please help me save my clown

sac10918

sac10918

Member
Okay, so long story short, my 2 clowns and a bicolor blenny were quarantined for what I thought was ich, but later determined was brook. All 3 had formaldehyde baths (3 of them) a few weeks ago. They are still in the quarantine tank and I am getting ready to put them back into the display but today I noticed that my black and white clown, maximus, has a very ragged and torn looking dorsal fin. Also, it looks as if the pigments of the bkacj dorsal fin have been rubbed into one of his white stripes, as the white stripe is speckled with black smudges.
Tanks params are
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 20
pH 8.2
Temp 79
KH 5
I took pics which are hard to see but I can't get them to upload because my laptop with the program is dead, and the other computer wont recognize the camera, which totally adds to my stress.
I guess it is possible that his mate beat up on him, but they have been together for several months now. Any ideas what is causing this and what can I do to help him? Will his fin repair itself?
PLEASE HELP ME! I have worked soooo hard to get these fish healthy and now this happens....I feel like giving up!
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
Okay, so I went to feed the clown some food and I noticed the female picking on him some more. His dorsal fin looks just aweful. It is definately more than just frayed. He tries to put it up when he swims, but there isnt much left. There are no whitish spots visible so i dont think it is lymphocytosis. It could be that they have been in QT for too long now (eight weeks) and the water quality just isnt that great, or he could have fin rot. I only notice this extreme fraying on the dorsal fin though. I am wondering if i should order a fin rot product such as Maracyn–Two or if I should hurry up and get the salinity up and transfer them to the new tank.
pleae help!
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
Okay, so I bought some Maracyn to treat the fish with. My new question is this....
Should I treat all three fish which are in the Qt of should take out the bicolor and the healthy clown and only have the fin-rot clown in for the treatment?
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I would move the two healthy fish to the display tank and treat the fish with the fin rot in the QT. There is no need to treat the other two fish, since fin rot is not contagious.
I would also try to get the nitrates down and kH up in your QT. Improving both of these will help your fish greatly.
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
Lion
How fast will the fin rot eat away at the fin? I don't think the other clown and bicolor would be ready for the new tank for at least a week as the salinity of the QT is at about 1.015...Also, the tank which they will be added intohas never had any fish in it before and I am a bit concerned to add two fish at once.
So, the question is ....
SHould I wait to add the maracyn until the clown and bicolor are back in the display (which would take about a week) or should I start treatment of the entire QT tank now?
Also, is the best way to raise KH through water changes?
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
Yeah, thats what I am worried about. Any idea how quickly fin rot moves? Do you think I have a week to get the salinity up and get the other fish out of QT and then treat with maracyn?
 
ryanhayes9

ryanhayes9

Active Member
well when i had my 2 chiclids in a 10 gallon ( bad idea) one would pick on the other soooooo bad. then i treated with fin rot mediecation. he was starting to recover but them he died. how is the fish acting?
can you get a picture of it?
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
He acts pretty normal, seems to be eating okay too. I took some pics but I am not able to upload them as my laptop is dead, my dad has the charger in LA, and this desktop does not have the software.
 
ryanhayes9

ryanhayes9

Active Member
well then you are lucky. when i took the others out the other one died in like 4 hours. i would get the others back in the display as soon as you can. but get them to the same parameters as the display. make sure they leave him alone also. maybe get a damsel and throw him into the display and see if he does ok. then take him out when you put the others back in. if he is still acting normal then thats a good sign. i wouldint treat the whole quarentine cuz if the other fish are still in there they will still attack. but if it gets bad only then i would
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
Thanks for the help ryan.
Lion, do you second this opinion to only treat the sick clown starting in about a week (as soon as I can get the others out?)
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Your best bet is to get the specific gravity up over the course of a few days to about a week, like you had in mind, and then begin treating the unhealthy clown while you move the others to the display.
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
No, I dont have another tank unfortunately. I am hoping I can get the salinity up in the QT quickly and then I will remove the healthy fish and treat Maximus with maracyn.
 
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