- Joined
- May 17, 2020
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Like the title says I sadly lost my male clownfish today and am pretty devastated. Fortunately or unfortunately I had the day off so I basically watched his final moments. Although it's too late for him now I'm hoping to figure out what got him as I don't think I can handle one of my other fish dying as well. My last new fish addition was July 2020, and I haven't added new coral for a few months. He had been swimming head angled up and pretty fast breathing for a while now but he always ate like a hog so I didn't think I needed to do anything extreme. I did give him a Reef Rally Bath along with the female clown and a goby about 2 weeks ago (mainly for my Goby who had a puffy gill at the time but I thought I might as well treat all my fish at the same time. The rally bath didn't really do much positive or negative. He seemed normal up until last night, he waited for me at the screen door cover during feeding time like he always does but instead of pigging out he flopped on the sand panting hard and didn't eat anything. I checked on him throughout the night and while he would have random bursts of energy he would quickly flop back down and lay sideways on the sand panting. This morning he ate nothing again so I decided to do a 5min fresh water dip which again seemed to do nothing for him positive or negative. He passed a few hours afterwards.
One thing I had noticed in the past few weeks was a white patch underneath one of his fins, which I have a picture attached (as well as a video of some better days). Normally it was quite small and only visible when he was laying at a certain angle in the coral / anemone. It didn't look like ich, brook, or anything I had seen before, it more looked like he had lost some skin, almost like an ulcer. When he died he went pale and the patch became very apparent as well as some smaller pale patches around his head / gills.
Hoping someone can help identify the issue so I can act quicker if any of my other fish start acting strange. I wish I knew more so I could have done more. He was "just" a fish but brought me a lot of happiness in a year where there wasn't much.
My parameters if that's helpful:
Alk: 8
Calcium: 440
Mag: 1300
Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 78
Nitrates & Phosphates: Undetectable, but I have plenty of pest algae so I know it's there
Appreciate anyone who read this lengthy post and thanks for the help in advance.
One thing I had noticed in the past few weeks was a white patch underneath one of his fins, which I have a picture attached (as well as a video of some better days). Normally it was quite small and only visible when he was laying at a certain angle in the coral / anemone. It didn't look like ich, brook, or anything I had seen before, it more looked like he had lost some skin, almost like an ulcer. When he died he went pale and the patch became very apparent as well as some smaller pale patches around his head / gills.
Hoping someone can help identify the issue so I can act quicker if any of my other fish start acting strange. I wish I knew more so I could have done more. He was "just" a fish but brought me a lot of happiness in a year where there wasn't much.
My parameters if that's helpful:
Alk: 8
Calcium: 440
Mag: 1300
Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 78
Nitrates & Phosphates: Undetectable, but I have plenty of pest algae so I know it's there
Appreciate anyone who read this lengthy post and thanks for the help in advance.