I think my clown has internal parasite?

Jakepen · May 20, 2016

I've had two clowns for a little over a month. Both have been doing really well, always eating and swimming just fine. Yesterday I fed them, and the larger of the two did not eat. And today I saw him pooping white, and again did not eat. The other is fine. I'm not sure if he is being picky, because the day before yesterday, I fed them rods frozen food. I was just about to head south and pick up another fish. Should I wait on that until I figure out what's going on with this guy?

Jakepen · May 20, 2016

Is it contagious from one fish to another?

Baby Ray · May 20, 2016

I would wait on the other fish to put as little stress on the clowns. My current clown has an intestinal worm and I am medicating seachems metroplex. Do you have a QT? If not you can bind the metroplex to food with seachems focus. The ratio is 1:1 with the 2 medications. It says 5:1 (focus to metroplex) but they have updated their site.
Mix the ratio to your food (figure out correct amount by looking at the directions on the back) and add a few drops of water to the mixture until it turns into a paste. Let it sit for 30 minutes and feed. Make sure to feed a little bit at a time and try to feed just so the infected fish will eat it. If other fish eat it it won't hurt them. If you can feed it all in the next 24 hours keep it in the fridge but if not you can freeze it. I like to make the mixture in a shot glass. And by the way, it says that you should only feed it to fish but it should not hurt the inverts but to be safe make sure just the fish eat it
I am not sure if it is contagious but this medication will help all the fish.
Hope this helps.

Baby Ray · May 20, 2016

If I am wrong about anything or missed any information @Humblefish will correct me

jsker · May 20, 2016

@melypr1985

GHsaltie · May 20, 2016

I have a question if I may butt in real quick. I suspect that my wrasse who is still in QT has intestinal parasites and I am about to start treatment with metroplex. Am I able to soak the meds into a combo of mysis shrimp and flakes? That's all he eats at the moment.

Baby Ray · May 20, 2016

GHsaltie said:
I have a question if I may butt in real quick. I suspect that my wrasse who is still in QT has intestinal parasites and I am about to start treatment with metroplex. Am I able to soak the meds into a combo of mysis shrimp and flakes? That's all he eats at the moment.

Not sure about the flakes but the mysis should work

melypr1985 · May 20, 2016

Baby Ray said:
I would wait on the other fish to put as little stress on the clowns. My current clown has an intestinal worm and I am medicating seachems metroplex. Do you have a QT? If not you can bind the metroplex to food with seachems focus. The ratio is 1:1 with the 2 medications. It says 5:1 (focus to metroplex) but they have updated their site.
Mix the ratio to your food (figure out correct amount by looking at the directions on the back) and add a few drops of water to the mixture until it turns into a paste. Let it sit for 30 minutes and feed. Make sure to feed a little bit at a time and try to feed just so the infected fish will eat it. If other fish eat it it won't hurt them. If you can feed it all in the next 24 hours keep it in the fridge but if not you can freeze it. I like to make the mixture in a shot glass. And by the way, it says that you should only feed it to fish but it should not hurt the inverts but to be safe make sure just the fish eat it
I am not sure if it is contagious but this medication will help all the fish.
Hope this helps.

This is right! Great advise

Jakepen said:
Is it contagious from one fish to another?

Yes but only if the other fish eat the infected fish's poop. This happens alot. You should see what happens when my purple tang poops. It's pretty gross.

GHsaltie said:
I have a question if I may butt in real quick. I suspect that my wrasse who is still in QT has intestinal parasites and I am about to start treatment with metroplex. Am I able to soak the meds into a combo of mysis shrimp and flakes? That's all he eats at the moment.

Yes. I wouldn't use the flakes in this mixture but the mysis is fine to use.

melypr1985 · May 20, 2016

Oh, if the clown is not eating at all, then soaking the metro in the food will not help. You may want to put him in a QT and dose the whole tank. Good luck!

Jakepen · May 20, 2016

melypr1985 said:
Oh, if the clown is not eating at all, then soaking the metro in the food will not help. You may want to put him in a QT and dose the whole tank. Good luck!

If I don't have a QT tank, what are my options? If he isn't eating, what should I do?

melypr1985 · May 20, 2016

Jakepen said:
If I don't have a QT tank, what are my options? If he isn't eating, what should I do?

You can get a QT put together rather easily. A plastic tote with an air stone would suffice, but water changes would need to be frequent - probably daily depending. A bucket would work the same way. You just need him to be in there maybe 10 days total. So it's short term.... I can't remember the directions on metro off the top of my head.

Baby Ray · May 21, 2016

Jakepen said:
If I don't have a QT tank, what are my options? If he isn't eating, what should I do?

Soak his food in a garlic mixture so you can maybe get him to eat

Jakepen · May 21, 2016

melypr1985 said:
You can get a QT put together rather easily. A plastic tote with an air stone would suffice, but water changes would need to be frequent - probably daily depending. A bucket would work the same way. You just need him to be in there maybe 10 days total. So it's short term.... I can't remember the directions on metro off the top of my head.

Would that tote than need a heater? Any ways to help reduce stress while doing this?

Jakepen · May 21, 2016

Also I have a five gallon bucket I could use, or a 20 gallon tote. The bucket would be easier, also I use the tote to collect my RODI. If the tote would be better, I could use that. Seems like a lot, to pack a air stone, and a heater in a five gallon bucket.

melypr1985 · May 21, 2016

You would need a heater. The tote or the bucket would be fine to use.

Jakepen · May 21, 2016

melypr1985 said:
You would need a heater. The tote or the bucket would be fine to use.

Okay. How crucial is a air stone? I mean I can get one today. I am wondering if I can drop my clown in the bucket now with a heater, and get the airstone in later?

Humblefish · May 21, 2016

If he has intestinal worms (which it sounds like he does) and he's not eating, then dosing medication in a QT becomes your only treatment option. Metronidazole (exs. Seachem Metroplex, Metro-MS, Metro+ by Hikari) can be difficult to find at most LFS, but API General Cure (a prazi/metro mix) can be found sometimes even at Petco/smart.

Jakepen said:
Okay. How crucial is a air stone? I mean I can get one today. I am wondering if I can drop my clown in the bucket now with a heater, and get the airstone in later?

You will need an air stone (or some type of circulation) to mix the meds you dose, so I would wait until you get that before adding the clown. The fish will also only have a limited amount of O2 in the water without an airstone to replenish it.