Sick clownfish! First saltwater tank

[ilokee16]

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m new to saltwater tanks and impulse bought a 14 gallon with 2 Ocellaris clownfish on december 20th, now one of the fish seems to be sick.

My Lfs gave us 10 gal of water from one of their display tanks and told us that we could add fish right away, so we got a regular clown (aprox 1 inch) and a wyoming white clown (aprox 3/4 inch).

The wyoming white is slightly smaller and seems to be shyer. He hid away the first day but eventually came out and seemed healthy, eating and swimming around untill yesterday. Now he seems to be a bit thinner, with white stringy poop and had clamped fins last night. He also seems to have scratched his chin area either fighting with the other clown or against the rock.
Could this be internal parasites? The other clown came from a different LFS and is super active, not at all like the Wyoming white.

My parameters are:
Amonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0.5ppm

Amonia read 0ppm on december 23rd.
We had a 0.25ppm reading on the 24th, so I did a 20% WC to bring the amonia down to 0 and dosed 1x Seachem prime. Amonia is back up to 0.25ppm 24h later, I dosed prime again and am thinking on doing another partial WC.

Setup is:
Aqueon rimless 14gal cube, arround 10lb dry rock, 20lb live sand and a 20gal HOB filter filled with Seachem Matrix, coralife mini LED light.

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome to the reef ,lets call a dr. best wishes @Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

“Instant marine tanks” can be done, but they are tricky. Rather than tank water, the store should have sent you home with established filter media or substrate, there are very few beneficial bacteria in the water itself. You need to keep the ammonia below 0.25 ppm as much as possible; water changes, prime or bacteria in a bottle can all be used.
As far as the white clown, is it still eating? The white feces can be a sign of infection, but also not eating well, or just from stress. Watch the two clowns for fighting, especially since they are different sizes.
Jay

 

[ilokee16]

“Instant marine tanks” can be done, but they are tricky. Rather than tank water, the store should have sent you home with established filter media or substrate, there are very few beneficial bacteria in the water itself. You need to keep the ammonia below 0.25 ppm as much as possible; water changes, prime or bacteria in a bottle can all be used.
As far as the white clown, is it still eating? The white feces can be a sign of infection, but also not eating well, or just from stress. Watch the two clowns for fighting, especially since they are different sizes.
Jay

Thank you both for answering so soon ! @fishguy242
He’s not eating, sometimes he’ll peck at the sand but otherwise he ignores food and stays unmoving at the upper corner of the tank with his fins slightly closed.
I have not seen agression between the fish either, they had been swimming together around the rocks a lot until today. Now the regular one comes up to the wyoming white and they swim a bit together and then the white one goes back to his upper corner.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sounds like there may be an internal issue for which praziquantel (prazizpro) would be a formal treatment But concerning to me is the facial/gill
area of the clown in which brooklynella usually starts with the face and works itself throughout body

 

[dedragon]

Sorry to see this on christmas but hopefully the prime brings ammonia down a bit. I agree with the responses above. Could be ammonia burn affecting it as well if its fins are clamped and I would check how heavily it is breathing to be more sure. Definitely add some established rocks/filter media and some bottled bacteria starter ie. fritzyme 9 it should help with the cycling. But I would search for a more trustworthy store to buy them from than one that would just give you 10 gallons of saltwater and some fish and send you home.

 

[Dkmoo]

Yeah my money is on the new tank / incomplete cycle caused stress.

Quite honestly I'm a bit disappointed at the LFS, trying to shove sell something down your throat just so he can make a quick buck for his Xmas bonus. I would not go back there. My LFS actually refused to sell me fish when I first started this l hobby when I bought the tank from them. He told me how to properly cycle, how to test and monitor, and that I should go back in 3 to 5 weeks and we'll talk live stock. That was 8 years ago and I've been going back ever since.

Anyway, back to your question - borrowing an established filter or live rock from a local hobbyist could also help, but that also run the risk of you getting whatever pests that was in his tank.

 

[ilokee16]

Thanks everyone for your input.
I fed the fish and he went after the food, spit some of it but i do think he ate a bit. He doesn’t seem to have clamped fins anymore and is moving around again.

I’m really afraid it might be brook, his gills aren’t swollen so I don't think its amonia burn.
I took some better-ish photos, it kinda looks like some of the Brooklynella pics I’ve seen online but I’m not entirely sure.

in case of brook can I do a FW dip with dechlorinated tap water? I also have methylene blue but thats about It and my city is in lockdown for another 2 days

 

[fishguy242]

hi,a fw dip would help,cannot advise methylene blue,regarding dosage, @Jay Hemdal ?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks everyone for your input.
I fed the fish and he went after the food, spit some of it but i do think he ate a bit. He doesn’t seem to have clamped fins anymore and is moving around again.

I’m really afraid it might be brook, his gills aren’t swollen so I don't think its amonia burn.
I took some better-ish photos, it kinda looks like some of the Brooklynella pics I’ve seen online but I’m not entirely sure.

in case of brook can I do a FW dip with dechlorinated tap water? I also have methylene blue but thats about It and my city is in lockdown for another 2 days

Brooklynella is difficult to diagnose visually on a white clownfish. I would expect to see rapid breathing and clamped fins. I also see Brook more often on the fish’s flanks, not on the face like that.
However, the fish looks worse so you need to do something. A 5 minute FW dip may buy you some time. Does your bottle of methylene blue give a dose or concentration? You can’t add that to you main tank, but I might be able to calculate a saltwater dip with it for you.
Jay

 

[ilokee16]

His face is actually a bit better but the pics I uploaded on my second response were nicer quality the clamped fins went away and he’s been swimming normal and he ate again.
The methylene blue doesn’t have a dose and its a pretty old bottle. I also have some melafix (1tbsp per 10gal) and I think I can get my hands on some Api general cure through a friend

 

[Jay Hemdal]

His face is actually a bit better but the pics I uploaded on my second response were nicer quality the clamped fins went away and he’s been swimming normal and he ate again.
The methylene blue doesn’t have a dose and its a pretty old bottle. I also have some melafix (1tbsp per 10gal) and I think I can get my hands on some Api general cure through a friend

I would skip the methylene blue - too much of a guess to use an old bottle of that with no concentration listed. The Melafix is a tonic, not really a cure for active disease, so yo0u can add that, but it probably won't help. The General Cure is an important medication that I recommend quite a bit, but I don't see it helping any of the possible issues that this fish may have.

Since it is feeding, try giving it multiple small feeding each day, don't overfeed the tank, but keep putting food in if the clowns are still eating it all.

Jay

 

[Familyman2010]

Brooklynella is difficult to diagnose visually on a white clownfish. I would expect to see rapid breathing and clamped fins. I also see Brook more often on the fish’s flanks, not on the face like that.
However, the fish looks worse so you need to do something. A 5 minute FW dip may buy you some time. Does your bottle of methylene blue give a dose or concentration? You can’t add that to you main tank, but I might be able to calculate a saltwater dip with it for you.
Jay

FW dip for 5 minutes would be beneficial. Did the clown look like this when you purchased from LFS?

 

[ilokee16]

FW dip for 5 minutes would be beneficial. Did the clown look like this when you purchased from LFS?

I don't believe so, but he was quiet elusive when we first put him in the tank and I wasn’t blessed with the best eyesight ever.

Can I use tap water for the FW dip?

 

[ilokee16]

I would skip the methylene blue - too much of a guess to use an old bottle of that with no concentration listed. The Melafix is a tonic, not really a cure for active disease, so yo0u can add that, but it probably won't help. The General Cure is an important medication that I recommend quite a bit, but I don't see it helping any of the possible issues that this fish may have.

Since it is feeding, try giving it multiple small feeding each day, don't overfeed the tank, but keep putting food in if the clowns are still eating it all.

Jay

What medication do you think would be best?
The white stuff goes up to his lips

 

[ilokee16]

Hey guys! Update on Maxie
I did a 4 min FW dip and it did nothing to his face..could it be something other than parasites?

 

[phatduckk]

The white poop is definitely a sign of internal worms. Since he’s eating I’d suggest you medicate his food using the info here: scroll to the green text.

for the ammonia I would buy bottled bacteria: fritz turbo start, dr time one and only or bio spira.

the face: I can’t tell. Could be brook or an infection. Is there any other livestock in the tank besides the clowns?

 

[Hincapiej4]

Ugh, I hate ****** lfs..

 

[Familyman2010]

I don't believe so, but he was quiet elusive when we first put him in the tank and I wasn’t blessed with the best eyesight ever.

Can I use tap water for the FW dip?

It depends on where you live in my opinion. Fortunately for me I live in Hawaii so I was able to use tap water with water conditioner. A 5 minute FW dip gave me some time with my Ich issue I dealt with. Do you have a RODI system?

 

[ilokee16]

It depends on where you live in my opinion. Fortunately for me I live in Hawaii so I was able to use tap water with water conditioner. A 5 minute FW dip gave me some time with my Ich issue I dealt with. Do you have a RODI system?

What factors dictate wether you can use tap water safely? I live in central america (Panama)

I don’t have a RODI system and we’re under complete lockdown for a week or so, which means I can’t buy water