Clownfish won't eat, showing gills

[Playapixie]

Help please,

One of the ocellaris clownfish in my tank stopped eating yesterday and is showing gills. His breathing does not seem rapid, and otherwise he doesn't seem to be acting any differently than usual. The other two fish in the tank (another ocellaris and a tailspot blenny) seem fine. I did have a Yasha goby die a few weeks ago, but I honestly thought it was from starvation (too shy to leave the mouth of it's cave for food very much), but now I wonder if it is something else. The Yasha was the last fish added to the tank, and that was back in November (and every fish I've added has been through a 4-6 week quarantine first, with no signs of illness.)

I'm mixing water for a water change right now, but wondering if you have any other ideas/suggestions.

Other info:
34 gallon
temp 77.9
spec gravity 1.026
pH 8.3
KH 8
Ca 400
Mag 1300
nitrate 0
phos <0.3

Parameters in this tank are quite stable.

Thanks,
Dawn

 

[Playapixie]

Well, I just did a 5 gallon water change (which is around 20%) and can do another one tomorrow if necessary. Fingers crossed...

Any other thoughts will still be appreciated.

 

[leebca]

Dawn,

Missing some information, such as ammonia and nitrites. Can you explain why your nitrates are 0? How do you account for this?

The tank size is really good for just the pair of Anemonefish. I would not encourage adding much else to them or remove any other fish when they have mated.

Sometimes the Anemonefish does display what it is you're describing, however I'd need to see a photo to be sure it is what I think it is. If it is (what I think it is), then there is one or more things adversely affecting this fish from this list: water quality, diet, tryiing to eat a bristleworm or other benthic creature that hurt it, picking up some indigestible bit that has injured the inner mouth/gill area, or a tumor-growth of some sort.

You want to perform a single 80%+ water change to address water quality and then perform more and frequent water tests. If there are bristleworms in the aquarium, you may wish to consider getting rid of them. If there is any kind of hitchhiker you want to search for it. (At 2 a.m., in the dark, shine a weak light into the aquarium and see if there are any surprises in there). Review the fish's diet and make sure it is being fed properly and that whatever its been eating didn't contain any too-large bones, shells, etc. pieces. The others on the list are nothing you can do much about.

Watch the fish closely to make sure the signs don't get worse AND to be on the look out for bacterial infection (a secondary problem). Setup and get ready a hospital tank.

If you do the above diligently, the fish will likely right itself in a few days. Good luck!

 

[senji]

how are u measuring salinity?

 

[Playapixie]

OK, more info:
34 gallon
temp 77.9
spec gravity 1.026
pH 8.3
KH 8
Ca 400
Mag 1300
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
phos <0.3

To answer your question about nitrate of zero, Lee...well...that's a good question. However, I've always only ever read zero in this tank, tested with both the API test and the SeaChem test. So of course today I figured I should be extra certain, so I went out and bought the (expensive) Elos test because it's more sensitive and yep, still 0 (or maybe there was an ever so very slight color change...but in any case it's still much less than 1.) How can this be? Good question, but I do have -over 30lbs of well-established live rock in a tank that's been in my house almost a year (rock that came out of a much longer established larger system and was never out of water.), -a good skimmer, -chemical filtration with ChemiPure Elite (and I added some Purgen when this fish stopped eating just in case that might help), -good husbandry (have been doing 20% water changes about every 2 weeks), -fuge chaeto, -flame algae marco algae in the main tank. Can't say that I don't overfeed, as that would definitely not be true (I was overfeeding a lot to try to get my Yasha goby to eat...but he died anyhow a few weeks ago...I assumed starved, but now I wonder...)

Anyhow UPDATE for today:
I did 20% water changes both yesterday and the day before (the best I could practically do given how much RO water I had available and given that I've been working 12-hour night shifts all week.) Little boy clown still not eating (big girl clown and tailspot blenny both eating great.) Otherwise, he honestly doesn't seem unwell. He is maybe swimming around a bit less than usual, but he's still relatively active. No spots, fuzz, wounds or anything else that looks at all suspicious.

So...
Today I will do a bigger water change (able to get to the LFS today to buy a bunch of RO water).

LFS suggested moving him to my QT and treating for worms. She sent me home with Prazipro. What do you think? Of course, that's assuming I can even catch him. And if I do this, do I need catch all three fish and put them in QT and treat? Because I'm going to bet that task will be close to impossible. I do have a QT tank ready to go, though. LFS also didn't think doing another water change in my DT was necessary, but I'm still far from the 80% you suggested, so I'm willing to give it a go...

To compound it all, I'm leaving next friday for Europe for 3 weeks, so this is a super sucky time to have a sick fish. :-(

Further thoughts?

Thanks,
Dawn

 

[Playapixie]

Also...to answer Senji's question: salinity measured by refractometer, properly calibrated.

And, my corals (lots of LPS, some softies & zoas, and a chalice) & everything else in this tank (2 other fish, CUC, mini-maxi nems) are thriving. The one exception is that about a small 1"X1" section of Acan all died suddenly a day before the fish stopped eating, I assume due to the fact that my Radion LED light fixture was inadvertently lowered by about 4" so it was almost directly above the top of the glass for a day. The part of the Acan that was shaded by other things survived. So I do think it's possible that this coral death polluted the water in some way (another motivation to do another water change). Still, everything else in this tank looks perfect.

Also, regarding showing gills: there are very slight fringes of black gills showing on both of my clowns. But when I as at the LFS today, every clown in every tank had the same thing, so now I'm not convinced that mine is showing gills to an unusual degree.

 

[totem420]

how long has the fish not been eating? i had a simliar situtation with my female oscellaris where she didnt eat for 2 days and she also could not close her mouth. assuming she had been harmed on the mouth i just let her be and she ended up fine. keep trying to specifically feed the affected fish with a syringe of turkey baster. good luck

 

[Playapixie]

This is the 4th day of not eating. Can't see any wounds...but hoping you're right and he just heals.

Still torn if I should move him to the QT tank and possibly treat for anything, but without knowing what's wrong, it's a total shot in the dark, and more stressful for him than leaving him where he is...

Thanks!

 

[leebca]

If you do decide to de-worm, moving the fish out of the DT isn't necessary -- if you're using the right treatment med AND the fish is eating. You might want to review this post: De-Worming and Fishes with Intestinal Problems.

There may be a mis-communication between us. Not unusual considering this form of communication. The 80%+ water change must be at one time. Not 20, 20, 20, 20, but 80 all at once. In any event, considering the water changes you've already made, I would not make additional changes.

Sometimes fish do just go off their feed and then start up again. Just look around and see if there are any reasons for the fish to be stressed. Sometimes they get too stressed from their mate; other times they just reach their ability to cope with captive life. There is a fair chance the fish will start to eat again on its own. Try tempting it with live food, if you have any available to you. Other than this, without any other symptom, it is very hard to tell.

Your algae and live rock would account for the zero nitrate level.

 

[Playapixie]

Well, good news. After four days of not eating, he started eating on day 5, and now it's day 7 and he's back to his usual peppy hungry self, with no further intervention.

Re water changes, no, there wasn't miscommunication, an 80% water change all at once just wasn't possible given the RO water capability I had on hand and the fact that I was working 12 hour night shifts all week. Did the best I could.

Not planning to de-worm or anything, as I really haven't seen any signs of worms (or anything else to treat.)

Thanks for your help.
Dawn