clown fish sick

R

rbl1979

Reefing newb
Hi everyone

I have another question for you all. I have a clown fish that is definately sick. For what I have looked at it looks like ich.

Clownfish Disease - Brooklynella Diagnosis and Treatment

I have 2 questions,

First has anyone had any success with "Reef Friendly" medication. I have read that it doesn't really work but am just wondering if anyone had any success and with what kinds.

Second I did set up a small tank for a quarantine but I can't catch the little bugger without tearing apart the whole setup. Does anyone have any suggestions to catching him. I have tried chasing with net (FAILED), tried cornering and herding into a jar FAILED and now I have some food in a jar next to his coral. (WAITING 2 hours now)
What does everyone else do to catch them?
 
Brooklynella (your link) and ich are two different diseases. Do you know which one it is?

In either case, reef safe meds will not work.

Is the fish still eating? If it's ich, the fish will usually recover on its own as long as it's still eating. Brooklynella is a different story... Survival chances are much lower.
 
I am pretty sure it is the brooklynella. It has kinda the slimy mucus stuff around the gill area. But he is still eating and full of energy. It might be just the regular ich but I am not seeing the white spots anywhere. That link seems like the closest thing to what I can describe. He is also scratching against the sand and rocks and corals a lot.

No other fish have it at the moment.
 
You will need to use a formalin treatment for it in that case. You'll have to catch the fish. If you leave it be, the fish will likely not survive. This makes it harder to treat than common ich. You'll need to keep the fish quarantined for at least one month. It sucks, I know.

Fish can be horrible to catch!!! You may end up having to remove the rocks... First, try a fish trap. You can build one out of a soda bottle.

http://www.anglingfish.net/images/empty-soda-bottle1.jpg

Cut the top off the soda bottle, then cut the end where the cap screws on to make it large enough for the fish to fit through. Then invert the top into the bottom. Put some food in it, and place it near the fish. Don't put any more food in the tank.

This isn't always effective, as you'll tend to get inverts and every other fish besides the one you want trapped in it!!

You can also take some sheets of plexiglass and slowly block off areas of the tank that the fish is not in, making his area smaller and smaller. Again, this is really hard to do with rock.
 
haha no still being outsmarted but I haven't tried lately I am trading my old old 25gal tank in tomorrow for a 10 gal one so I am waiting to get it before I try again. I probably could have caught him last night though. But I will let you know haha so far the fish is smarter then me. Not a good sign
 
Sometimes it really helps to try to catch the clown after lights out. That's when I can usually use only a net to scoop him outta there. If you shine a small flashlight on one side of the tank...hopefully in an area with the least amount of rock, he should be attracted to it. You can try to sneak the net up and catch him. Works for me. Good luck!
 
Hey everyone I am happy to report that I was able to catch that clown fish with no trouble at all. I just turned out the all the lights so it was right black in the room and the wife slowly pushed the the fish into the open where I had the other net. He pretty much swam into it. Thank everyone.

Biff that soda bottle worked really good on every other fish and critter except the one I wanted.

Melosu that was a really good article on catching fish thanks..
 
Quick update

The clown fish is still alive and eating lots, seems normal. As for the mucus/slime build up around the gills it is still there but it does look like it is better, but he has only been in the other thank for 3-4 days now not very long.
 
I have a question for you all again. How long do you normally keep your fish that is sick, not just a new fish in a quarantine tank. It has been a little over a week now and that mucus/slime crap is all gone by the looks of it and the fish is more active then ever around feeding time. Now it has only been a week and I think he should be in longer but how long do you usually leave him in the QT.
 

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