Is my clown sick?

[uutank]

Just yesterday got two clowns and one firefish, currently they are in a qt tank. This is my first time with fishes.
The problem is one of the clown is slightly light in color. Also the faded one(clown) and my firefish is not eating food, while the other clown is eating. Both the clowns are active, though all three fishes are holed up in one corner only, firefish barely moves, and moves, except when it is completely dark.
The faded one since this morning is continuously in an upward motion and just staying like this for quite some hours now.

This is the faded one(constantly looking up outside of tank)

This is the other clown it’s perfectly fine IMO.

See the faded clown is just stating vertical

The water parameters are
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Salinity 1.023

Is everything fine or the clown diseased??

 

[Dr. Reef]

Give it sometime to adjust to your tank. I would say 2 to 3 days. It should be back to normal.

 

[uutank]

Give it sometime to adjust to your tank. I would say 2 to 3 days. It should be back to normal.

I worried, is it brooklynella???

 

[Dr. Reef]

Is there any white stringy web looking things on her? If so then it is Brook if not then I would just observe for a few days.

 

[HotRocks]

It will take the fish a few days to "settle" into their new environment.

Brook appears as skin falling off. Compare it to human skin healing from a sunburn. Sometimes it will start as very small spots. I wouldn't panic yet. Just keep an eye on them.

 

[uutank]

Thank you @dr.reef @HotRocks.
No! No signs of skin falling off also no stringy web, just that it’s quite different from the other clown as the color is quite faded. I don’t mind the color, the two are very active and are having a good friendship amongst and also with the firefish. Three of them swim together and rest together it’s so nice to see. I would never want to lose that clown.

 

[uutank]

So it is 4 days now since I got the fishes. One clown and the goby are doing great and I can’t be more happy.
But the faded clown as mentioned above is showing weird behaviour, it seems disoriented, isn’t eating food since day one. And the other clown seems healthier also than the it, maybe because she’s eating food.
Also one more thing I noticed is the faded clown has its fins towards its belly closed whereas the other clown doesn’t have such problem. I observed closely I haven’t seen any signs of ich or anything, but I’m still pretty tensed for my clown.

Below is the faded clown

Below is the healthy clown

In image you can see fins on the belly of this one but the faded, has its fins clamped down, idk why. Help!!

 

[HotRocks]

I am struggling with this one. The fish clearly doesn't look well. In the second picture of your most recent post I am starting to wonder if it might be brook. There is still no clear evidence that is what you are dealing with from what I see. @Humblefish @4FordFamily @Big G @melypr1985

Are they fighting at all? He has tattered fins. Or fin rot? You could start metroplex and Kanaplex together, which would cover both brook and fin rot. Lets see what the others have to say.

 

[uutank]

I am struggling with this one. The fish clearly doesn't look well. In the second picture of your most recent post I am starting to wonder if it might be brook. There is still no clear evidence that is what you are dealing with from what I see. @Humblefish @4FordFamily @Big G @melypr1985

Are they fighting at all? He has tattered fins. Or fin rot? You could start metroplex and Kanaplex together, which would cover both brook and fin rot. Lets see what the others have to say.

No they aren’t fighting at all, the tank is very peaceful. But the sick clown is disoriented for sure. I tried target feeding but it just ignores food.
I don’t have metroplex and kanaplex, though I’ve been dozing with para guard for past two days, also I’ve prazipro and cupramine will they help. I’m thinking of dosing with prazipro soon.

 

[HotRocks]

No they aren’t fighting at all, the tank is very peaceful. But the sick clown is disoriented for sure. I tried target feeding but it just ignores food.
I don’t have metroplex and kanaplex, though I’ve been dozing with para guard for past two days, also I’ve prazipro and cupramine will they help. I’m thinking of dosing with prazipro soon.

It could be flukes as well. You could do a FW dip to confirm whether or not flukes are present. Then decide if prazi is necessary.

 

[uutank]

It could be flukes as well. You could do a FW dip to confirm whether or not flukes are present. Then decide if prazi is necessary.

Thank you so much. I’ll try that right away, but what about tattered fins and clamped belly fin??

 

[4FordFamily]

It could be flukes as well. You could do a FW dip to confirm whether or not flukes are present. Then decide if prazi is necessary.

This would be my first move. I would feed metroplex and focus for internal parasites based on the abdominal appearance and emaciated appearance.

Then treat for brook as Kyle said if the freshwater dip doesn’t yield flukes....

 

[melypr1985]

This would be my first move. I would feed metroplex and focus for internal parasites based on the abdominal appearance and emaciated appearance.

Then treat for brook as Kyle said if the freshwater dip doesn’t yield flukes....

I agree with the guys here. Though, to be safe I would add that after the dip the clowns should both go into a clean, sterile QT as would normally happen when treating brook. It can't hurt and if it is Brook then you've already done this step and won't have to worry about doing it later.

 

[Dr. Reef]

prazipro treatment wont hurt anything. if there are flukes and internal worms and parasites it will get rid of them. even if there is no parasites or worms it wont interfere with other treatments like copper or antibiotics if needed. so i dont see any harm in using it right away. start there and see if things improve. FW dips just to find out flukes or not (treatment it self is hard) on fish and why subject it to added stress when prazi can do the same thing without stress. just my opinion.

 

[4FordFamily]

I’ve never lost a fish or caused any obvious long term stress to a fish during a proper freshwater dip unless that fish was on its last leg already and was going to die anyway.

I’ve found prazi to be gentle enough on most fish but it can suppress appetite for days and kill weaker fish and some unestablished wrasse. Dipping before treatment for flukes is advised; most of the fish I’ve dipped ate within an hour of being returned to the tank.

I would say that freshwater dips and prazi are both pretty gentle to a healthy fish, but necessary for an unhealthy one at times. I do agree with @Dr. Reef that prazi is gentler on weaker fish but I’m just not sure it’s needed at this stage. Just my .02.

 

[uutank]

This would be my first move. I would feed metroplex and focus for internal parasites based on the abdominal appearance and emaciated appearance.

Then treat for brook as Kyle said if the freshwater dip doesn’t yield flukes....

Okay I’m performing the FW dip in minutes, I’ll post whatever comes out of this.

 

[uutank]

@Dr.Reef @4FordFamily @melypr1985 I had already dozed the tank with prazipro about an hour ago, all the fishes are doing fine, but suppressed diet can be seen already, as the firefish and the healthy clown are also not eating. Should I go for FW dip still(after dosing with prazi) I think it’ll be an added advantage?? And for feeding metroplex as suggested by @4FordFamily, I don’t know how to do it as the sick clown is ignoring the food completely, so whatever I put in tank it is just ignoring completely.

 

[4FordFamily]

@Dr.Reef @4FordFamily @melypr1985 I had already dozed the tank with prazipro about an hour ago, all the fishes are doing fine, but suppressed diet can be seen already, as the firefish and the healthy clown are also not eating. Should I go for FW dip still(after dosing with prazi) I think it’ll be an added advantage?? And for feeding metroplex as suggested by @4FordFamily, I don’t know how to do it as the sick clown is ignoring the food completely, so whatever I put in tank it is just ignoring completely.

If he’s not eating metroplex and food it won’t matter. This was my primary concern with prazi, a weak fish is already less inclined to eat but perhaps it rebounds fast if the prazi helps. I’d hold off on the dip at this point because 9/10 times any flukes will be dead and have fallen off.

 

[uutank]

If he’s not eating metroplex and food it won’t matter. This was my primary concern with prazi, a weak fish is already less inclined to eat but perhaps it rebounds fast if the prazi helps. I’d hold off on the dip at this point because 9/10 times any flukes will be dead and have fallen off.

I’m completely new to the hobby and these are my first three fishes. After much research and help from you guys I’ve made some progress, but as much as I could read fluke and brook have very similar symptoms. At present I’m dosing with prazi but I’m worried if it is brook, so can I simultaneously do FW Paraguard dips with it? Will it have any adverse affect?? And how to know when I should switch from prazi to para?? Or should I directly go to cupramine????

 

[melypr1985]

If you do a freshwater dip, do not combine it with paraguard. Honestly the dip wouldn't be for flukes, it would be for the brook. My concern was doing the freshwater dip before anything else to see if he perked up afterward. The dip would help flush out the gills and remove some of the brook (if it is indeed brook) and allow the fish to feel better for a bit.... maybe even enough to let him eat some. Treating the QT with General Cure (which contains both metroplex for brook and prazi for flukes) would have covered both situations.