ocellaris clown, white stringy poo, lethargic, not eating

[RicordeaFreak]

Hello R2R community!

I’m running into a problem with a sick clownfish that I’ve had since 7/8/17.

Aquarium size = nuvo 10
Set up on 4/6/17

We purchased a designer “flurry” clown on July 8th and brought him home from the LFS. He swam around like crazy and seemed to act like a normal clown. I’ve never owned a clownfish before, so I’m not entirely sure what is normal behavior other than what I’ve seen in other people’s videos.

He ate and swam around happily for about a week or so eating frozen food just fine. Around July 18th or 19th he started showing signs of being ill, he stopped eating and was sitting near the bottom of the aquarium near the sand bed. I decided to dose Prazipro on July 22nd after two days of not seeing any improvements in health and was looking pretty lethargic.

I dosed as the bottle suggested and as soon as I put in the medicine I noticed that some of the discosoma mushrooms in the tank did NOT like the medicine along with some other corals looking a bit unhappy. They shriveled up to the point where I thought they were going to die. I was worried about them dying, or potentially harming the fish further so I did two small water changes totaling of about 1.5 to 2 gallons.

The fish seemed to act the same swimming close to the sand bed not moving much, I watched him over the next 6 or so hours and nothing changed in his behavior. The next day I noticed he was a bit more active swimming in a new area than he was before above some mushrooms, but still near the lower portion of the tank. He did have white stringy poo that was now starting to appear. The white stringy poo lasted for about two days, but is still not eating as of yesterday night. He’s only slightly more active than before, but still not like he was when we 1st got him.

From what I’ve tried to look into, it sounds like it might be a bacterial infection? I’m just really worried for this little guy.

I’m still new to the saltwater world as I’ve only started as of November 2016, so any help or input is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions please let me know!

What do you think this might be? Do you have any suggestions on what I should do next to help this little fish? Should I do another round of Prazipro?

I will do water test when I get home so that I can provide the latest info.

Thanks in advance!

RicFreak

 

[lilchris_357]

First check for the presense of Ammonia using a good test kit. Next, I would suggest doing at least a 5 gallon water change. This will ensure your ammonia is a nonfactor.
The white stringy poo is an internal parasite that should be treated with Seachem Metroplex. Mix it in the food and bind it to the food using Seachem Focus. Feed the medicated food for 10 days. If he's not taking the food treat the tank but it's best to try and get him to digest the meds. One other thing that can be done is a fresh water dip to see if flukes are present. Make sure to make the FW temp to the temp of your tank. Put the fish in and start the 5 min countdown. Watch for any discomfort, if the fish is going crazy abort the dip. Once the dip is complete, examine the container for sesame seed looking specks, if any is present, you are dealing with flukes and you should treat with Prazipro or General cure. You can use general cure from the start becasue it has 50 mg Metronidazole (Metroplex) and 75 mg Praziquantel (Prazi) per packet. Lastly, its best to QT when using meds and aerate, aerate, aerate...

 

[SoreninKL]

First check for the presense of Ammonia using a good test kit. Next, I would suggest doing at least a 5 gallon water change. This will ensure your ammonia is a nonfactor.
The white stringy poo is an internal parasite that should be treated with Seachem Metroplex. Mix it in the food and bind it to the food using Seachem Focus. Feed the medicated food for 10 days. If he's not taking the food treat the tank but it's best to try and get him to digest the meds. One other thing that can be done is a fresh water dip to see if flukes are present. Make sure to make the FW temp to the temp of your tank. Put the fish in and start the 5 min countdown. Watch for any discomfort, if the fish is going crazy abort the dip. Once the dip is complete, examine the container for sesame seed looking specks, if any is present, you are dealing with flukes and you should treat with Prazipro or General cure. You can use general cure from the start becasue it has 50 mg Metronidazole (Metroplex) and 75 mg Praziquantel (Prazi) per packet. Lastly, its best to QT when using meds and aerate, aerate, aerate...

+ 1

and my personal favorite is API general cure but it might not be "reef safe"

the whole write up as per the link below:

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/267419/

hope it turns out well [emoji4]

 

[Scarybo]

Hello R2R community!

I’m running into a problem with a sick clownfish that I’ve had since 7/8/17.

Aquarium size = nuvo 10
Set up on 4/6/17

We purchased a designer “flurry” clown on July 8th and brought him home from the LFS. He swam around like crazy and seemed to act like a normal clown. I’ve never owned a clownfish before, so I’m not entirely sure what is normal behavior other than what I’ve seen in other people’s videos.

He ate and swam around happily for about a week or so eating frozen food just fine. Around July 18th or 19th he started showing signs of being ill, he stopped eating and was sitting near the bottom of the aquarium near the sand bed. I decided to dose Prazipro on July 22nd after two days of not seeing any improvements in health and was looking pretty lethargic.

I dosed as the bottle suggested and as soon as I put in the medicine I noticed that some of the discosoma mushrooms in the tank did NOT like the medicine along with some other corals looking a bit unhappy. They shriveled up to the point where I thought they were going to die. I was worried about them dying, or potentially harming the fish further so I did two small water changes totaling of about 1.5 to 2 gallons.

The fish seemed to act the same swimming close to the sand bed not moving much, I watched him over the next 6 or so hours and nothing changed in his behavior. The next day I noticed he was a bit more active swimming in a new area than he was before above some mushrooms, but still near the lower portion of the tank. He did have white stringy poo that was now starting to appear. The white stringy poo lasted for about two days, but is still not eating as of yesterday night. He’s only slightly more active than before, but still not like he was when we 1st got him.

From what I’ve tried to look into, it sounds like it might be a bacterial infection? I’m just really worried for this little guy.

I’m still new to the saltwater world as I’ve only started as of November 2016, so any help or input is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions please let me know!

What do you think this might be? Do you have any suggestions on what I should do next to help this little fish? Should I do another round of Prazipro?

I will do water test when I get home so that I can provide the latest info.

Thanks in advance!

RicFreak

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/internal-parasites-intestinal-worms.267419/

 

[ngoodermuth]

+1, the fish should be treated with either metroplex or general cure. If he won't eat, he will need to be moved to a hospital tank to dose the water.

If you can get him to eat it, use either of the above medications. One scoop of med to one scoop of focus, to one tablespoon of food. You should feed it twice a day, for at least 10 days or until it's poop becomes normal again.

 

[RicordeaFreak]

Thank you everyone who responded. I greatly appreciate the input.

I was able to find the API general cure, but unfortunately couldn't find the seachem products in the big box stores near where I live. I'll be ordering these online to have on hand for when he starts eating again or for future use. I went ahead and set up a hospital tank last night to be able to start the new medicine. I picked up a 10gallon aquarium and have a hang on back filter on it along with a heater and a small pump for extra circulation. I'll be moving him over today when I get home and start treatment.

Should I give him a freshwater dip? or just start with the API general cure? he still wont eat so I will have to dose the tank, however i'm wondering if I should give him a freshwater dip. My only concern with doing this before moving him into the hospital tank is stressing him out even further with the freshwater as he is already pretty weak.

Additionally if anyone has any advice on a hospital tank that would be greatly appreciated. I have a piece of pvc elbow in there for a shelter and put some rubble from one of my other tanks that is established in the HOB filter to try and help seed the water. I know I should be doing daily water changes to try and keep ammonia low, but if anyone has any other input i'm all ears.

Thanks again!

 

[Humblefish]

Should I give him a freshwater dip? or just start with the API general cure? he still wont eat so I will have to dose the tank, however i'm wondering if I should give him a freshwater dip. My only concern with doing this before moving him into the hospital tank is stressing him out even further with the freshwater as he is already pretty weak.

A FW dip will only help if he has external worms (like flukes) or parasites (like velvet). It won't help with anything internal. Hopefully he will drink enough of the medicated water for it to work its way into his system.

Additionally if anyone has any advice on a hospital tank that would be greatly appreciated. I have a piece of pvc elbow in there for a shelter and put some rubble from one of my other tanks that is established in the HOB filter to try and help seed the water. I know I should be doing daily water changes to try and keep ammonia low, but if anyone has any other input i'm all ears.

Have you read this? How to Quarantine

 

[RicordeaFreak]

I sure did, pretty much right after posting that comment.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm going to get him started on the API general cure and hope to get him feeling better and eating again.