Jestersix

Sick Clownfish?

Tyekidd

Tyekidd

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I got a pair of ocellaris clowns for my Nanocube 12g DX about 2 weeks ago. Everything was going great and they were eating well until a couple of days ago. One is slightly bigger than the other and would harass the smaller one into hiding quite often. I wasn't too worried about it cause I thought it was natural.

Now ... the bigger of the two has stopped harassing the smaller one and has gone into hiding in the cave. His breathing is slightly heavier than before and he doesn't seem as interested in food. This has been going on for a couple days and I noticed his feces looked white/clear. Today was the first time he even showed interested in food again, but every time he would try to eat he would spit it back out ... before he was quite the pig.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 
Probably not brookynella. I'm a clown expert. They will normally harass each other when fighting over dominance. The bigger one will probably become the female due to her strength/dominance already earned. Sometimes their feces will be white. It all depends on what your feed them. Mine will accept almost any food, but some clowns have a picky personality and will only accept a specific type of food. Try brine shrimp. I guarantee your clowns will love it. My old pair had the same problem as yours does. The bigger one will take the whole tank as it's territory and the other one will stay in the back behind rocks purposely trying to avoid the other. The bigger one will take any chance to pick on your smaller one. Also, the reason he might not be taking food is because he is scared of the other one harassing it or attacking it to get it's food. Put some objects (coral, tiles, pots, shells) in your tank so the smaller one can have territory. You can put those objects all around your tank (even in the back for the smaller clown) and a small pot might work really well since he can hide in it. Can you post a picture of your clowns? I'd love to see them for myself. What are the sizes of them? And you got them at the EXACT same time in the EXACT same bag to take them home in correct?
 
what bookfish and tuberider said....

[quote author=Euphyllia link=topic=6238.msg79422#msg79422 date=1234121767]
Probably not brookynella. I'm a clown expert.
[/quote]

:-
 
[quote author=zambavi link=topic=6238.msg79428#msg79428 date=1234122899]
what bookfish and tuberider said....

[quote author=Euphyllia link=topic=6238.msg79422#msg79422 date=1234121767]
Probably not brookynella. I'm a clown expert.
[/quote]

:-

[/quote]


Sounds like it as well to me.
 
Oh yeah, your right... I was to lazy and didn't read the second paragraph! Ooops! LOL ;)
I'm not so experienced with brookynella (since mine have never had it) but if the others all agree it is, then I'd go with what they say...
+1
 
Thanks for the advice all ... it might just be Brookynella after all. I did a freshwater dip today to see if it would help him at all.

Yes ... they were bought at the exact same time from the same tank, but bagged separately. The larger of the two, the bully, started hiding, stopped eating, and has shown heavier breathing over the last couple days. I haven't noticed him doing any scratching and i haven't noticed any white film on him.

The one that is sick is the one that did the harassing and was the bully before. I know that he's not being a picky eater because he used to eat all the food and chase the other clown around. I'll see if I can get my hands on some formalin and keep him in quarantine for awhile ...

Anyone know where I can get my hand on 37% Formalin ... or is this stuff pretty readily available at LFS?
 
[quote author=Euphyllia link=topic=6238.msg79518#msg79518 date=1234145282]
They might be bullying each other since they were bagged separately. It normally confuses them and they probably forgot each other.
[/quote]

I've bit my tongue for long enough.

Euphyllia, you are not a clown expert, you are not familiar with Brook, the #1 cause of death in wild caught clowns, sorry. I've dealt with thousands of clownfish in the 20+ years I've been in the industry and it seriously concerns me that you'd give advice to people that are having trouble with such little experience in the hobby. Sit back, relax, and let people that work with these animals in quantity, on a daily basis give prudent advice, you will learn a ton from the experienced people that really care about the hobby.
 
Ok, maybe not an "expert" but I definitely do know quite a bit of info about them. The only reason I don't sound "expert" is because my clowns have never got brooknyella like I said earlier...

[quote author=Euphyllia link=topic=6238.msg79433#msg79433 date=1234125777]
Oh yeah, your right... I was to lazy and didn't read the second paragraph! Ooops! LOL ;)
I'm not so experienced with brookynella (since mine have never had it) but if the others all agree it is, then I'd go with what they say...
+1
[/quote]
 
I'm not a clown "expert" either, nor do I attempt to sound like one. I also don't play one on TV. I simply suggested the OP might want to google brook because it was the first possibility that came to mind. I don't/ can't know if someone elses fish has brook since it's difficult to view someone elses fish through a text based forum. I didn't say his fish had brook. I didn't say his fish didn't have brook. I simply suggested he may want to look it up. And as far as your advice, which you give in an authoritative, expert sounding tone, without having even correctly read the post of symptoms, please keep it to yourself so you don't kill other peoples animals as well as the unlucky ones in your "care". Sorry if that's harsh but part of ethical husbandry is putting the animals well being ahead of our own selfish and unnecessary desire to sound like an expert. I'm sure you'll backpeddle furiously and point to your subsequent posts where you recanted everything you'd first posted as truth but please don't bother.
 
wow how come I didn't see this thread earlier?? ;D

Euphyllia, there are several people in this club that you should always listen to. They're not "regular" reefers like most of us. The three you can always count on are Bookfish, Tuberider and Thales. There are several more but these guys knows a lot more than a lot of the members in this club.

Tyekidd, goodluck with your fish. Hopefully they will be fine.
 
Euphyllia, please read this post over and over again until it sinks in

[quote author=bookfish link=topic=6238.msg79714#msg79714 date=1234201213] [size=10pt]please keep it to yourself so you don't kill other peoples animals as well as the unlucky ones in your "care". Sorry if that's harsh but part of ethical husbandry is putting the animals well being ahead of our own selfish and unnecessary desire to sound like an expert. I'm sure you'll backpeddle furiously and point to your subsequent posts where you recanted everything you'd first posted as truth but please don't bother. [/size]
[/quote]
 
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