I’m worried about my clownfish

[Sharkbait19]

Hello,
Today, I added new corals to my aquarium. Unfortunately, I haven’t been a very good reefer recently, and today is the first day in a couple busy weeks that I’ve truly observed my tank. I don’t know if the new corals brought in some sort of parasite/disease today (I did dip them, but that doesn’t do much on fish parasites), or if my clownfish have been ill for some time, but I only noticed recently that the fish don’t look very good, especially my orange clown, Nemo. Nemo has torn and cloudy fins, some skin lesions, and white spots (looks more like lympho, as they aren’t embedded). My other clown, Luxo, has similar white speckles and patches, though doesn’t look very affected by them. There’s no flashing, twitching, or heavy breathing. Is Nemo getting beat up and/or deprived of food? Or could there be some kind of newly introduced parasite I should be alarmed about? Both are eating, though Luxo is a much more aggressive eater than Nemo, even stealing food out of his mouth.
Can I get a second opinion on their condition, and what measures I should take to bring them back to health? Thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello,
Today, I added new corals to my aquarium. Unfortunately, I haven’t been a very good reefer recently, and today is the first day in a couple busy weeks that I’ve truly observed my tank. I don’t know if the new corals brought in some sort of parasite/disease today (I did dip them, but that doesn’t do much on fish parasites), or if my clownfish have been ill for some time, but I only noticed recently that the fish don’t look very good, especially my orange clown, Nemo. Nemo has torn and cloudy fins, some skin lesions, and white spots (looks more like lympho, as they aren’t embedded). My other clown, Luxo, has similar white speckles and patches, though doesn’t look very affected by them. There’s no flashing, twitching, or heavy breathing. Is Nemo getting beat up and/or deprived of food? Or could there be some kind of newly introduced parasite I should be alarmed about? Both are eating, though Luxo is a much more aggressive eater than Nemo, even stealing food out of his mouth.
Can I get a second opinion on their condition, and what measures I should take to bring them back to health? Thanks!

While corals can introduce disease into a tank if they came from a tank with sick fish in it, it takes a couple of days to a week to case the disease.
The black clown may be bullying the orange one, but I see evidence of possible protozoan disease. I don’t suppose you have a treatment tank available?
Jay

 

[Sharkbait19]

While corals can introduce disease into a tank if they came from a tank with sick fish in it, it takes a couple of days to a week to case the disease.
The black clown may be bullying the orange one, but I see evidence of possible protozoan disease. I don’t suppose you have a treatment tank available?
Jay

I have a treatment tank, but it is unfortunately occupied by a goby. I could move the clowns there, though would hate to introduce the goby to any possible disease or expose it to copper meds. Just wondering, would metroplex be an effective and reef safe in-tank medication for potential illness? I also have PraziPro, Hexshield, General Cure, and Cupramine.

Would brook or velvet take time to show up from a coral, or are they also unlikely to appear so soon?

 

[Sharkbait19]

As conditions worsen, I’m in fear brook may be present, somehow. There’s no other obvious signs besides discolorations, so it could be aggression. Either way, I’m not sure if Nemo will survive, but I’ll check his condition tomorrow. I may have to look into a backup QT just to get him healthy again.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

As conditions worsen, I’m in fear brook may be present, somehow. There’s no other obvious signs besides discolorations, so it could be aggression. Either way, I’m not sure if Nemo will survive, but I’ll check his condition tomorrow. I may have to look into a backup QT just to get him healthy again.

I always worry about dosing a tank with corals. Prazipro would be mostly safe, but I’m not seeing a lot of signs of flukes. GC has both prazi and metro in it, but I’m not confident that it is totally reef safe. What about using ruby reef rally pro as a dip? It has reported to work against Brook, but of course, returning the fish to the infected tank is problematic.
Jay

 

[Sharkbait19]

Unfortunately, ruby reef is one of the only meds I don’t have. As far as their condition goes today, both have cloudy fins, no white spots, and both are eating. One behavior I noticed for Nemo is that he won’t even think about eating if Luxo is around. Nemo’s not showing any true signs of external parasites, but is always at the top, and often swimming tail-up. I’m wondering if a freshwater dip would be wise, to see if there are any surface parasites. To be honest, nothing’s been added to the tank in months, aside from the new things yesterday, so I have doubts about a parasitic infection.

I may do a water change. I’ve recently started changing the water every other week, but I may have to go back to a weekly basis. I also haven’t been feeding them terribly often, so they may be malnourished. All and all, I’ve been pretty neglectful this past month, and this is a wake up call for me. I’d be really mad at myself if either clown dies, as they’re my favorite part of the tank.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Just a little update: With some extra care, Nemo has been doing much better. Signs of lympho are gone and all the skin lesions are going away. Both clowns are eating well and are back to being well-rounded. Luxo still bullies Nemo, a problem I’ll need to find a solution to.