Sick Clown Fish? Strange Bumps+PopEye

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M

mrg02d

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
May 30, 2009
Messages
990
Location
tallahassee, florida
Hello all,
To make a long story short, my new Clown fish is sick. I cant get a clear picture of what he has, but he has a combo of three things.
1-He has strange bumps around his head that look like pimples. They havent grown or shrunk.
2-He has two fuzzy white bumps on his head. Hasnt grown or shrunk.
3-He has pop eye in one eye.

1 and 2 appeared over night a few days back after I installed a new AquaClear 50 power filter to the tank.
3 appeared last night. I went straight to Walmart to get stuff for a make shift emergency QT. I got him a 4 gallon plastic tub, a pump for a 15gallon tank and a 50W heater. SG of this is 1.024, temp 78F. I also got some Quick Cure as it was all Walmart had. I put this into the water as directed and ran the filter without the carbon.

Today he seems fine. Still has his diseases, but swims around like nothing is wrong. I realized that Quick Cure wasnt a smooth move, but he seems fine.

I have no way to diagnose his problems, but have read Pimafix and Melafix to be a great "cure all" treatment. This is my next move.

As a primer on my DT:
Newly cycled about 2 weeks ago or so. Ammonia and Nitrite 0. Nitrate: 10-20ppm. pH: 8.2. SG:1.024. Temp:77F

The tank is a 20gallon with 15lbs of LR and 30lbs of live sand. This clown was the first fish to go in. He seems to eat only copepods and will NOT touch ANYTHING else. His poop is white and strange looking.
Also, clown fish is tank raised. (Or so the LFS claims)
Any ideas?
Thanks!
MAtt
 
I'm sorry Matt, you will have to wait until someone with more knowledge logs on for an answer. Just hang in there.
 
Hello,
Yes I will try to hang in there! I just read about Maracyn 1 and 2. I think I will go for those instead of the Pimafix and Melafix since the Maracyn seems to be a more conventional broad sprectrum medicine.

Sound good?
Matt
 
Hello,
I wish he did have spots, because then it would be a pretty easy diagnosis. Ich.

No spots...I havent seen any pictures on the net that look like it. I will try the maracyn 1 and 2 tonight.

matt
 
If you read the articles it says this about the pop eye, " Pop Eye /Cloudy Eye. A very obvious swelling and / or cloudiness of the eyes, this is most often caused by poor water quality or physical damage or abrasion to the eye of which secondary bacterial infections can take advantage of.
This is another gram negative bacteria responsible for this condition and can be treated in a quarantine tank with an appropriate anti-bacterial medication. As with all fish problems, stress is the leading cause of illness, usually water quality can be blamed. In good water quality, this condition most always disappears on it own without further treatment."
 
Hello,
So what is poor water quality?
As far as I know, I have good water quality.
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 10-20ppm
pH:8.2
SG:1.024

Maybe the fact that I had no snails in my CUC and just a few hermits allowed some filth to build up? I stirred up the yuck so my new filter would suck it out. I just added some snails yesterday too. Its still just his one eye with the pop eye.

Anyways, I got some maracyn 1 and added it...Well see...

Matt
 
The clown needs to be dewormed and use Maracyn 2 over 1. If you definitely saw white spots on the head hyposalinity is in the near future. If you don't want to wait 30days to be rid of ich, assuming you did see such, then you can use Chloroquine (expensive).
 
Hello,
the white spots are more like lumps (bumps or whitish pimples) rather than specs. I assume your getting at Ich here, no? It looks more like some kind of fungus. Dewormed, how? He wont eat anything I give him. He looks at it, then goes about his merry way...(Others suggested he was eating copepods that he was finding)

To me, I feel I was cheated by the LFS. What do you think? I had two clowns to start. They were the first and only fish in this tank (in at the same time). The fist clown just died the next day. He was breathing really heavy after going into the tank. No visible disease on him. I guess he didnt like the acclimation. The second swam around exploring instead of hiding. All day he looks to be catching the copepods that I see swimming around.

If he was worms, its the LFS. No? They wont return my messages about it. They told me they were tank bred, but for all I know they were wild caught and have issues.:mad:

Cutting Edge Aquatics is their name...

Ive got both maracyn 1 and 2. When should I try the maracyn 2?
Thanks for all your help!
Matt
 
Either let the Maracyn 1 run out or 50% water changes over the next two days. Get a detailed picture of the clownfish as it could be any number of things regarding the bumps.

Edit: Deworming by Praziquantel for cestodes/monogeneans and Panacur (fenbendazole) for nematodes
 
Hello,
Here are some pictures. I tried my best. :) You'll have to excuse me if the pictures dont meet the requirements, I dont know how to manage file sizes or picture size.:(

The "growths" looks smaller now that I have gotten ahold of the fish and closely examined. He was none too pleased about any of this...

He still wont eat. He acts like hes looking for his copepods...I took some mysis shrimp and put them in a glass with crushed garlic. Then I mixed this with some DI water and swirled it around well. After that, I took a turkey baster (unused) and squirt this shrimp mix at him. He swam through the cloud of shrimp and DODGED it all. Nice. I then had to suck it all back out. Pshhh...
 

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Doesn't appear fungal to me. The pop eye is pretty obvious though, so for that reason alone I'd assume some type of bacterial infection. I'd go with whatever Maracyn medication Innovator recommended.

As far as the LFS... I don't really see it as a bad deal from them. Just because the fish are tank raised doesn't mean they'll be disease free. That's the risk you run in the hobby... I will guarantee you that you will buy more fish than you end up with in your tank, regardless of how they're raised. All we can do is create the best environment for them and hope the dice roll our way as far as the hardiness of the individual fish. I have 6 fish in my display tank. There are another 6 fish that I bought that never made it out of my quarantine tank. Guess my point is don't be too hard on yourself, or your LFS.

If it weren't for the popeye, I probably would've never even noticed those dots in the white stripe if it was my fish. In fact, I'm not sure those specs aren't normal changes in coloration. (Nice pics by the way... not sure how you could've gotten better!)
 
The discoloration is either from anemone/coral stings (common) or, what I'm betting, due to the fact that it just needs medication and better overall care than received at the lfs. Not eating is common, but have you tried live brine shrimp? Take about 5-10mL of live brine shrimp and soak in fw for about 30mins. Then pour through a net and feed. If it is willing to eat the brine shrimp then it makes deworming much easier. Praziquantel can be given in a bath form.
 
Are you using a QT or your regular tank to treat the clown? When you mix or thaw frozen food out for your fish use tank water, RO freshwater.
 
Hello,
Good tip on the brine shrimp. I didnt think of that...

Anyways...
He died.:(
I found him floating dead. Dont know why...

Thanks for the help! From now on, I think I will buy from ebay. That gives me SOME kind of power. (Getting a sick fish is, "not as described" and eligible for a refund).

Matt
 
Just be mindful that all animals should be expected to need ich treatment and deoworming upon acquiring. Also, take note of lfs' return policies and if you must, purchase using a CC so you can challenge the purchase if the animal dies and the business doesn't adhere to their policies.
 
Hello,
Could one consider a fish to be "safe" if being held in a low salinity condition with cupromine?

The seller on ebay that has the tank raised clowns says they are held in low salinity and treated with cupromine to ensure they are healthy before shipment.

Matt
 
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