Clownfish sick for 4-5 days now. How to proceed?

[SonRK]

Hey guys

 

So I started this journey into the hobby about 5 months ago. Let my tank cycle, bought a pair of clownfish and QT'd them for 4 weeks, and put them in on 6/11/2014

 

I slowly started adding frags to my tank, including one 2 weeks ago from Manhattan Aquariums.

 

 

Now my fish have been pretty active and stuff, and humongous fatties. Would come near the top of the tank whenever I walked by thinking I was going to feed them. Now about 1.5 weeks ago, I noticed one of them had long stringy poo. Okay, internal parasites. I bought some PraziPro and waited for it to come in.

 

Now about a week ago, I realized one of them stopped wanting to eat. I didn't think much about it, but I can factually state that he hasn't eaten from a feeding since Wednesday.

 

He hangs out on the bottom of the tank, seems to be breathing hard, and doesn't want to eat even when I soak stuff in Selcon and use PE Mysis (they would gobble this up hardcore during QT / early DT days, the healthy one definitely took care of all the pieces that I put in)

 

(the one that ends up hanging far right at the end of video)

(in this video, he moves quickly to the bottom of the other fish and can be seen breathing heavily...he eventually makes his way up higher towards the end of the video)

 

(this one is probably the highest quality one)

 

He usually is more towards the bottom and less active. I guess the lights + phone kind of made him wary and is like swimming around. You can see his labored breathing though.

He doesn't look slimy, and doesn't have dots. Nothing seems red/inflamed or anything. He just ..... lies there all day with minimal movement and no eating, and likes to bump his head slightly to the tank (maybe to eat pods?). Doesn't seem to be flashing/scratching himself on rocks.

 

Now, I put PraziPro in on Thursday, and it's Saturday evening and no apparent improvements on the sickly one. He hasn't passed away yet, so I know he can be saved hopefully.

 

While he HAS NOT EATEN anything I have given him, I saw today a little white poo from his butt today, so he is somehow sustaining himself on something.

 

 

 

 

 

TLDR -

 

QT Fish 4 weeks, Added June 11th. Added 4 frags from Manhattan Aquariums 4 weeks ago + 1 more 2 weeks ago. 1.5 Weeks ago, noticed stringy white poo on clownfish. The other one has become lethargic, breathes heavy, no appetite (hasn't eaten pellets, pe mysis, or rod's food since Wednesday). Dosed PraziPro in DT, 3 days ago, no apparent improvement on behavior. Is still pooing, as confirmed by white poo today. Doesn't have dots, or weird slime coats, or anything weird. The other one continues to be extremely active and comes to me for feedings.

 

 

Velvet? Brook? Doesn't seem Ich-ish yet.

 

I do have a QT, that I can toss him in there, but I don't know what that may do. Perhaps save the healthy one, I guess, but I want to minimize the stress. I also don't want to toss it in copper or formaldehyde solutions since those might kill him if it's not necessary.

 

The stress from this makes me just want to never make my tank into a reef tank, because it may have been brought in from those frag plugs @_@. I can handle QTing fish cause that's easy, but I don't have extra light setups for corals.....

[RonSwanson]

That's a tough one man, there's probably no way to know absolutely certain. I've had many fish do this over ten years or so NAND I can't remember any recovering once they're at that stage.

[SonRK]

Hey guys, update time (if you could call it that)

http://i.imgur.com/9011oEg.jpg

The lazy non-eating clownfish on the right side.

I did a 50% water change and re-dosed PraziPro. There have been no improvements in his activity levels or appetite for a week now. Is it possible it's not a disease/sickness? The other one is still really active and healthy, so it hasn't contracted a diseased yet.

Is it possible it ate a piece of rock by accident and is just going to slowly starve? Should I put it back in my QT or something? Such a weird scenario :|

[SonRK]

So today, my sick clownfish showed more signs of activity and actually ATE!

I feed twice a day, and he got food both sessions. This is mind blowing. I guess it finally got hungry, or whatever bothered him went away?

This was also my 2nd PraziPro application, so maybe he had some angry parasite that was finally killed? Should I do a 3rd application on the 5th day?

[CurtBoswell]

Hey! I'm new to the hobby too! I'm about to start my tank in about a week or two. Hopefully soon! I'm planning on getting an Ocellaris Clownfish.

 

What type of clownfish are yours? Keep us updated! I would like to know what happens and if this reoccurs?