Sick Clownfish?

awpong

Small Fish
Mar 24, 2010
19
0
0
#1
I have a 10 gallon fowlr with roughly 8lbs of live rock and 12lbs of live sand.

2 False Perclua Clowns
2 Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
2 Snails (A-something)
1 Featherduster (came free on the live rock)

The tank has been up and running for about 3 weeks now, with the introduction of the fish last Friday.

Nitrates and Nitrites are both zero, with an ammonia ranging from 0-.25 every few days (but I promptly do a 20% water change, followed up with Pro-Ammonia Detox made by Kent Marine).

The pH is a stable 8.3 with an ideal alkalinity and salinity of roughly 1.25.

Additionally, I have 2 small power heads to keep a steady current. Lighting in the tank is 2x 50/50 nano reef blubs (don't know the exact details)

But anyways... one of my two false perclua clowns I fear might be sick - with ich. The first day in the tank both clowns had a slightly high breathing rate, but it slowed down by the second; however, later that night I noticed a few white dots on the clown. They weren't too severe or dominant, but enough to make me panic a bit (which really doesn't take all that much). However, this morning, I went to feed the fish and I noticed a thin white string coming out of my smaller clown. I did a little more research and it fits the symptons with Brooklynella hostilis aka. ich aka. clownfish disease.

As for behavior, both clowns seem to be behaving normal. They're doing their little mating dance (which brings about another problem... babies in a 10gallon fowlr... but that's a problem for another day), and they are both vigorously eating.

Here is a picture of my clown with the white string coming out.



Please promptly inform me of his condition (physical diagnosis). If the white string looks like the internal parasite, what are some ideal treatments for them? I am hesitant to add medication because of the inverts - but will if I have to. One solution I read about was freshwater baths. This seems ideal to me because of the inverts in my tank, and my lack of a QT (the tank is in my college dorm - im kinda cramped for space and money). Additionally, this seems more natural because I learned in my Marine Biology class that fish in nature will swim across the halocline in nature to agitate the bacteria, and then swim back down into the salty water.
 

Lorna

Elite Fish
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#3
Well if it is brooklynella there is little to do, if it is ich you will need to set up a qt tank and treat with hyposalinity. The main tank will need to remain fallow, no fish whatsoever for 6 weeks while the ich runs its cycle without a host. The inverts will be fine. The other option in a qt only is to treat with copper but the tank can not be used for anything else again only a qt tank. There is a good sticky on qt tanks.
 

unwritten law

Superstar Fish
Sep 2, 2008
1,471
0
0
36
DC
#4
with out a QT meds will most likely kill everything else in the tank...looks like ich by the white spots but the heavy breathing sounds like that clownfish disease...the stress of this disease could have brought on the ich.

I would try FW baths cause i have had some success with them at work on tangs but no promises cause i lost 2 or 3 and only saved one.... i dont think there is really any treatment for that clownfish disease besides time...

In a new tank I would have definitely waited for all the ammonia to be zero cause from those numbers the tank doesnt seemed cycled.
 

awpong

Small Fish
Mar 24, 2010
19
0
0
#5
Good news, the fish have recovered. Thankfully, they never lost their appitite - which i think helped.

A few FW dips (25% saltwater, 75% freshwater) and the white slime has retreated and the fish look great.
 

awpong

Small Fish
Mar 24, 2010
19
0
0
#6
I lied.... Last night both of my fish looked great. Bright coloring, piggish appetite, friendly and active.... but this morning the larger of the two was literally white... 3 hours later he was dead. Awesome...

More freshwater dips for my little widower... hopefully he makes it.
 

awpong

Small Fish
Mar 24, 2010
19
0
0
#7
I lied.... Last night both of my fish looked great. Bright coloring, piggish appetite, friendly and active.... but this morning the larger of the two was literally white... 3 hours later he was dead. Awesome...

More freshwater dips for my little widower... hopefully he makes it.
This morning i woke up and the other clownfish looks even worse than the last...