Clowns laid eggs then male found almost dead

[R33f_Hacker]

Hey Reefers,

yesterday i saw that my clowns had laid some eggs right next to their nem. Everything looked ok. Left for about 1.5 hrs and when i got back the eggs were gone and i could not find the male. Finally found him on the sandbed breathing super quick. I put him in a little quarantine box. dont see any bites. Maybe a few more coral stings (black spots) than usual but nothing really stands out on whats going on. He has been in the box which allows water flow thru it all night but he is still laying on his side but is breathing. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on what could have happened and how i can help him recover? thanks.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Pics?

 

[R33f_Hacker]

Hi @kingoftheHiLLpeople ... I now do see one bite towards top of the head ... lmk your thoughts... best pics I could get in water.. could take him out to get better pics but the less stress the better. wonder how I can help revive him.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Maybe @Jay Hemdal would take a look?

 

[R33f_Hacker]

Here is a vid of him. IDK why iPhone vid looks amazing then YouTube just kills.. prob user error

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

@Sharkbait19?

 

[Sharkbait19]

That one fin looks really chewed up - my guess is that there was a falling out with the female.
Assuming it’s aggression based, keeping it separated is its best chance.
How long have you had them? Any recent additions to the tank?

 

[R33f_Hacker]

Hi @Sharkbait19 no recent additions... had the pair for over a year. they were fine taking care of their eggs and then idk what happened to eggs or him. I do see bite mark at top of head and side. almost 24 hours now he has been like this. he is super disoriented.. I have all kinds of meds if anyone has a suggestion that may help him recover. thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That’s a weird case - the clown is breathing really fast. That’s a sign of low oxygen - not the water else the other clown would be breathing fast also. Gill disease would also most likely affect both fish. Some other type of anemia? Maybe it got injured and is bleeding internally?
When fish are sick or stressed, the first thing that shuts down is reproduction, then the feeding response. Did you see this fish actually fertilizing the eggs before ending up like this?
Jay

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Could you have an unknown predator in the Aquarium? Could the Clownfish, got injured protecting the eggs? There are independent Clownfish Breeders on eBay, maybe you could ask them, about this and behaviors.

 

[R33f_Hacker]

@Jay Hemdal thanks for helping out. The female has been totally fine. breathing normal. I have a air pump on the male but still heavy breathing. This is a vid I took when I first noticed the eggs. they are both normal.

 

[Tamberav]

What fish are in the tank with them?

I wonder if a fish got too close to the eggs, the clown picked a fight being defensive and lost.

 

[Garf]

@Jay Hemdal thanks for helping out. The female has been totally fine. breathing normal. I have a air pump on the male but still heavy breathing. This is a vid I took when I first noticed the eggs. they are both normal.

Don’t suppose you’ve got an urchin? Mine bulldozers his way to the clown eggs and eats them. Wonder if your clown was being a hero.

 

[R33f_Hacker]

Don’t suppose you’ve got an urchin? Mine bulldozers his way to the clown eggs and eats them. Wonder if your clown was being a hero.

negative on urchin. I have tangs, anthias, angle, flame hawk which is the only one that wld mess w the clowns.. nothing to bad though.

 

[R33f_Hacker]

@Jay Hemdal he is still exposing the same behaviors as in vid. Any suggestions on how I could help him? Or did he get beat up beyond recovery? Thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal he is still exposing the same behaviors as in vid. Any suggestions on how I could help him? Or did he get beat up beyond recovery? Thanks!

Sorry, this is a weird case, I’ve got nothing!
Jay

 

[R33f_Hacker]

Yeah it’s strange. Thanks, Jay.

 

[ThRoewer]

Fish can have heart attacks and strokes, suffer from cancer, have liver or renal failure, and have a lot of other ailments. And there are a lot of rather unusual diseases we rarely encounter. Just look at how many different diseases and ailments we ourselves can suffer from. Given how much longer fish are around vs hominids, it is likely they can at least as many ailments as us.
I came across a lot of things on fish I couldn't find in any book or had seemingly healthy fish stop eating one day and die a few days to weeks later.
There are simply cases where all you can do is provide the best possible conditions, wait, and hope for the best. This seems to be one of those cases.

 

[nickg]

Update on the male clown?

 

[R33f_Hacker]

Thanks for checking i. Left in the sump for almost a week and he did not change his behavior. would not swim correctly and almost seemed half brain dead or malfunctioning to a sort so I had to put him out of his misery unfortunately. Such a strange event. my thought is that the female hurt him (head butt??) for some reason. Going to get another clown fish today so she has a new partner.