Why is my clownfish lethargic?

[nick t]

Found one of my ocellaris clowns lethargic in the bottom corner of the tank tonight. His color is paler than normal and his breathing is labored. I’m not 100% sure my clowns have paired yet, but they seem to get along fine and he is a little smaller than the other. I was able to remove the fish with my bare hand and move him to quarantine. He did show a burst of energy but still only took 10 seconds to catch. He got excited in quarantine when I added food, but I don’t think he ate much. Other than the paler color I don’t see any spots that indicate ich or velvet.

These clowns were quarantined by Dr. Reef, I did the other fish in copper and prazi pro according to the humble fish method. Inverts came from fishless systems, and my tank started 9 months ago with dry rock and live sand.

Other inhabitants include a second clownfish, a royal gramma who is a role model citizen, a bengaii cardinal who hangs out by himself, a Midas blenny who runs the tank but typically only bullies the gramma, two cleaner shrimp, a black widow nem that doesn’t host and various snails and hermits. Everyone else seems healthy.

Water parameters…
Salinity: 35ppt
pH: 8.2
Alk: 6.1 dKh
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 5

Fwiw my aqueon tank started splitting apart 10 days ago and I was able to successfully transfer everything to a new tank. The sand bed which is regularly cleaned anyway got a thorough rinse in RODI water before going back into the new tank. Everyone has seemed happy for over a week.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Found one of my ocellaris clowns lethargic in the bottom corner of the tank tonight. His color is paler than normal and his breathing is labored. I’m not 100% sure my clowns have paired yet, but they seem to get along fine and he is a little smaller than the other. I was able to remove the fish with my bare hand and move him to quarantine. He did show a burst of energy but still only took 10 seconds to catch. He got excited in quarantine when I added food, but I don’t think he ate much. Other than the paler color I don’t see any spots that indicate ich or velvet.

These clowns were quarantined by Dr. Reef, I did the other fish in copper and prazi pro according to the humble fish method. Inverts came from fishless systems, and my tank started 9 months ago with dry rock and live sand.

Other inhabitants include a second clownfish, a royal gramma who is a role model citizen, a bengaii cardinal who hangs out by himself, a Midas blenny who runs the tank but typically only bullies the gramma, two cleaner shrimp, a black widow nem that doesn’t host and various snails and hermits. Everyone else seems healthy.

Water parameters…
Salinity: 35ppt
pH: 8.2
Alk: 6.1 dKh
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 5

Fwiw my aqueon tank started splitting apart 10 days ago and I was able to successfully transfer everything to a new tank. The sand bed which is regularly cleaned anyway got a thorough rinse in RODI water before going back into the new tank. Everyone has seemed happy for over a week.

Clownfish appears to have brroklynella and secondary bacterial issue. The thick mucus on its body is a sign which is noticeable on the fish and generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip with general cure or Ruby rally pro at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin based treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.
A quarantine system if you dont have one can be as easy as a second hand tank from a thrift store or as simple as a starter tank kit from walmart which has most of the essentials

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Just to add - there is some splitting to the fins that indicates tankmate aggression, so hopefully, separating the fish will also help.

 

[nick t]

Clownfish appears to have brroklynella and secondary bacterial issue. The thick mucus on its body is a sign which is noticeable on the fish and generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip with general cure or Ruby rally pro at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin based treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.
A quarantine system if you dont have one can be as easy as a second hand tank from a thrift store or as simple as a starter tank kit from walmart which has most of the essentials

Thanks for the reply. Basically, the worst I suspected. Admittedly, there is still some white haze on my glass from the new sand I added in the tank transfer but I think you still got a pretty decent view of the fish. Now to deal with the hard part of getting the gramma and blenny out of the tank.

 

[nick t]

Just to add - there is some splitting to the fins that indicates tankmate aggression, so hopefully, separating the fish will also help.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the fish did not make it through the night. Any chance tankmate aggression is the sole cause of this, or are you seeing brook as well?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the fish did not make it through the night. Any chance tankmate aggression is the sole cause of this, or are you seeing brook as well?

No - I don't think that fin damage was the sole cause of death, I just wanted to make that observation because it may have contributed to the underlying issue.