Royal Gramma Pale/White and Flashing

[astrofish]

Your tank looks super clean, with almost no algae of any kind, even after 3 months. I guess it's still pretty early to put fish that are disease prone. People say clownfish is tough but in my experience they aren't. They are only tough in mature tank environment, but they get ick very easily in newer tanks... If you want fish, stick to fish like gobby or bottom feeders. Very tough tho!

I went through this same "disease phase" when I first started my tank years ago. It felt like whatever fish I added would get ich or some other disease, or just die within a few weeks.

It finally stopped after I stopped adding new fish for a few months and just let the tank mature. I didn't reset the system or clean. From what I remember, it took at least 6–8 months before things really stabilized. Once the tank matured, I rarely had problems with ich or other diseases anymore, assuming the fish I added were healthy to begin with.

Unfortunately, clowns with brook are really difficult to save once it gets to the stage shown in your picture. If he's still actively eating, though, there's definitely still some hope with proper treatment and care.

Personally, I'd avoid copper with the small sized fish like clown. It's pretty harsh, especially when the fish is already weak. The royal gramma is pretty tough, so hopefully he'll pull through.

I'd move the sick fish into a separate treatment tank or bucket and keep the water extremely clean. Frequent water changes can help a lot with ick. Some shops also use tank-transfer-type (few water changes a day) methods for ich rather than immediately relying on harsher medications.

Most importantly, keep them eating. Give them nutritious food, keep them well fed, and try to keep stress as low as possible so their immune systems have the best chance of fighting it.

For now I would stop adding new fish. Just let your tank mature. To cycle your tank faster, I recommend you get live rock, bio media or established water from shops or natural sea water. It takes a lot of time to mature with death rock, brand new water, and sand.

Good luck! Hopefully they pull through.

I hadn’t planned on any more fish, I was just trying to get things stable with this stocking level. It’s only a 30 gallon.

Honestly, I thought I was taking it slow and steady. I added bottled bacteria and did a fishless cycle. I added TBS live rock and sand, microbacter 7, and PNS deep cycle. I kept the first fish in QT for 30 days observing it under bright light every day.

The lack of algae may be because I started off with my lighting at a very low percentage and have it set to ramp up over 40 days.

That's good! You were pretty thorough with the setup... as I can see. But judging from the pictures, I'd say the tank is probably still far from being fully matured, which could be contributing to the disease outbreaks.

I actually added fish much earlier than you did, with basically no cycling period, and had to learn my lesson the hard way

Initially, though I used established sand, live rock, water, and some filter media from my LFS, and surprisingly the tank did fine for the first few months. The problems really started when I upgraded to a bigger new tank and replaced a lot of that with new water and new filter media and sand. That's when diseases started getting out of hand. I suspect disease phase from newer tanks is mostly some kind of bacteria imbalance.

I'm not sure how effective all the bottled bacteria products really are compared to the real thing (that comes with natural cycling), but from my experience, one of the best ways to help a tank mature is to introduce established live rock, bio media, and some sand from a healthy, mature system. If I use any bacteria products, Seachem is pretty good.

Maybe ask your LFS if they can sell or give you some established bio media or live rock from one of their healthy systems. That might help speed things up!

 

[astrofish]

I did only keep the clownfish in a QT tank for a week. I was under the impression that it would be relatively safe since they were ordered directly from the breeder.

I'm sure your fish were healthy in their system. Bred clowns are usually pretty tough too.

Most fish probably carry ich or some kind of parasite, but in a mature system their immune system keeps it at bay. Even if ich shows up, it's usually gone within a few days if the fish is healthy.

In newer tanks, even healthy fish tend to get sick much easier, especially disease-prone fish like tangs and clowns. We don't really know why, but it's probably something to do with bacterial balance and overall tank maturity.

I stopped getting major ich outbreaks once my tank matured. Even if a fish gets a few spots now, it usually doesn't spread and disappears within a few days.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Looking back through my logs, I thought the royal gramma looked discolored on 09/12, but she was eating and behaving normally and to be honest it slipped my mind.

I noticed again on the 23rd two days before I posted here.

I didn’t see anything on the clowns until today.

They don’t look as bad in the video as they did in the earlier photo. I do think this is brooklynella. That can be tough to treat - formalin is the best thing to use, but is difficult to source and not really safe for use in homes. Your next best option would be, as mentioned, ruby reef rally pro.

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

Looking back through my logs, I thought the royal gramma looked discolored on 09/12, but she was eating and behaving normally and to be honest it slipped my mind.

I noticed again on the 23rd two days before I posted here.

I didn’t see anything on the clowns until today.

They don’t look as bad in the video as they did in the earlier photo. I do think this is brooklynella. That can be tough to treat - formalin is the best thing to use, but is difficult to source and not really safe for use in homes. Your next best option would be, as mentioned, ruby reef rally pro.

I have ordered the reef rally pro, but it won’t come for two days. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have ordered the reef rally pro, but it won’t come for two days. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?

Not really - but did you start the prazi treatment?

A five minute freshwater dip can buy you some time, but it is a stressful process that tends to outweigh much of the benefit.

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

I have ordered the reef rally pro, but it won’t come for two days. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?

Not really - but did you start the prazi treatment?

A five minute freshwater dip can buy you some time, but it is a stressful process that tends to outweigh much of the benefit.

Yes, I started the prazipro treatment yesterday.

I guess I’ll just hope for the best.

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

I have ordered the reef rally pro, but it won’t come for two days. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?

One more question, once I receive the rally pro, do I medicate my display tank? Right now I only have one 10 gallon QT tank which won’t be big enough for all three fish. Worst case, I guess I can try to setup a third tank.

I appreciate all of your help.

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

I have ordered the reef rally pro, but it won’t come for two days. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?

Not really - but did you start the prazi treatment?

A five minute freshwater dip can buy you some time, but it is a stressful process that tends to outweigh much of the benefit.

One more question, once I receive the rally pro, do I medicate my display tank? Right now I only have one 10 gallon QT tank which won’t be big enough for all three fish. Worst case, I guess I can try to setup a third tank.

I appreciate all of your help.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

One more question, once I receive the rally pro, do I medicate my display tank? Right now I only have one 10 gallon QT tank which won’t be big enough for all three fish. Worst case, I guess I can try to setup a third tank.

I appreciate all of your help.

You can dose your display, but it will discolor the water. You can also use it as a stronger daily dip while your dosing the main tank.