sick clownfish and foxface rabbitfish

cathey

cathey

Member
Am new to the hobby. Have had my 55g set up for almost 11 months now. Had my first loss 2 weeks ago. My flame angel. A few days later i noticed my female clown laying on the sand quite often. Then not eating. The very next day my foxface´s mouth was completely red. His mouth just looks raw. I immediately moved both to qt and tested parameters. Ammonia was at .25. Nitrite and nitrate both were low. Did a 12% water change to the dt. Now i thought protozoan velvet because my clown had a loss of color, so i coppersafed the qt. Next day checked water parameters in qt and ammonia was at .75. Did a 40% change that day. Next day...both are still not eating. Checked parameters again and ammonia is still this high. Did a 30% change. Went to lfs for advice, not getting much help there. So i went to an amusement park yesterday and didnt check parameters. This morning ammonia was back at 75 again. Could the coppersafe cause a false reading? I did another 30%change.and ut the clown and foxface back in the dt. I dont know what is going on. My newest edition was a flame angel that died with a yellow tang that i quarantined together. The tang is fine. My clowns were my first fish and i have had them 9 months. Foxface around 6. Could it be diet? I feed flake and enriched brine mostly.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by cathey http:///t/395735/sick-clownfish-and-foxface-rabbitfish#post_3523951
Am new to the hobby. Have had my 55g set up for almost 11 months now. Had my first loss 2 weeks ago. My flame angel. A few days later i noticed my female clown laying on the sand quite often. Then not eating. The very next day my foxface´s mouth was completely red. His mouth just looks raw. I immediately moved both to qt and tested parameters. Ammonia was at .25. Nitrite and nitrate both were low. Did a 12% water change to the dt. Now i thought protozoan velvet because my clown had a loss of color, so i coppersafed the qt. Next day checked water parameters in qt and ammonia was at .75. Did a 40% change that day. Next day...both are still not eating. Checked parameters again and ammonia is still this high. Did a 30% change. Went to lfs for advice, not getting much help there. So i went to an amusement park yesterday and didnt check parameters. This morning ammonia was back at 75 again. Could the coppersafe cause a false reading? I did another 30%change.and ut the clown and foxface back in the dt. I dont know what is going on. My newest edition was a flame angel that died with a yellow tang that i quarantined together. The tang is fine. My clowns were my first fish and i have had them 9 months. Foxface around 6. Could it be diet? I feed flake and enriched brine mostly.
Hi,
So sorry to hear of all your troubles. Nitrite is just as deadly as ammonia, and both of those should be 0. How much live rock is in the tank, and how many power heads?
A quarantine needs old nasty as it can get, filter media from the display to prevent a cycle, we usually keep a sponge in the fuge for just that reason...but taking media out of a canister, or HOB works just as well.. You also need either a small power head, or at an air line to circulate the water. I use those stick testers for ammonia to check the QT twice a day, and new mixed SW waiting to do a water change, the moment I see any ammonia. Macroalgae in the QT (such as caulerpa prolifera) will also help keep the parameters stable....but with needing medicine... I don't know if you can keep macros, I always did a quarantine with it because it's easy to remove to treat the tank if I have to.... I never used copper.
As for the medicine, I can't help you because like I said above, I have never needed to use it...I hope Beth chimes in soon to help. She's our fish doctor... I trust her for all fish sicknesses.
 
heymybigfish

heymybigfish

Member
I think the better question is,why do you have ammonia showing in a fully established tank?
Did you recently change media in the canister or anything?
Flower is pretty much the most helpful user on here, so go with any advice she gives.... It also, I'd probably run to the store and purchase some amquel, as well as any bottle of stuff that claims it cycles the tank.... U need to get rid of The ammonia now.
 
cathey

cathey

Member
I have 45 lbs of live rock. And 40 in live sand. I have 1powerhead. Pump 800 gph. The dt is fine after the 12% change but my qt ammononia is through the roof. So last night i put the clown and the foxface back in dt. Till i can get the quarantine back to 0. I removed the filter material and the carbon in qt before i used the coppersafe. I think this has something to do with it, but i also added some quick start to the wate to add some of the live bacteria backsince i had to remove filter media. This morning parameters are 7.8 ph, .50ppm ammonia, .25 nitrite, and10 ppm on nitrate. Ihavedone 3 water changes in the past 5 days. First one being a 40% , then 2 30% changes every other day.with one of those being done at 10 last night. I couldnt leave them in that waterand honestlyhave no idea why thelevels are as such unless thecoppersafe might be giving me falsereadings. Testing dt parameters now and they are calcium 450, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7.8, salinity is 1.024. Foxface and clown still arent eating. Fed brine this morning. Gonna try to post some pics of the fish for help with diagnosis. Using my kndle fire since my computer crashed last week so bear with me please. And thanks in advance for any help that is offered.
 
cathey

cathey

Member
Yes when i coppersafed i had to remove carbon and filter media fromthe hob in the qt. I added quick start that is live nitrifing bacteria to the water.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
What changed in the last few wks? Did u do anything new or different? If your fish were fine and all of a sudden something happened. Its something that got into the tank. Do u have any type of cuc in the tank? Its very very odd for a fox not to eat.
 
cathey

cathey

Member
Yes ihave peppermint shrimp, nasserius snails, regular snails, choc chip starfish, blue legged hermit, few other hermits.... my latest additions were the yellow tang and my one and only fatality a flame angel. They werent fully quarantined because my four year old put them in the big tank. They were in for 6 weeks before the angel died. Purchased on april 11th.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Hmm. There is something effecting them. Foxes are generally pretty disease resistant. Iam sorry I can't be of more help. Other than thinking irs sum kind of contamination
 
cathey

cathey

Member
I really think it is parasites. I noticed white strings on the foxface the first day i put him in qt, and then today on the clown. And today there are red dots where the white was. Look almost like a hole up close. Cant get good pics of it. So they really needed to be in the qt tank. So i emptied the qt today, and replaced water with that from display. Everything was at zero afterwards. I reacclimated the clown and foxface. Added more quickstart, and coppersafe. Will be checking parameters on a daily basis, and keep posted on health of fish. Hope they eat soon.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Cathey,
Sorry I haven't been around...my Mother is in the hospital, they put in a pacemaker last night.
Have you looked at the pinned thread on disease above the section on fish disease and treatment? That's where this thread should have been started....PM Beth and ask her to help, she knows her stuff.
Heymybigfish,
I'm always putting in my 2 cents, and talk allot...but there are folks in this site who are much better equipped to help in bad situations. Pay very close attention and follow the advice of (to name just a few off the top of my head) Snakeblitz, Bang Guy, Spanko and Beth. Those are the folks I get advice and learn from. Then we have folks who really know how to build stands, refugiums, sumps and electric stuff. I know the basics pretty good, and I try to help a little. The good news is, when I mess up, those in the know pitch in and make sure nothing bad happens from any bad advice or misunderstandings on mine or anyone else's part. I consider that back up as a safety net for us all.
 
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