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Clownfish Bleeding through Gill


Snow_Phoenix

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Snow_Phoenix

I need help. One of my clownfish fell quite sick last night. His right gill was inflammed and bleeding. I've tried googling up potential causes of this, but there's a variety of possibilities so I'm not sure how to treat my fish.

 

Parameters are:

 

Ammonia, Phosphate, Nitrite = 0ppm, Nitrate = 5ppm, dKH = 6.5+ (a bit low but I'm using Kent's buffer to increase it gradually by 0.5 every thrice a week), SG = 1.025.

 

I've tried to snap a photo of him, but it's quite blurry and indistinct. He's currently in my sump. If I QT him again, what must I treat him with? Also, what are the possible causes of this?

 

Today morning he appears to be better, but his gill is swollen and 'hanging' downwards. I've never seen anything like this, in my 20+ years of fishkeeping. :(

 

z4OvJua.png

 

This is how he looks like in one angle (the healthy side). But you can see a small protrusion below his chin, and that's the 'hanging' gill from the other side.

 

Anyone encountered this before?

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FlowerMama

I'm sorry I wish I knew. I would assume something to fight infection but don't know what.

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Read through this...symptoms sound similar as to what is in this thread:

 

http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/318227/my-new-clown-woke-up-sick-please-help

 

Sounds like injuries from aggression with respect to the gill. The white bump could be any number of things. Really need a better image.

The link above suggest hyposalinity combined with the use of medication. NEVER combine hypo and medication unless you're an extremely experienced hobbyist. The link is a comedy of errors and stuffed with mis-information, sorry.

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Symptoms, and the resulting spin offs is really what I was trying to illustrate. I should have added a disclaimer that the thread I linked wasn't a step by step set of instructions to cure this unknown ailment.

 

It might be aggression, but I don't know what else is in the tank.

 

Edit:

 

Also, what is with the tail? Am I seeing fin rot or is that from attack...or normal?

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Was he in with your other clowns/sixline/damsel? If so, I would guess injury since all those fish could be possible aggressors to a new fish. Maybe treat for possible infections?

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Snow_Phoenix

Was he in with your other clowns/sixline/damsel? If so, I would guess injury since all those fish could be possible aggressors to a new fish. Maybe treat for possible infections?

 

Hi Tam, no, he was all alone in the skimmer portion of my sump.

 

And thanks for all the input everyone. But I took a closer look - it looks like he scraped his gill on something sharp, so I'm guessing he must have grazed his gill on a LR piece or something. However I'm going to isolate him tomorrow and treat him for basic bacterial infection.

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Snow_Phoenix

To keep everyone updated, the injured clown has been isolated and is currently under treatment. He's eating and swimming quite well though, so I'm taking that as a good sign. :)

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Snow_Phoenix

Yay! Eating usually means they can pull through. What's your plans for em?

 

Once the 12G is cycled, I'll probably put him or the blenny in first. It might take a while though since cycling with dry rock takes awfully long. @_____@

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MadReefer13

Any way could have got into apump or anything I've had one my clowns be beat up by a pump and lived for along time

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Snow_Phoenix

Okay I have a mixture of good news and bad news. The bad news is that the clown that I'm treating has deteriorated a little - his wound has become bigger and redder, and he's a bit weak although he's still eating. So I brought him to my LFS, to ask if they've seen anything like this, and they suspected that the scrape on his gill is either a becoming a growth, or it's the result of bacterial infection. Either way, I'm treating the clown with some Crystal Violet, Methylene Blue, Iodine and Malachite Green (Punktol Ultra). Will use Copper and Metronidazole later as a precaution. In the meantime, LFS gave me a full refund (although it wasn't their fault) in the form of a new clownfish. Their excuse was that this one might not make it through the next few days. But I'm still crossing my fingers and hoping he does make it because I'm attached to him.

 

So I am currently having a pair of Nescafe clowns. Isolated one in the sump, since he's healthy, and the weaker one is under treatment in a QT. Is it advisable to QT them together, or should I leave things be (one in sump, one in QT)?

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