Sick CLown Fish?

C

cwis24

Reefing newb
I have 2 clown fish and everything was great in the tank until yesterday
1 of the clowns did not go after the food like it normaly does. It also seems to have isolated its self from the other fish (my 5 fish seem to hang together in the tank) Its been swiming in about the same spot. (this morning i noticed it at the other side of the tank
I noticed this large piece of fieces (light in color) hanging out of the fish. (at least thats what it looked like)

I have read that they can get constipated and that they exhibit this type of behavior when they do so.
In addition i have read that if the fish is changing sex it may act different.


All water levels are good and all other fish are eating and swiming very well.
 
Is the clown in question smaller than the other? If so the other would become the more agressive female.If the clown is breathing normaly and look healthy I would give it few more days and see what hapens
 
They are about the same size, i will verify tonight which one is smaller (i do know that the one in question is lighter in color and i belive it may be smaller by a tad) . Its colors were still very viabrant last night. (again i will update tonight on its condition)

Here is the full info from what i recall of yesterday and some extra notes that may help

I have a 75 gallon tank, currently i have about 50 pounds of live rock (live rock was added on monday),
A yellow Tank, a hippo tang, a gobi (yellowhead with small blue stripe) and 2 clowns and a hermit crab

Currently i feed the tank dry flakes, and shrimp pelets, i also attach seaweed for the tangs. I have noticed that the clowns have inspected the seaweed but i am not sure if they have attempted to eat some.

I purchased the clowns last week from my trusty pet store.
They have been great in the tank.
Eating very well from the day they were added. They always swim together and seem to love being with my other fish. (very social)
Eating habits were fine up until last night. (in fact i think the first feeding it ate well but i can not be sure) it was at the second feeding that i noticed it was not intrested in the food. At that point i did notice something dangling from its underbody it was off white and a tad stringy (fish waste was my guess) . I took the time to inspect her through the course of the night. It seemed to pick the upper left hand corner of my tank and stayed there. The other fish swam around normally but she did not follow or seem intrested in them (which was abnormal). The dangling thing was gone now.
Before i slept i checked again and there was another dangling thing (looked the same again fish waste). This morning i attempted to find her and i did, she was alone in the back upper right corner of the tank behind some rock ( i never check for my fish in the morning so i can not say this is normal or not). I had to run to work but i am concerned. My water levels are good ( i do weekly testing and my last test was on wednesday)
 
clowns for the most part are very hardy fish.I think it might just need alittle time to completly settle in.It may be possible that they are pair up,and this one will end up the male.Kind of the same info as I already posted.
 
The number of mouth openings or gill oscillations per minute (respiration rate) of a healthy clownfish is about 65 to 75. An elevated respiration rate is one of the first signs that a fish is in distress. It signifies that either the water is low in oxygen or the gills are not able to take up enough oxygen. Either way the fish can suffocate. Clownfish cannot sustein a respiration rate above 110 gill oscillations per minute for more than a cou;le of days.

Clown fish diet partial- brine shrimp, black worms, crustaceans, fish meat, flake food, krill, macroalgae, mosquito larvae, squid, Spirulina, and table shrimp

Floating bloat - Clownfishes offered floating pellets to eat have been known to become unable to descend in the water column. If you clown displays a similar problem, discontinue that food and the fish should recover. Floating flakes seem to cause this problem only in rare instances.
 
I think i figured out what is going on.
It appears the dominant clown is not friendly with the other. I was watching them tonight for quite some time and i see that the dominant one is being a bit mean to the passive one. Infact i have seen them fight. The one that is having the issues right fin is beat up. When the dominant one attacks he comes in fast looks to be nipping at the passive one. The passive sometimes will turn sideways and girate (no idea who to spell that word lol) sometimes

it also seems that my hippo tang likes to break up the fight by chasing the dominat one away
(I think i have been staring at the tank to long.)

I went out today and purchased everything i need to set up a quartine tank. (wish i had this already) Unfortunetly i am to late for that, it will take me some time to match it with my tank and have it fish ready. I fear the worst for the passive clown. What i don't understand is there is so many places to hide yet it stays in the open. :frustrat:

I guess i have to watch and see and let nature takes its course
 
Well the clown in question seems better last night
She was more active and did not seem to get picked on by the other clown.
She looked very excited during the feeding but still diden't eat much (ate a couple small pieces) but looks like she is getting better.

Hopefully it will be okay :-)
I will update tomorrow
 
The might be a he.They might be pairing off and the dominant will become a female.If the clowns are already mature they might booth have changed already.If that has happened they will continue to fight.If they pair up then they should start staying togather and occasional the now female clown will pick on the male.I hope they pair up for you.
 
Well hopefully they will, The one with the problems did do a wierd girateing thing when the other came close. So perhaps it was trying to pair up LOL
Hopefully it diden't get shot down :D

I will post more news tomorrow (i will be staring at the tank tonight :-)
 
So last night i did my normal feeding of flakes
The clown in question attempted to eat but spit out the food but was excited about the feeding.
For the second feeding i decided to try something different
I had some frozen brine shrimp. I prepared it and put it in
The clown in question ate wonderfully (it was eating brine shrimp like he haden't eatin in 3 nights which was true lol)

So its looking better at least from the eating stand point
I might play some Barry White tonight maybe get them in nthe mood of pairing :bounce:
 
Check your clown out for lesions on her side or spots on her. I just lost 5 Perculas to Marine Velvet; my last remaining Percula is now in a copper tank being treated. They died one by one, all with the same symptoms, i.e., rapid breathing, loss of apatite, visible lesions on their side, in the final phase, trying to breath at the surface and rapid swimming around the tank. At the end, loss of color. If ANY exhibit these symptoms they you have to treat them ALL. And, evacuate the affected tank of all fish for 6 weeks.
 
They usually fight while bonding...trial by fire....my male is scarred for life by big momma....but they lay eggs every 12-14 days...And they love each other after extensive counseling…LOL
 
1geo said:
Check your clown out for lesions on her side or spots on her. I just lost 5 Perculas to Marine Velvet; my last remaining Percula is now in a copper tank being treated. They died one by one, all with the same symptoms, i.e., rapid breathing, loss of apatite, visible lesions on their side, in the final phase, trying to breath at the surface and rapid swimming around the tank. At the end, loss of color. If ANY exhibit these symptoms they you have to treat them ALL. And, evacuate the affected tank of all fish for 6 weeks.
Click to expand...

I was looking at your hobby info and it says you have a 20G salt and 40G reef tank. Did you have all the Perculas in the 20G tank? I'm definatly not and expert, but I think overcrowding and small tank size might have been what caused the velvet to take hold and kill your fish. My LFS said it is very hard to keep saltwater fish healthy in smaller tanks as the water conditions can change so rapidly...
 

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