Input need on clownfish breathing heavy

3D Reefin'

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Hello R2R Members,

I would like some input and suggestions on how to treat my clown fish. My thoughts is that this could be Brook, but never came across it before, so I am not certain.

I went away for a day and when I came back, my clownfish was on the tank floor, breathing heavily/fast and trying to stay upright. His fins where frayed and his color had faded. When I attempted to scoop him up he was able to swim away from me, somewhat disoriented, but was still alert.

Before I left, he was alert, ate food and was displaying normal clownfish behavior. No visible signs of stress or being sick.

He is the only fish in a 20L (20 Gallon) frag tank. There is some xenia, some polyps, a rock anemone and a favites in there with him. The tank has been running for over 8months.

Parameters of the tank.

Salinity 1.026
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 or less

My treatment so far, 2 days in:

Grabbed a small container, removed him from the tank, placed him in the container to have a closer look. Noticed that some of his scales looked pale and has frayed fins.
- Proceeded to do a 5min freshwater dip in matching tank temp RODI water.
- Placed him in a small quarantine tank dosed with Seachem Metroplex, with a air stone and heater.
- I'm dosing Metroplex every 24hr.

He is currently laying on his side, but still tries to stay upright. When I first removed him, his color had faded and has since regained some. Still not eating

I currently have the following Medication on hand:

Seachem: Kanaplex, Metroplex and Focus.

API: General Cure, Furan-2

Prazipro

Here are some pictures

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

IMG_6111.jpg
IMG_6108.jpg
 

stagger lee

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when a clownfish has brook, you usually see mucous buildup and/or sloughing

if he has skin flukes, you should have seen some drop off during the fw dip

assuming this isn’t being caused by something environmental (like ammonia), my best guess would be velvet after seeing all the small splotches

however, your fish doesn’t appear to be in any condition to withstand copper right now

i would probably give the fish a peroxide bath, and then place in a new qt with methylene blue dosed

lower temp & salinity to reduce demands on the fish’s metabolism
 

Jay Hemdal

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I’m troubled by the tattered fins, not sure what could account for that. The rapid breathing could be velvet, doubt that it is Brook . How long have you had the fish?
Jay
 
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3D Reefin'

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I’m troubled by the tattered fins, not sure what could account for that. The rapid breathing could be velvet, doubt that it is Brook . How long have you had the fish?
Jay

Most of my searches with clownfish breathing heavily and hanging out/laying on the bottom have been linked to Brook. I've encountered velvet before, it goes through fish fast, not sure if this little guy would have made if it was velvet.

I am not questioning your diagnosis, but if I wanted to treat both Brook and Velvet, are there medications that I can use for this or mix together? Is there a way to get a better diagnosis to confirm either or both?

Had him for about a month.
 

Jay Hemdal

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Most of my searches with clownfish breathing heavily and hanging out/laying on the bottom have been linked to Brook. I've encountered velvet before, it goes through fish fast, not sure if this little guy would have made if it was velvet.

I am not questioning your diagnosis, but if I wanted to treat both Brook and Velvet, are there medications that I can use for this or mix together? Is there a way to get a better diagnosis to confirm either or both?

Had him for about a month.

Classic Brooklynella shows as thick mucus, especially along the top of the fish, and often coming off in sheets. Velvet (Amyloodinium) typically shows as rapid breathing only, and if there are other symptoms, they include swimming into water current, and very, very tiny spots.

If it weren't for the quick onset, I would say this is flukes; the skin discoloration and tattered fins all can be symptoms. However, the symptoms arise over days and weeks, not overnight.

A formalin dip, and then moving the fish to a fresh tank can be used for both velvet and brook. Formalin is tough to find quickly though.....

Jay
 

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Possibly a run in with the overflow, or a power head, hence the weird swimming, heaving breathing from lack of movement?
I have had fish with the same behavior but no damage to fins.

any update on the fish? Is it still alive?
 
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3D Reefin'

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Classic Brooklynella shows as thick mucus, especially along the top of the fish, and often coming off in sheets. Velvet (Amyloodinium) typically shows as rapid breathing only, and if there are other symptoms, they include swimming into water current, and very, very tiny spots.

If it weren't for the quick onset, I would say this is flukes; the skin discoloration and tattered fins all can be symptoms. However, the symptoms arise over days and weeks, not overnight.

A formalin dip, and then moving the fish to a fresh tank can be used for both velvet and brook. Formalin is tough to find quickly though.....

Jay
I'll try to get some formalin then. He has not developed the the velvet white dots, do they always show up?
 
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3D Reefin'

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Possibly a run in with the overflow, or a power head, hence the weird swimming, heaving breathing from lack of movement?
I have had fish with the same behavior but no damage to fins.

any update on the fish? Is it still alive?
He is still alive. Still not taking food, laying on his side, but tries to stay upright.

The 20L he was housed in had a Aqua Clear 70 HOB filter and a small powerhead. Maybe he got sucked into the intake or powerhead?

Can there be too too much flow in the tank and he got exhausted from over swimming? I don't think its the case in my tank, but you never know.
 

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There can be too much flow, but they would find a different spot if it was to much.

where does your clown host in the tank. Mine host right by the over flow. So if it hosts by the HOB that may be the cause.

No attempt to eat is worrying.
Maybe try a small container, of tank water and try to feed so there’s no flow. And doesn’t have to swim much if at all.

going to need nutrition to repair the fins.
 

Jay Hemdal

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I'll try to get some formalin then. He has not developed the the velvet white dots, do they always show up?
No, not always, sometimes you just see rapid breathing and then death.

Did the FW dip bring any relief? It at least wasn't fatal. You might consider doing another one - just to see if you can buy some time.

Yes - tanks can have too much current for a clownfish's liking, but I've never seen one get caught in an overflow or a screen that didn't have some other predisposing issue.

Jay
 
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3D Reefin'

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No, not always, sometimes you just see rapid breathing and then death.

Did the FW dip bring any relief? It at least wasn't fatal. You might consider doing another one - just to see if you can buy some time.

Yes - tanks can have too much current for a clownfish's liking, but I've never seen one get caught in an overflow or a screen that didn't have some other predisposing issue.

Jay
The freshwater dip didn't seem to bring any relief. He was still breathing heavy and didn't see any critters (flukes) fall off.

His breathing has slowed down to almost normal. I am not convinced its Velvet. When I encountered Velvet in the past, it just wrecked havoc on my fish and they all continued to rapidly deteriorate till they all passed. This little guy went from bad to somewhat ok in a short period of time. Maybe ammonia spike?

I did notice some white stringy poop. So once he gets a little better, I'll treat that.
 

Jay Hemdal

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The freshwater dip didn't seem to bring any relief. He was still breathing heavy and didn't see any critters (flukes) fall off.

His breathing has slowed down to almost normal. I am not convinced its Velvet. When I encountered Velvet in the past, it just wrecked havoc on my fish and they all continued to rapidly deteriorate till they all passed. This little guy went from bad to somewhat ok in a short period of time. Maybe ammonia spike?

I did notice some white stringy poop. So once he gets a little better, I'll treat that.
It certainly could have been caused by an issue with water quality - I ruled out ammonia because you reported it zero, and I ruled out other issues since you have Xenia in the tank - other issues would have caused that to have issues also. That's why I focused on the disease angle. However, fish diseases rarely resolve on their own. Consider the timing of the FW dip - for very serious gill disease issues, the FW dip will kill the fish outfight. For moderate issues, the FW dip kills most of the parasites, but leaves the fish debilitated for a day or two. You will not see gill flukes in the dip without a microscope.

Jay
 
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3D Reefin'

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It certainly could have been caused by an issue with water quality - I ruled out ammonia because you reported it zero, and I ruled out other issues since you have Xenia in the tank - other issues would have caused that to have issues also. That's why I focused on the disease angle. However, fish diseases rarely resolve on their own. Consider the timing of the FW dip - for very serious gill disease issues, the FW dip will kill the fish outfight. For moderate issues, the FW dip kills most of the parasites, but leaves the fish debilitated for a day or two. You will not see gill flukes in the dip without a microscope.

Jay
Yea, to be honest I'm not sure what did it, but I'm glad that he is swimming and eating again.

Any idea on how to treat the awkward tilting after swimming? Is it something to do with swim bladder?

Not to get off topic, but I once attempted to rescue a angel from Petco and when I did a FW dip I saw all of these little white specs come off the fish. Pictures can be seen here:

 

Jay Hemdal

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Yea, to be honest I'm not sure what did it, but I'm glad that he is swimming and eating again.

Any idea on how to treat the awkward tilting after swimming? Is it something to do with swim bladder?

Not to get off topic, but I once attempted to rescue a angel from Petco and when I did a FW dip I saw all of these little white specs come off the fish. Pictures can be seen here:

Those are Neobenedenia skin flukes, they are the only fluke species you can see in dips without a microscope.
Jay
 
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