Sick Clown Fish. Swimming upside down

[firsttimefishowner]

My clown fish is swimming upside down and not moving much. Tried a fresh water dip for 2.5 mins.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

that is a moribund state, and is unlikely to recover. #fishmedics

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My clown fish is swimming upside down and not moving much. Tried a fresh water dip for 2.5 mins.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I agree, that clownfish is moribund, actively dying. There isn’t anything you can really do for it, sorry.

Are there other animals in the tank? How are they looking? The water looks a bit cloudy, have you tested the pH and ammonia?

 

[firsttimefishowner]

that is a moribund state, and is unlikely to recover. #fishmedics

Thank you, he did not make it. We have another one that we are watching closely. Still not sure what happened.

 

[firsttimefishowner]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I agree, that clownfish is moribund, actively dying. There isn’t anything you can really do for it, sorry.

Are there other animals in the tank? How are they looking? The water looks a bit cloudy, have you tested the pH and ammonia?

There is another clown fish and a coral beauty angel fish. Yeah. We had an algae bloom about four days ago and did a water 25% water change and have been keeping it dark.

The pH was good and no ammonia.

 

[SurfTrack]

Sorry! Any more info? How long have you had your tank, when did you introduce the clownfish + coral beauty, what is your setup like, water source, any recent changes/etc? Clownfish are relatively hardy so I would for sure try to figure out the cause. We're here to help!

 

[firsttimefishowner]

So we had a 13.5 tank with two clown fish and the coral beauty. Came home and it had a leak so we had to get another tank and transfer. Ended up getting a 29 gal tank and switching the fish over that night because of the leak. Had to add quite a bit of water bc of the bigger tank.

After we lost the clown fish we did the API General Cure treatment. That was three days ago.

Setup is 29 gallon tank: starter set from petco with heater and pump.

 

[firsttimefishowner]

Update: looks like the other clownfish is starting to show the same signs as the other.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Update: looks like the other clownfish is starting to show the same signs as the other.

The clown is pretty distant in the video, tough to see details. Is it still eating? How about the angel?

 

[firsttimefishowner]

Hey started acting normal or what I perceived as normal and now he has a string like thing coming off of him. The video of him vertical was the other day and has since stopped doing that.

 

[Idech]

You have a lot of fake decorations in the tank.You never know what they are made of and they might be leaking toxic material in the water. Thats enough to kill fish.

I would remove all of that ASAP and do a big WC. And no more of those.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey started acting normal or what I perceived as normal and now he has a string like thing coming off of him. The video of him vertical was the other day and has since stopped doing that.

The long trailing mucus string is most commonly seen in Brooklynella infections. This protozoan is pretty common in clownfish. Left untreated it is usually fatal. Treating it is difficult - the best medication is formalin, but that is difficult to source and simply is not safe to use in a home. The next best treatment option if Ruby Reef Rally Pro. It doesn't always work, but it is safe to use around humans.