

Isopods are gill parasites, but are not seen in captive raised clowns.

The other gill diseases cause rapid breathing but neither fish is breathing fast.

That pretty much leaves an injury. If so, just try to feed it soft foods like chopped mysids. And make certain the female isn’t picking on it.