I have a black clown in QT with two anthias (lyretail and Bartlett). Today the clown started to look not so good- staying close to bottom, intermittently lying down on side, breathing fast. I don't see any obvious symptoms- if I look really closely I can maybe see some faint pale lines near his back. Could this be brook? Considering it's a clown, and no sign of ich, this is kind of where my mind goes. If so, how do I proceed...do I need to treat the anthias as well? Thanks ahead of time. I've had such bad luck with fish this year, not sure what's going on; it seems impossible to get a healthy fish.
Sick clown
- Thread starter Jahalu
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Imo and ime looks like it could be flukes. I had a clown do the exact same thing. I left him alone for a week and eventually u could see the parasites emerge from his nose and gills. By then it was too late. He didn't make it. I'm not an expert but I would start some medication research now until someone more experienced replies.
Looks like it could be the beginning of brook. Did any white specks fall out of the gills when you did the FW dip?
Nothing noticeable fell off. He definitely perked up after the FW dip though and is swimming normally now. I separated him into a 5g qt. This fish went through prazipro last week. I'm going to pick up some formalin for him tomorrow (do u think I can rule out velvet?) I think he has a good shot if I can be sure of the diagnosis, it's not that bad yet. I'm just really worried now about the anthias he was sharing qt with. I'm not confident about using formalin baths on anthias prophylactically. Is it best to just wait for symptoms with them? I'm just bummed to have to treat a captive bred clown for brook.
You have two options:
- Give ALL the fish (including the anthias) a formalin bath, followed by transfer into a new/sterile QT. You could also use acriflavine in lieu of formalin.
- Treat the existing QT with metronidazole (exs. Seachem Metroplex, Metro-MS).
Thank you. Helpful advice as always. I think I will do formalin for the clown and leave him separate for a few days. And I will treat the anthias in my qt with metroplex, so I don't overly stress them with netting. After treatment, I'll put the clown back into my qt and take it from there. I'll post an update in a few days.
Just thought I'd post an update here. The clown is still alive, but not healthy at all. He is breathing rapidly near he surface, hardly eating. I still don't see any obvious symptoms, other than the breathing, and an overall 'unhealthy' appearance. I treated him with metroplex. I've been switching him to a sterile qt every third day, freshwater dipping him in between the transfer. I gave up on metroplex two days ago, and started with cupramine this morning when I transferred him to new tank. I did this just as a last resort; it's the only thing in my cabinet that I haven't tried yet. Let me know if anyone has any thoughts.
Did you give him a formalin dip? The relief, if it's brook or flukes, is near instant in my experience with clowns and formalin. A dip every other day for 7-10 days should completely clear him, and then normal QT procedure.
Wow, in the half hour since my last post, the fish has passed. Very bummed, I've been working so hard on him this week. Here are the post mort shots, for anyone interested in coming up with a diagnosis. There is some blood on fin tips, not sure if this is indicative of anything. I don't think this was brook, and I didn't see anything obvious come off him with the dips, so I'm not sure it was flukes. The anthias are still doing great- no sign of illness yet, eating ferociously. Hopefully, whatever this was, it was clownfish specific. Regardless, sad day for me.
@Jahalu Drop the body in FW (tap is fine) to check for flukes: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/
^^This (or an acriflavine bath) is the best treatment for brook.
^^This (or an acriflavine bath) is the best treatment for brook.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Sorry you had to go through this!
Ok, I've had the body in freshwater for about 15 mins (my family thinks I've lost it btw lol). I don't see anything. I put black paper under it, but there's nothing. I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, but if this fish was infested, I think it would be obvious.
Definitely nothing like that in any of the FW dips I gave him. It's a mystery, I guess. Now, turning my attention back to the anthias, how long should I observe them before I can feel safe that they're not infected with this mysterious disease? Is 4 weeks enough?
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