Clownfish with red inflamed vent

Luca_D’Anna · Mar 17, 2023

(Heads up: Jump to the second paragraph if you want to avoid mostly unnecessary background info on the tank)

Hey guys! This is my first post here on R2R. I’m definitely a beginner. I’ve been keeping freshwater aquariums for 5 years now. I tried my hand at saltwater by getting a 10 gallon nano reef 2 years ago, but that crashed in a few months. I’ve decided to give it another shot with a 14 gallon cube. I set the tank up with dry rock and live sand, and it’s got an ehiem canister filter. I want to do it right this time around, so I’m really putting a big emphasis on cycling. I watched hours of Ryan from BRS talking about biome cycling. From that I derived a plan to put in a clownfish along with some turbo start and microbacter 7 for a two week period with no lights to let the beneficial bacteria and microbes colonize the live rock before any photosynthetics can take hold. Once there’s an accumulation of some organic from fish waste and food, I’ll add in some copepods. And just a couple days before I turn the lights back on I’ll add some coralline spores. Then I’ll turn the lights on and let the tank find a balance before adding corals.
Right now I’m at the point where I’ve got just the one clownfish in the tank. She’s been in there for 2 days. It was my first time buying from this particular family owned LFS, but everything looked really clean and the guy there was definitely an expert reefer. I didn’t quarantine the fish. Today I was inspecting her and the tank to make sure everything was in order and I noticed that the skin around her vent was red and inflamed (especially on her left side), and there were bubbles on her underside. When the lights are on her behavior is perfectly normal, she’s eating, and everywhere else she’s in perfect condition. I’m not sure what it is. I’m hoping whatever it is she’s passing it and it’ll be gone in a couple days. It doesn’t appear to resemble any common diseases on google images so I figured I’d turn to this community in case I need to take immediate action. I’ll attach some videos since getting a picture was really difficult. Thanks so much for taking the time to read all this. I look forward to hearing back soon.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 17, 2023

Luca_D’Anna said:
(Heads up: Jump to the second paragraph if you want to avoid mostly unnecessary background info on the tank)

Hey guys! This is my first post here on R2R. I’m definitely a beginner. I’ve been keeping freshwater aquariums for 5 years now. I tried my hand at saltwater by getting a 10 gallon nano reef 2 years ago, but that crashed in a few months. I’ve decided to give it another shot with a 14 gallon cube. I set the tank up with dry rock and live sand, and it’s got an ehiem canister filter. I want to do it right this time around, so I’m really putting a big emphasis on cycling. I watched hours of Ryan from BRS talking about biome cycling. From that I derived a plan to put in a clownfish along with some turbo start and microbacter 7 for a two week period with no lights to let the beneficial bacteria and microbes colonize the live rock before any photosynthetics can take hold. Once there’s an accumulation of some organic from fish waste and food, I’ll add in some copepods. And just a couple days before I turn the lights back on I’ll add some coralline spores. Then I’ll turn the lights on and let the tank find a balance before adding corals.
Right now I’m at the point where I’ve got just the one clownfish in the tank. She’s been in there for 2 days. It was my first time buying from this particular family owned LFS, but everything looked really clean and the guy there was definitely an expert reefer. I didn’t quarantine the fish. Today I was inspecting her and the tank to make sure everything was in order and I noticed that the skin around her vent was red and inflamed (especially on her left side), and there were bubbles on her underside. When the lights are on her behavior is perfectly normal, she’s eating, and everywhere else she’s in perfect condition. I’m not sure what it is. I’m hoping whatever it is she’s passing it and it’ll be gone in a couple days. It doesn’t appear to resemble any common diseases on google images so I figured I’d turn to this community in case I need to take immediate action. I’ll attach some videos since getting a picture was really difficult. Thanks so much for taking the time to read all this. I look forward to hearing back soon.

Looks like constipation which could lead to rectal prolapse but what foods are you feeding? Often pellet foods can cause this. If this is the case, at times feeding brine shrimp will help pass what is causing blockage IF blockage

Jay Hemdal · Mar 17, 2023

+1 on it looking like a rectal prolapse. I would try feeding frozen brine shrimp for a few days. The problem is, there isn't any physical treatment for the prolapse itself, the fish needs to draw the tissue back in before it becomes infected. Epsom salts are often recommended, but that is a freshwater fish treatment, and those salts are already in your saltwater tank in very high amounts, so adding more does nothing.

Side note - is that mysid shrimp or other food stuck to the intake screen of the filter? If so, you want to ensure there is not a lot of uneaten food in the tank, it will decompose and cause water quality issues.

Jay

Luca_D’Anna · Mar 17, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Looks like constipation which could lead to rectal prolapse but what foods are you feeding? Often pellet foods can cause this. If this is the case, at times feeding brine shrimp will help pass what is causing blockage IF blockage

Thanks! You're probably right. I've been feeding Hikari frozen krill, but plan to switch to mysis very shortly. Just trying to use up what I have to be honest. I called the store to ask what they've been feeding, and they said frozen mysis. I'll pick up some frozen mysis and brine shrimp tomorow morning, and feed probably alternate daily.

Luca_D’Anna · Mar 17, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
+1 on it looking like a rectal prolapse. I would try feeding frozen brine shrimp for a few days. The problem is, there isn't any physical treatment for the prolapse itself, the fish needs to draw the tissue back in before it becomes infected. Epsom salts are often recommended, but that is a freshwater fish treatment, and those salts are already in your saltwater tank in very high amounts, so adding more does nothing.

Side note - is that mysid shrimp or other food stuck to the intake screen of the filter? If so, you want to ensure there is not a lot of uneaten food in the tank, it will decompose and cause water quality issues.

Jay

Thanks Jay! I'll definitely take this advice and feed brine shrimp tomorrow. And about the extra extra food: that's krill. I fed just a little bit more than necessary to make the tank more suitable for my clean up crew that I'll start putting together next week. I'm testing daily to make sure that doesn't cause an issue. I actually had 0ppm for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate 8 hours ago, but I'm sure that'll go up in the next couple days. That was only after two feedings. I'll definitely keep up frequent water changes to keep the nutrients at a health level. Thanks again for all your help!