Clowns acting strange(r than usual)

jtlmnop

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Hello,

I have two O. Clowns that I got from TSM a few months ago. They have been seemingly happy and healthy, eating well, normally hover in the front corner of my tank and wait to be fed.

In the last few days, they have been hiding in the back, not really responding to food. In fact, even when I feed frozen, they don't seem to go for the bits floating by as they normally do.

They seem to be "mouthing" a bit. Which I thought might be an issue with oxygen. But I have my return nozzles agitating the surface quite a bit. I even pointed one of my power heads at the surface for more agitation.

I did a 25% water change yesterday, and they still seem to be off. I have attached a short video, if it works.

I have a duncan, a ricordia, a gorgonian and a variety of snails and crabs that all seem to be fine. The corals all have good poly extension and seem to be happy.

Tank info:
4 month old IM Lagoon 50 AIO with filter pads on both sides, running carbon and GFO.
No skimmer yet, but adding soon

Testing as of today:
Ammonium(just in case) = 0
Nitrate = 40(usually around 30)
Salinity = 1.027
pH = 8.1
Alk = 9
Mag = 1480
Calcium = 380
Temp = 78.4

Any ideas?
 

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GoVols

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@Jay Hemdal

Would there be an internal disease that would not show its signs for several months out?

Thank you
 

Jay Hemdal

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Hello,

I have two O. Clowns that I got from TSM a few months ago. They have been seemingly happy and healthy, eating well, normally hover in the front corner of my tank and wait to be fed.

In the last few days, they have been hiding in the back, not really responding to food. In fact, even when I feed frozen, they don't seem to go for the bits floating by as they normally do.

They seem to be "mouthing" a bit. Which I thought might be an issue with oxygen. But I have my return nozzles agitating the surface quite a bit. I even pointed one of my power heads at the surface for more agitation.

I did a 25% water change yesterday, and they still seem to be off. I have attached a short video, if it works.

I have a duncan, a ricordia, a gorgonian and a variety of snails and crabs that all seem to be fine. The corals all have good poly extension and seem to be happy.

Tank info:
4 month old IM Lagoon 50 AIO with filter pads on both sides, running carbon and GFO.
No skimmer yet, but adding soon

Testing as of today:
Ammonium(just in case) = 0
Nitrate = 40(usually around 30)
Salinity = 1.027
pH = 8.1
Alk = 9
Mag = 1480
Calcium = 380
Temp = 78.4

Any ideas?

There are definitely symptoms of a problem in the video, but they are very general, not pointing to a specific issue. Since the invertebrates in the tank are fine, it is is fish disease issue. It is unusual, but not unheard of, for a 2 month captive fish to suddenly break out with a disease. Have you added any other animals since that time? Even invertebrates can act as disease vectors, bringing disease into your tank. Do you have any tank you can set up if you need to treat them?

Jay
 
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jtlmnop

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There are definitely symptoms of a problem in the video, but they are very general, not pointing to a specific issue. Since the invertebrates in the tank are fine, it is is fish disease issue. It is unusual, but not unheard of, for a 2 month captive fish to suddenly break out with a disease. Have you added any other animals since that time? Even invertebrates can act as disease vectors, bringing disease into your tank. Do you have any tank you can set up if you need to treat them?

Jay
Thanks for the reply, Jay.

Update - the clowns have died. I woke up to the hermits picking at the remains.

Regarding tank additions, aside from the clowns I started with:
6 weeks ago I added a collection of inverts from Reefcleaners

4 weeks ago I added a few more snails, ricordia, and gorgonian from KP Aquatics.

2 weeks ago I added a cup of Live Reef Rubble from Orchard Reef because I started with dry rock and have been battling some algae issues. Thought seeding with some live rock would help. This is dna tested for bacteria strains and common diseases, and comes with a certificate from the testing lab.

2 weeks ago I added a few more inverts, the Duncan, and a Firefish from TSM. The Firefish died over night, which I attributed to shipping stress. TSM agreed to send a replacement for free, which is supposed to ship next week.

Could the Firefish have been the issue? The clowns were fine before that. But the Firefish went through full qt, and I waited 5 weeks from the time I ordered it. TSM has a great reputation, so I didn’t hesitate to add the fish.

I do not have a qt set up at the moment, and was planning to only get fish from TSM or Dr Reef for this reason. I understand there is always a risk that disease can come from other sources, but almost everything I have added has come from vendors that either qt, or maintain inverts in fishless systems. Nothing is guaranteed, I know, but it still seems odd.

Do I need to go fallow before adding any more fish? Can I treat the tank with something like PraziPro?

Any additional thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

Jay Hemdal

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I think fish from TSM are all going to be fairly safe, about the same if you quarantined them yourself.
Any of those invertebrates could have acted as a vector if they came from tanks housing fish. That is a a HUGE issue, dealers just need to keep all fish out of their invert systems, but they usually add some for algae control. I’ve never heard of DNA screening for parasites on a routine basis, I worry that technology isn’t mature enough.
Jay
 

GoVols

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I think fish from TSM are all going to be fairly safe, about the same if you quarantined them yourself.
Any of those invertebrates could have acted as a vector if they came from tanks housing fish. That is a a HUGE issue, dealers just need to keep all fish out of their invert systems, but they usually add some for algae control. I’ve never heard of DNA screening for parasites on a routine basis, I worry that technology isn’t mature enough.
Jay

Jay,
Is there any antibiotic fish food for internal parasites, that is reef safe?
 

Jay Hemdal

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Jay,
Is there any antibiotic fish food for internal parasites, that is reef safe?
Not that I know of unless you make it yourself. I have a recipe plan in my medicated food article in the library section here.
Jay
 

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