HELLO! Clown Emergency Please Help

Hi I am new, from Toronto Canada.

I have been a hobbyist, for 8 years now, with a 55 gallon saltwater tank.

We just recently moved 2 weeks ago and conducted a tank move. My clowns (2) were very healthy and large, the male was always smaller but over the last several days he has lost alot of body mass, and looks very ill. No visible signs of stress or spotting.

Today I noticed he is laying on his side (partly upside down) and breathing heavily. I tried to net him out into a quarantine and he swam a little. I have had him for 8 years now and dont want to see him pass, is there anything I can do, reading posts it seems like a Clown Specific Parasite (not sure of the correct terms)... What can be done to treat if anything???

I am desparate at this stage, as the store I deal with said let him die.

Thanks

 

Boy I don't really know what to tell you. How is the other clown?

 

The other clown is looking healthy, large and still eats aloot.
She is swimmimg around the other and curious to knwo where he went, as she keeps swimming where he was last laying.

Is there a solution/liquid treatment I can use? I don't want to contaminate the rest of the tank?

 

If one of them is fine I would lean towards stress from the move. Don't know for sure though.

 

Clownfish

Unfortunately moving him into quarantine is risky cause your not sure exactly what the problem is. It sounds like he is dying. Unless you know what the correct medication is it might be better to leave him in main tank and hope he pulls through.
Adam

 

What about these Clown specific parasites, like ICK or Velvet? What are these and are there treatments.
Theres some red algea in the tank, would that have an affect? Also teh lighting was updated recently with stronger blue lights and day light bulbs, maybe its stress?

 

Hey, sorry to hear about the situation you are in. To help with stress you should turn down the lights, maybe keep only the blue ones on. Also there are stress products sold, i think called Stress Coat, that might be something to look into.

If your clown has a disease, that is another story. Seeing as you can not see anything physically worrisome on the clown, the odds of disease or parasite are low (especially since the other one is fine).

I think it is just really stressed out and needs some time to cope with its new surroundings.

I would try to get some of the Stress Coat and see how that goes.

Also... being 8+ years old it might just be his time. I know how you feel, I had two mated clown gobys for four years and then one got sucked into an exposed powerhead (completely my fault...). The other seemed very depressed but now has a new friend who... after months, finally has taken a liking to.

 

Aquarium Water Conditioners & Chlorine Removers: Aquarium Pharmacueticals Stress Coat

This is the product I was referring to.

 

As others said, it's probably not the parameters if the other clown is thriving. If you suspect a parasite, even though it may be internal, a FW dip probably couldn't hurt. Of course, the stress from the dip alone could kill the fish, but it seems as if your alternative is to let it die slowly.

Do you have an RO/DI to produce some FW for a dip? If so, dip him for as long as he stays breathing, but not more than a few minutes. Even new healthy fish sometimes will list to one side during a dip, but usually snap right out of it once reintroduced to SW.

I wish you luck on this one. Sorry for your problems. That's a long time to own a fish. You're probably pretty attached to it.