Diagnosis & Treatment

Cora

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I have a 32g Biocube tank with 2 clowns, 2 fire fish and 1 mandarin goby. I have some softies and LPS. For invertebrates, have BTA, cleaner shrimp, crabs, snails.

Today, all of a sudden, all but mandarin are flashing. One clown has been periodically hanging near surface of water with rapid mouth opening-closing. I cannot see any spots, sores, discoloration, change of skin texture, gill swelling, etc. Everybody is eating well, though behavior is a big change.

I suspect maybe flukes, velvet or ich given apparent gill involvement (gasping). Maybe not clownfish disease if the fire fish are equally as involved, though I’m unsure about that.

Phosphates are 0.2, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, calcium 440, alkalinity 8.9, magnesium 1200.

I do not have a QT tank and this isn’t really possible for me. Everybody seems to have a die hard anecdotal opinion about how to handle parasites and it’s confusing. I would like to gain some level of clarity and certainty on how I can proceed and be successful with my current circumstances.

Should I just take my fish to the vet to diagnose? Are there vet books you recommend having? I’m not sure I can catch them all. Anybody use the reef safe Ruby Reef products with success (any tips to improve their reef safety)? Can fish just be dipped regularly and then put back into the DT if you don’t have a QT tank? Should I dip and add a UV sterilizer to cover more phases of parasite life cycle? Are there places you can take your fish to QT them?

I would like to intelligently troubleshoot this before any of these beings are really ill.

I took a video and, of course, they aren’t really doing the gasping thing or flashing. You can see some rapid darting movements at the end of the clip. I’ll keep monitoring. Thanks for any guidance.
 

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Jay Hemdal

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You'll probably not find a veterinarian in your area who can work on marine fish, there are some who specialize in koi, and some who work for fish farms or public aquariums, but few, if any general practice fish vets.

It probably isn't ich, no white spots. Could be velvet, but they don't seem to be breathing fast enough for it to be that. Flukes are a possibility. You can treat for them using prazipro (just increase your aeration).

The glimpse I got of the mandarin - it looks kind of skinny. As you probably know, they can be tricky to feed enough.

Jay
 
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Cora

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You'll probably not find a veterinarian in your area who can work on marine fish, there are some who specialize in koi, and some who work for fish farms or public aquariums, but few, if any general practice fish vets.

It probably isn't ich, no white spots. Could be velvet, but they don't seem to be breathing fast enough for it to be that. Flukes are a possibility. You can treat for them using prazipro (just increase your aeration).

The glimpse I got of the mandarin - it looks kind of skinny. As you probably know, they can be tricky to feed enough.

Jay
Thank you for taking a look. I’ll consider this potential of flukes and keep close eye.

The mandarin is skinny, though he’s eating constantly and has doubled in size since I got him a month ago. I just got him some caviar to fatten up on. We shall see
 

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