Lost male clown - trying to save female

[robojet]

Long story, so here's the short version...

I bought 2 new fish... I did not QT before putting them in my MT. I have not ha any experience with disease on my fish, so what I seen, I was able to make excuses for rather than admit I introduced something to my tank...

I quickly found that the new fish had problems, appearing to be different. One was clearly Ich, the other seemed almost like a fungus of some sort. My Clowns started showing what appeared to be a white filmy coat, but it was speckled... so I thought it was Ich... I started feed garlic. As things progressed, I did setup a QT and started treating with Cupramine. After moving the clowns to the QT, the problem appeared to be worse, and even appeared more like Ich... about 30 hours later the male clown started swimming upside down and darting... then died. From the time the behavior changed to death was only about 3 hours.

Can anyone positively identify this? I'm still trying to save the female.

 

[cyberdeth]

Hoping Lee logs in this afternoon. I usually see him on in the morning. Wish I had an answer for you. Hate seeing fishies die.

GL!

 

[edwing206]

It looks a bit like brooklynella or "clownfish disease".
He's a couple pictures I got off the internet.
Notice the white fuzziness on the fish.

 

[psb]

Tagging along.

 

[user 26995]

Looks like marine velvet. Read up on this thread. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27019
may need a freshwater dip and/or cupramine treatment.

 

[jrgilles]

Freshwater dips are awesome. Get some DI water, or tapwater treated to remove chlorine/ammonia, net the fish. Dip it into the fresh water. At first the fish will be ok, then it will kind of stop swimming and have labored breathing. Once it looks like it is having trouble, put it back in the salt water. Repeat 2 to 3 times until it is recoverd.

This uses the difference in osmotic pressure to literally make the infectious parasites blow up. They are full of salt water, and explode in fresh water.

I remember it usually taking 30 seconds to a minute, maybe 2 minutes, but it does wonders on all sorts of visible disease if you can get the fish netted.

Not sure on this particular infection, but I always used it as a cure all, and it never failed me.

 

[edwing206]

FW dips won't cure ich.
Good call IPisces, that looks more like what it is.

 

[robojet]

I appreciate everyone's input... As you can see, it was my first post. I typically hang out at a different site, but someone reminded me of this site... I must say there is a bounty of information that I am starting and will continue to pour over. Looks like alot of knowledge was sitting here and I wasn't tapped into it.

Thanks!

 

[leebca]

Hard to say for sure from the photo. It isn't clear if those spots are on the fish, or not. I suspect they are on the fish and not a photographic anomaly.

I would say that the Marine Ich was the culprit that began the problem. Then the fish succumbed to Brook or a secondary condition. The two together was a death warrant.

Move any and all living fishes to a QT and begin treatment for Marine Ich. Start with this post and just follow it and a read all the posts that it refers to:
Curing fish of Marine Ich

Watch closely for any signs of Brook showing up during this treatment. To be conservative, assume it will show and prepare to perform the treatment. There are two procedures to treat for Brook. The best is Formalin, the other is FW dips. Both are about the same process -- you perform a dip every other day for a total of 4-5 dips. Info on those methods are here:
Formalin Treatment
and
Fresh Water Fish Dip

If you have questions, please post them. A lot of reading/information as you noted, here in this Forum.

Good luck!

 

[NC2WA]

IME, if a fish has marine velvet it is too late to do anything..MV is fast moving and very contagious..it will affect other fish in the tank...

When I had a 90g, I lost ALL prize fish (including a 5 year old Maroon clown) in a matter of days..it started with the clown and went to all other fish in the tank.

 

[robojet]

Lee... those are spots. They seemed 'masked' in the early stages by a film or cloudiness over the bodies of the clowns... when they were put in QT, the spots became more clear/prevalent.

I still have the female. I have not been able to find formalin anywhere, so I will do the FW dips.

Thank you, I will post updates

 

[robojet]

I did a FW dip. I just returned the female clown back to the QT. I'm looking at the container and what has dropped off... there's are the expected small salt grain looking things... but there are some larger (not exactly white) particles as well...

Ich and flukes?

Also, her appearance as far as looking speckled has not changed. I wondering if more should have came off?

thanks,

 

[leebca]

The FW dip is for Brook, not to cure Marine Ich. You mjust still proceed to cure/treat the Marine Ich. Read that reference and follow it.

 

[robojet]

My QT has Cupramine... so doing that as well. Female is still alive this morning.

When I returned her from the FW to the QT, she was very disoriented (upside down, then difficulty staying upright for awhile). Is that normal? She did seem to recover from that after some time passed.

 

[leebca]

Not normal. The fish is probably at the edge of death. Just keep the water quality high, the proper level for copper must be maintained closely, and just give it time.

 

[robojet]

clownfish is eating tonight and swimming around normally. Since she hadn't ate much of anything for a couple of days, I'm thinking this is a good sign. Raised the copper yesterday to the .5 level. Still speckled with ich... hopefully that will change soon.

 

[edwing206]

Good to hear! I hope she heals up! I'm crossing my fingers for you both.

 

[robojet]

thanks... I should probably take the time to explain the entire mess I've got going on (the original fish that caused the problem and more fish I still need to move to quarantine). I just haven't had time to write all of that down, and my main focus was to treat and save the clowns. When I lost my male clown on Saturday, I felt like I had lost the war but was still fighting battles. I'm very hopeful about the female. I do appreciate all the help! I just finished writing out the dates for the various 'important' dates (copper done, fish cleared, display tank cleared, etc.).

 

[robojet]

Female clown still alive. Looks like some of the ich has dropped off of her.

I have one of the original culprits, a Kole Tang, who had ich, which has since come off. I noticed some things that I hadn't noticed before, and I'm wondering if it's flukes... The glass is a little dirty... but I'm talking about the grey spots around the face

I'm still trying to get better photos. Any thoughts? My understanding is that the Cupramine should take care of this, but the tang has been in the Cupramine for a week, and I don't remember seeing this before.

thanks,

 

[leebca]

The fish is losing some of its mucous coating. Tangs have a very thin layer of this to begin with. Are you sure you are controlling the copper concentration? What reading are you getting on the copper concentration?