Lost a clown

[cody2cannon]

So I have been treating my 2 clowns for intestinal parasites, both had/have white stringy poop. The larger female is looking good and healthy but the smaller male wasn't always eating but would eat every other day so I thought he was getting better. But then this morning I spotted him in the corner of my tank and he had a white spot on his side, when I got home today about an hour ago, he had already passed. Can anyone advise me on what could have happened and what I might need to do to prevent this.

 

[cody2cannon]

@saltyfilmfolks

 

[Chrisfish]

@melypr1985
@Humblefish

 

[cody2cannon]

@melypr1985
@Humblefish

Thanks

 

[melypr1985]

Hi there. I"m sorry to hear about your clown. Can you give us some more details? Were these fish in QT? Were they new? Do you have a picture of the white spot? Can you describe that a bit better for us? Any other symptoms to go along with it? Was he breathing heavily? Flashing, scratching against anything in the tank? Swimming into the flow of a powerhead or return?

Take a look through here and see if you see anything similar to the spot you saw.
Fish Disease Index - Pictorial Guide

 

[cody2cannon]

He was new in the tank 3 weeks, no I was told not to put them in QT since they were the only dosh in the DT. Breathing heavily yes but nothing else. They ate being treated for intestinal parasites. Now the larger female I have looks great. Besides her stomach but I was told that is the parasites. Looked life the one on the yellow goby but his was square.

 

[melypr1985]

He was new in the tank 3 weeks, no I was told not to put them in QT since they were the only dosh in the DT. Breathing heavily yes but nothing else. They ate being treated for intestinal parasites. Now the larger female I have looks great. Besides her stomach but I was told that is the parasites. Looked life the one on the yellow goby but his was square.

Ok. Always QT everything. Ignore people who tell you otherwise. You don't have to QT with medications or treat prophylactically, but at least observing in QT for a month can let you catch a huge amount of problems, take care of them without having to catch and move a sick fish, and treat it before they introduce it to the display.

So that is an infection. It can be caused by underlying parasitic infection, but can also be caused by an injury that got infected.

Have you seen the female poop at all? If she has intestinal parasites or worms she will have white, stringy poop.

 

[cody2cannon]

Ok. Always QT everything. Ignore people who tell you otherwise. You don't have to QT with medications or treat prophylactically, but at least observing in QT for a month can let you catch a huge amount of problems, take care of them without having to catch and move a sick fish, and treat it before they introduce it to the display.

So that is an infection. It can be caused by underlying parasitic infection, but can also be caused by an injury that got infected.

Have you seen the female poop at all? If she has intestinal parasites or worms she will have white, stringy poop.

Yes she's had white stringy poop but I have been treating with metro and focus her poop isn't as stringy but it's a pale tan color

 

[melypr1985]

Yes she's had white stringy poop but I have been treating with metro and focus her poop isn't as stringy but it's a pale tan color

Ok good. Keep up with that. It can take longer than 10 days to get rid of it completely.

 

[cody2cannon]

Ok good. Keep up with that. It can take longer than 10 days to get rid of it completely.

Yea I was told to treat for 30 days regardless of color just to be safe

 

[Humblefish]

Yea I was told to treat for 30 days regardless of color just to be safe

Once the poop goes from white to being its normal brown/green color, the intestinal worms have been eradicated.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ugg, sorry to hear it happened. Here's the thing no one at the LFS or online usually want to say. If you want a successful reef tank you really do need 2 tanks. That's why most wont or dont do it.
Even if your not going to use prophylactic treatment of copper, and run an "ick management" tank, there's still a QT protocol. In most every case a freshwater dip of a new fish id the first line of defense, as it can knock out a lot of the external parasites.
As to why the fish died is really speculative. It could have succumbed to the parasite or was in failing health already(from parasites in the last tank, poor husbandry, food stress etc) and the parasite was just opportunistic.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The thing about corals, in a lot of stores therese very often fish in the frag tanks. Some fish are what Ive always called "ick bombs", Powder blue tangs in particular. Then clowns. Ive left some really nice corals at the store because they had just introduced a PBT or other ick bomb into the coral tank. I avoided clowns for three years btw when I started in the hobby.
This is one more reason to qt coral, the others reasons are nuisance algaes and unwanted hitchhikers.

Many tanks run with ick and fish parasites. Also many run with unwanted hitchhikers as well, Zoa eating nudibranchs and flatworms, some nuisance algaes ,ie all pests, are the easiest to explain.
Somehow in the tank a balance has been reached to keep the population of the pest under control. But if these are introduced into a system without the checks and balances of the last tank(something that eats them), the populations "bloom". Similar to the Pod population bloom you recently had.

Also don't feel too bad as even with full Prophylactic treatment fish still may pass away mysteriously weeks even months later. It easily could have been an injury sustained from bagging at the store. Yes, I finally one day told a guy I want buying the fish because it was wrestled out of the tank at the store. So imagine how it was put in.

I learned a lot about Quarantine and conditioning of fish from Bob Fenner and PaulB, as well as Sprung and Delbeek, still internet but not rumors, myth, opinion and facebook. Many many of those named in "conditioning" will also repeat the need for good food as nutrition is VERY important to an animal's immune system. So studying more for long term success with theses animals is pretty important. Just like ones first puppy chicken or Emu, there's going to be a learning curve. And for many its this continuing learning and study that actually is part of the attraction(addiction), to the hobby. For some that don't want to go that deep, a basic understanding and general protocol or method works extremely well. Theres great info here on R2R thanks to Humble and Mel. Def well worth reading.


Heres Mel's Awesome video On freshwater dips.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/video-how-to-do-a-freshwater-dip.214/

 

[cody2cannon]

So she's looking good! Should I replace the clown once her parasites are taken care of or is that a bad idea?

 

[melypr1985]

So she's looking good! Should I replace the clown once her parasites are taken care of or is that a bad idea?

You can, just be sure you QT the new clown and make sure you purchase a juvenile.

 

[cody2cannon]

So when I QT him how long is good? 30 days? And do i freshwater dip right away out only when or if it shows symptoms?

 

[melypr1985]

So when I QT him how long is good? 30 days? And do i freshwater dip right away out only when or if it shows symptoms?

When I receive clowns I do a Ruby Reef Rally bath (90) minutes before treating them with copper. 30 days would be the minimum. two weeks after to observe is ideal.

 

[cody2cannon]

Do you have videos for this?

 

[melypr1985]

Do you have videos for this?

I don't actually, but I could make one the next time we receive clowns at the store. Great idea! Thanks

 

[cody2cannon]

No thank you!