One clownfish dying, the other is fine

[Neuratox]

I'm very confused... We have two clownfish in one of our tanks. They're both about a year and a half old. The tank is well maintained, mature, coralline and corals are growing, and there isn't a single trace of any form of nuisance algae. One of the clowns (the male) is doing fine and is swimming around and eating as usual. The female hasn't eaten in at least two days, has been laying in a shadow on the sandbed at the back of the tank, and is breathing heavily. She isn't showing any signs of being bloated, doesn't look emaciated, and has no wounds or parasites on her (nor has anything else in the tank ever showed signs of them). I've tested the water, last water change was a week ago, and nitrate and ammonia are both at 0ppm.
I'm at a complete loss. Is there something that I'm not considering? Something that I should do? Please help.

 

[Neuratox]

I'm very confused... We have two clownfish in one of our tanks. They're both about a year and a half old. The tank is well maintained, mature, coralline and corals are growing, and there isn't a single trace of any form of nuisance algae. One of the clowns (the male) is doing fine and is swimming around and eating as usual. The female hasn't eaten in at least two days, has been laying in a shadow on the sandbed at the back of the tank, and is breathing heavily. She isn't showing any signs of being bloated, doesn't look emaciated, and has no wounds or parasites on her (nor has anything else in the tank ever showed signs of them). I've tested the water, last water change was a week ago, and nitrate and ammonia are both at 0ppm.
I'm at a complete loss. Is there something that I'm not considering? Something that I should do? Please help.

I forgot to mention temp is 78 and salinity is 1.026

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I'm very confused... We have two clownfish in one of our tanks. They're both about a year and a half old. The tank is well maintained, mature, coralline and corals are growing, and there isn't a single trace of any form of nuisance algae. One of the clowns (the male) is doing fine and is swimming around and eating as usual. The female hasn't eaten in at least two days, has been laying in a shadow on the sandbed at the back of the tank, and is breathing heavily. She isn't showing any signs of being bloated, doesn't look emaciated, and has no wounds or parasites on her (nor has anything else in the tank ever showed signs of them). I've tested the water, last water change was a week ago, and nitrate and ammonia are both at 0ppm.
I'm at a complete loss. Is there something that I'm not considering? Something that I should do? Please help.

Hi,

In general, communicable diseases and water quality issues will affect fish of the same species pretty much equally. This helps rule out those issues. Unfortunately, without some additional symptoms to work with, there really isn't enough to go on here. Can you post a video? A video of both fish would help, for comparison.

Jay

 

[Neuratox]

Jay, thanks for your reply. I've noticed you've commented on several of the other threads regarding clownfish and their issues, so I'm glad to have your expertise!
I've posted an image below, please excuse the brief glare from the window.

sick fish

www.youtube.com

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Jay, thanks for your reply. I've noticed you've commented on several of the other threads regarding clownfish and their issues, so I'm glad to have your expertise!
I've posted an image below, please excuse the brief glare from the window.

sick fish

www.youtube.com

Well, that's exactly how you described it, but I didn't see any additional clues. There are a few internal diseases that are not as communicable as external parasites, but they are also not very treatable (coccidia and nematodes for example). However, any disease, internal or not, would show up within 6 months on the outside, not a year and a half later. There are also chronic diseases like mycobacteria, but they do not show up in "middle aged" fish like these, and also do not come on suddenly like this.

Sorry, that doesn't leave anything to go on, certainly nothing treatable. Other rare issues include egg binding (no swelling seen here) and neoplasms (very rare in younger fish).

Jay

 

[Neuratox]

Jay,
I sincerely appreciate your input. I'll update this post if she takes a turn for the worst, otherwise anyone else reading this in the future can assume that she pulled through with no issues.
Thanks!

 

[Neuratox]

Unfortunately, the clownfish died after a week of seeing these symptoms. I made a thorough inspection of her once I took her out of the tank and still couldn't find any indication of what could have caused this. I did try adding some magnesium sulfate at the standard amount in case it she was constipated or something. Clearly, that didn't resolve the problem. I'm sorry that I can't give anything more useful to anyone else who happens upon this thread, but I wish you the best of luck.