Sick Clown....Need Advise Please!!!!

[gnovey7778]

Here is a picture of my fish...he seems to have this white stuff on his top part. I am pretty new to the hobby. I assume it is ick. What should I do? Everything in the tank seems to be doing well....anemones, shrimp, corals, however all my fish end up dying. REALLY NEED YOU HELP GUYS!!!

 

[ronj]

that doesn't look like ich.......how long has it looked like this? do you have a quarantine tank setup and running????? do all of your fish have these symptoms???? what are your water parameters??? i can't really help you, but if you go ahead and post all of these answers, it will help Steve S. when he reads your replies....f you don't have a Quarantine tank, it might be a good idea to set one up and get it cycled!!!! you most likely won't be able to treat it in your display tank..the treatment for your fish could be one that kills inverts and corals!!!!

 

[gnovey7778]

fish

Hi Ron. I got the fish on Friday along with a gramma, and a red cori. The red cori and gramma both died yesterday. I noticed the white on this fish today. He seems to be full of energy and eats very veryyyy well. The water parameters are all good I have the checked by the maintanance people on thursday. Only the calcium level was a little high. Everything else was ok though. As I mentioned Everything seems to do well in this tank except for fish ....ALL seem to die....

 

[ronj]

did the other fish have the same symptoms??? if not, what were they, if any????who are the maintenance people?? can you get exact numbers for your water parameters??? not for sure , but steve might want to know and it will help him

 

[ronj]

i just saw on your other thread that you brought everything into your tank directly from the ocean...it is always a good idea to put them in a qt before you put them in your display tank....lots of parasites and other bad organisms that you don't want to introduce into your tank

 

[gnovey7778]

tank

I do put everything in another tank first for some time. I even had the local pet store cure the live rock for me. And the clown that is sick was purchased at the pest store. We don't have clown fish here in Panama. I never place anything straight in the tank though.

 

[ronj]

you need to leave the fish in your qt for a little longer just to observe them...if you got it on friday, it has not been long enough...it will also help the sick fish not to be any more stressed than it already is, if it doesn't have to keep switching tanks.. is there any good snorkeling in panama???

 

[james734]

I'd say slow down a little. Looking at your other thread "New 125" (Something like that). You mention your tank has only been setup for 6 weeks. I'd say depending on your rock etc you might still be going through the cycle.

You said the maintenance people tested the water. Can you get from them what they tested and the results. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, etc. I'm leaning towards water quality issues right now.

 

[steve-s]

The speed in which these fish passed would suggest either marine velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum) or clown fish disease (Brooklynella hostilis). Both can have similar symptoms but have completely different remedies.

When aquiring wild clownfish especially, it's really a must to automatically assume the fish has Brooklynella and treat with a series of formalin dips. I would do this with any clown really no matter how it's aquired. Without further info on the symptoms, I would not be able to tell if this was one or both of these problems. It is more than possible that the fish have (had) both. Brook and velvet can be treated at the same time since the dips are done seperately and the fish is "rinsed" prior to placing back in the QT. The best course of action for the velvet is copper.

What brands/types of copper are available in Panama?

All new fish should be housed in a quarantine system for no less than 4 weeks after capture or aquiring from other sources.

Cheers
Steve