Wasting clownfish help

[chipz]

Hi everyone, I am having some trouble with my female onyx clown. She still eats great (voraciously, she'll even attack my turkey baster to get more) but I have noticed that her lateral line (rib-line?) has gotten very prominent. I *think* I could describe a couple of her poops as white and stringy. They look more "clear and gauzy" to me and my husband, sometimes mixed with somewhat pale but more normal brown and sandy poop. Her mate is doing fine with no signs of his "ribs." The tailspot blenny is also eating well, but rarely out in the open  to assess. I did notice that after eating the tailspot's belly often looks lumpy and distended, but best I can tell that isn't all the time, just after gorging on nori.

 

I'm assuming this means the female clown has some kind of internal parasite. I could move her and her mate to my QT tank and treat with medicated food, but there's no way I can get the tailspot out of my DT if I need to treat him as well. He has a dozen different hiding places.

 

This is further complicated by the fact that my final fish additions to the tank are ready to come out of QT this week. Should I just swap the QT fish for the clownfish? Or do I need to treat all fish?

 

Concerns: I am worried about moving my beautiful female if she's in poor health. I am also worried about medicating in the DT, with corals, shrimps, snails, etc.

 

Pros, though: the QT is currently cycled from having the new fish in there. Moving the clowns to the QT might also help with some of the aggression I'm sort of expecting the female clown to show to the new arrivals.

 

Finally, I will be headed out of town for 2.5 weeks at the end of the month, so this is all time-sensitive.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Sorry in advance for terrible pictures!

Best pic I got of her "clear and gauzy" poop

 

And a pic showing her "ribs"

[chipz]

And just to note, I feed fairly liberally and most days with frozen mysis/selcon. For a while I was relying pretty heavily on NLS marine formula pellets, but switched when I noticed she seemed to have lost some weight. Now I'm back to alternating between pellets and the mysis/selcon. So I don't think it's a diet issue.

[Tuan’s Reef]

Stringy white poop is usually a sign of internal parasite....usually flukes 

 

you can do a 5 min freshwater dip and see if any falls off.  If it’s flukes , I would use API General Cure as it contains praziquantel and metro. I have had success with this treatment .  Treat the fish in the QT 

[Humblefish]

Sounds like intestinal worms. You can either food soak API General Cure or Thomas Labs Fish Bendazole to treat this.

 

My recipe for food soaking medications can be found below:

 

Using a shot glass:

1 scoop (~ 1/8 teaspoon) of medication

1 scoop Seachem Focus (this makes it reef safe)

1 tbsp food (preferably pellets or frozen food)

A pinch of Epsom salt to help expel dead worms/parasites

A few drops of saltwater or fish vitamins

Stir until a medicated food slurry has been achieved

Feed after soaking for 30 mins

Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers for future use

[chipz]

Ok, thank you for the advice @Tuan’s Reef and @Humblefish. Should I only treat the clowns, or will the new fish be exposed to the parasites as soon as I move them into the new tank? 

[Humblefish]

3 hours ago, chipz said:

Ok, thank you for the advice @Tuan’s Reef and @Humblefish. Should I only treat the clowns, or will the new fish be exposed to the parasites as soon as I move them into the new tank? 

Intestinal worms are transmitted when another fish eats the white poop of an infected specimen. So, I would treat the entire tank via food soaking. Using Seachem Focus to bind the medication to food (prevents leaching) will make it reef safe.

[chipz]

1 hour ago, Humblefish said:

Intestinal worms are transmitted when another fish eats the white poop of an infected specimen. So, I would treat the entire tank via food soaking. Using Seachem Focus to bind the medication to food (prevents leaching) will make it reef safe.

So by reef safe, it wouldn't hurt the shrimp or corals if they caught and ate some?

[Humblefish]

On 7/3/2019 at 8:22 PM, chipz said:

So by reef safe, it wouldn't hurt the shrimp or corals if they caught and ate some?

You can never say 100% for sure, but whenever I've had to feed dewormers/antibiotics in a reef environment (and used Focus) I've never suffered any "mysterious losses".