Clown is sick

B

bluelost

We have a 20 gallon quarantine set up that is currently housing our 2 clowns, 1 coral beauty and 1 firefish. All have ich. We have been treating them in this tank for almost a week. There are still some spots on our false perc, but the true one is the one we are having problems with. Over the last week we have been doing nightly water changes to lower the salinity a little at a time, we are still not down to the 1.009 yet. There is some issue with Nitrates, being as we didn't take the sand bed out before turning this into a QT and the copper we originally used was screwing up the params. We have it mostly in control, the nitrates are only a tad bit high, and the nightly water changes have taken that to almost non existent. The problem is, I have been feeding these fish a tiny bit every day so I could get the garlic to work from the inside while the salinity drop worked from out. Last night when I fed, I noticed that the true wouldn't eat. Instead in was near the top of the tank, straight up and down, bobbing his mouth in and out of the water. I was going to put a little brine in thinking maybe he would go for that, but by the time I got back from the kitchen he was laying on the sand on his side barely breathing. I quickly got a bowl ready for a freshwater dip and scooped him out. I left him in that water for only a couple of minutes because he still wasn't moving much, and I was kind of freaking out. I dumped him back into the tank, where he started swimming around again. He continued swimming, though the fins on his back never righted themselves again. HE was fine for the rest of the evening, swimming and resting and going to the top and doing the bob thing every once in a while. When I got up for work this morning, he was again lying on the sand sideways barely breathing, again freshwater dipped him, put him back in the tank and he started swimming again. I had to be here at work by 730, but my fianc? doesn't leave the house until about 1015, he said at that time the fish was still pretty much the same, fins down, resting on the bottom, and going up to bob at the surface every once in a while, but hadn't laid on his side again. I am afraid I am going to go home to a dead fish. Is there anything else I can do? I can't believe how attached I am to these guys! I was literally sitting in front of my tank crying last night. My fianc? thought I was out of my mind when I begged him to stop at WalMart last night and pick me up another air pump and air stone (we only have one for the big tank and I thought it looked like maybe the fish wasn't getting enough oxygen), he quickly realized how freaked out I was and stopped and got everything for me, that's why I love him!

Sorry for the book.
 
Jennine, the biggest concern here is water quality and not the infection of ich. With that said, I suggest siphoning out sand along with water when you are doing changes. You need to be doing at least 50% water changes per day to get the quality under control. You also need to monitor the pH closely, as it can plummet easily when moving into hypo.

Were you using copper recently? If so, why did you stop and switch treatments?
Did you use carbon to help pull the copper out before beginning to lower the salinity?
Also, do you have any signs of ammonia or nitrites?

For the little clown who is having a hard time: I would recommend SW methylene blue baths over the FW ones. When you transfer a fish abrubtly to FW for several minutes it upsets their osmoregulation. Healthier fish can tolerate this much easier than fish who are already in distress.
If you use a large bowl, add 1/4 tsp methylene blue to saltwater from the QT nad let him bathe there for 5-10 minutes. If he shows additional signs of stress you can move him back to the QT sooner. It is a soothing medicine for the gills with many benefits.
If you can move the fish to a QT with no sand, you can treat that directly with m. blue @ 1/2 tbls per 10 gallons. You should be able to find this at most LFS.

HTH, keep us posted on how it's going!
 
Were you using copper recently? If so, why did you stop and switch treatments? [Yes, we were using and decided to switch methods in the middle, not good I know, but I had done more research and found hypo to be better on the fish, plus a previous thread I had on here about my treatement of ich, lead me to go in that direction.]
Did you use carbon to help pull the copper out before beginning to lower the salinity? [Yes, copper has been pulled, and the water changes have got the last little bits.]
Also, do you have any signs of ammonia or nitrites? [All other prams are perfect. We are keeping an eye on everything very closely, ph did drop a bit and we are taking the messures needed to keep it constant.]

For the little clown who is having a hard time: I would recommend SW methylene blue baths over the FW ones. When you transfer a fish abrubtly to FW for several minutes it upsets their osmoregulation. Healthier fish can tolerate this much easier than fish who are already in distress.
If you use a large bowl, add 1/4 tsp methylene blue to saltwater from the QT nad let him bathe there for 5-10 minutes. If he shows additional signs of stress you can move him back to the QT sooner. It is a soothing medicine for the gills with many benefits.
If you can move the fish to a QT with no sand, you can treat that directly with m. blue @ 1/2 tbls per 10 gallons. You should be able to find this at most LFS. [I am going to stop by there on my way home tonight and try and pick some up, I just hope it is not too late.]

[Any idea why the fish swims straight up and down with his mouth out of the water like that?]
 
I can only tell you what my clown does, I really can't offer any advice.

A while back, I lost the anemone my clown hosted in due to water conditions. since then the clown has called the top corner of my tank home. For a while it was "nesting" up near an internal skimmer I had, but since moving to the new tank, he just stays up in the corner near the surface at night. During the day (when the lights are on), he's out and about. I don't notice him breathing hard, but knock on wood, he's not currently distressed.

Also, prior to the move, a damsel was hassling him quite a bit. that damsel didn't make the move so "nemo" looks a lot more relaxed.

Does your clown have a "safe" place to be in the tank, or is it an open tank? Like I said, I know this doesn't help, but the corner hide out thing was strangely familar to my experience.

Good luck.
Larry
 
I went and bought the meds you suggested as soon as I left work, by the time I got home he was already gone. So I have the meds for a next time if needed but didn't get to use it on him. The manager of the fish department where I bought the SW methylene blue, pretty much told me I was crazy if I thought that was going to do anything. I just rolled my eyes at him and bought it anyway.
 
Im so sorry to hear it :sad:

Hopefully the rest of your crew will be back in the main soon!

It is a mild and gentle med, but by all means very useful for many things. Definately a good thing to have on hand.
 
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