Anything wrong here?

[ectogamut]

I've had these clownfish in quarantine for four days now. They are amazing! They've been really energetic, they feed like pigs, and I don't see any real signs of stress in them besides a faster breathing rate. However, I'm a bit paranoid right now because this is a pair of clowns that my lfs replaced after the first pair died from ich.

I've noticed one tiny white spot on one of the pectoral fins, so I've been keeping a close eye on the fish. Like I said, he hasn't shown any signs of stress besides his breathing. The water in the tank is RODI, all parameters look good. Here are the pics I've taken, so maybe someone may be able to say if it's anything to be concerned about. I'm worried that it's velvet, but I don't want to start any aggressive treatment if it's not necessary. FW dips scare the heck outta me! Anyhow, take a look:
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[ectogamut]

Sorry, I should be a little more specific here. I'm looking at those orangish splotches just below the dorsal fin. It's difficult to tell, but it seems like they are on top of the skin.

 

[shrimpy brains]

You sure your ammonia and nitrates are ok? That would be my first thought with heavy gilling. It couldn't hurt to do a large water change. While your at it, you can lower the salinity. The fish will generally do better and parasites(if there are any) won't.

You can lower the salinity quickly without troubles, but always remember to raise it super slow.

Actually this is a small tank. if the salinity is elevated due to evaporation, that can cause heavy gilling also. You know to top off with freshwater, not salt, as the only thing that evaporates is the water?

 

[ectogamut]

Going to do 100% WC and I'll get back to you

 

[shrimpy brains]

100% is extreme. I would think 50% would be sufficient unless your parameters are way off.

 

[ectogamut]

No, I think he's starting to fade...moving towards bottom of the tank and getting lethargic

 

[shrimpy brains]

I'm sorry. You have 2 clownfish in this tank and the other one seems fine?

 

[ectogamut]

Yeah, perfectly fine. The difference between the two is that the one who isn't sick never touched the lfs water. The ill one was in the lfs tank for 24 hours. Just did a freshwater dip and have both in a holding tub while I brew up another 15g. Also, the one that seems ill was in the exact same tank at the lfs as the first clowns that died.

 

[shrimpy brains]

Hmmm..........not sure then. Probably not your water if the other one is fine(although a water change shouldn't hurt). Maybe someone else will chime in here with some better advice. Sorry.

 

[ectogamut]

Here's hoping I'm just paranoid from the ich outbreak I'm still overcoming. Both fish are still breathing heavy but the ill fish does seem more alert now

 

[shrimpy brains]

Both fish are breathing heavy? Did you do a water change?

 

[ectogamut]

I did a 25% WC earlier today

 

[elfloyd]

A couple things concern me:
- "one fish was in LFS water for less than 24 hrs".
-----Meaning it was moved from somewhere, to the LFS, then to your tank. Four days later you give it a fresh water dip.
-----Stress weakens the immune system.
- "water parameters are good".
-----what are the parameters and how did you measure them?
- "100% water change".
-----Please... No... Too much stress on the fish while going through the acclimation process.

Carefull...Newly made salt water should age 24 hours minimum.
Also, how were the fish acclimated?

 

[ectogamut]

I understand your concerns about stress bringing out disease in a fish. I am of the mindset that a qt is exactly where I want the stress and/or disease to occur. I failed to do that with my dt and now it's sitting fallow for another month.

Parameters:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrates - 0 (uncycled qt)
pH - 7.8
Alkalinity - 11 dkh
SG - 1.022

Measured using seachem kits and a refractometer.

A WC seemed to be my only option at the moment because if the fish was settling at the bottom of the tank I knew quick action would be necessary with such a quick decline. My experience is limited, but I surmise that I'm dealing with velvet here. If that is correct, the freshwater dip seemed to me to be the best way to give the fish immediate relief if his gills were clogged. Also, if it is velvet, I have to assume that there are tomonts attached to the tank. That means I've got to drain it entirely and scrub it or else I'd be putting the fish right back into a parasitic tank. That's why I posted pics here to help come up with a diagnosis. None has been made thus far, and I had to act. I believe the stress of a few tank transfers is much less than the stress of being suffocated by parasites.

The fish were acclimated with the drip method over a period of about an hour.

 

[ectogamut]

Here's a pic I took earlier with the overhead light off and a flashlight aimed at the fish. I read that that is a way to detect velvet on a fish
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[elfloyd]

All the answers you gave are good... you've studied and understand marine velvet. I can't say that is what is causing the problem... but could be. I'm sure you also know the best treatment for velvet is with copper in QT and letting the main tank sit fallow for a month. And keep the fish as stress free as possible.

 

[ectogamut]

The main tank has already been fallow for over two weeks now because the first set of snowflake clowns had ich. I certainly hope this isn't velvet because I know that it can kill quite quickly, but right now I dread using copper. I do have cupramine as well as copper test kits, but I'm just not confident dosing it as a new aquarist. I do hope that someone can take a look at these pics and give me a little more clarity. I know that losing fish is part of the hobby and it's inevitable, but man I really don't want to lose another clown. My goby and yellowtail damsel are looking very healthy after using the tank transfer method with them so I know I can handle a parasite infestation. I just hate not knowing what I'm dealing with here.

 

[jennm]

elFloyd beat me to the all the questions I'd have asked, especially about this fish 'never hitting LFS water'... buying out of the shipping box is seldom a good idea.

Uncycled QT, even if the water isn't showing ammonia/nitrite YET, isn't ideal but it's what you have to go with.

Dose some Prime - that will beef up their slime coat.

With their irregular markings I can't tell what is supposed to look wrong - can you get a better picture?

The rapid breathing is of most concern. How did you acclimate them? Especially the one that 'didn't hit LFS water' - hopefully it wasn't in a bag of nasty water during acclimation, that can burn the gills quickly.

Jenn

 

[ectogamut]

Actually it's the one that hit lfs water that is breathing hardest. The other is breathing a little faster but nothing I wouldn't put past stress. It is tough to see exactly what is going with those markings, but from what I can tell, the white seems to still be forming on the illest fish. I wish I could get a better picture but they're in a holding tub that just won't picture well at all.

I think I will take your advice and prime the water. At least then I can rule out ammonia and nitrite toxicity. The down side is that I won't be able to use a copper treatment in that water, but I don't care to do that if I can avoid it.

The water from the warehouse was pretty nasty, a rather dark shade of yellow. This prompted me to speed up the acclimation process because I was worried about the gills getting burned. I had the warehouse fish in the qt in about 40 minutes. I took a little longer with the Fish that had been in the lfs tank, but that same fish came from the same warehouse and I have no idea how long the lfs let it sit in the bag before transferring it. I should mention that I received two fish in warehouse bags on the same day. One did not make it through the night...maybe because it's gills were burned? But I took that one back to the lfs and they have me another that came with the same shipment.

 

[ectogamut]

After recounting all of this, I'm beginning to think that this fish may have some ammonia burn with the fish from the lfs taking a little more damage. To me, that seems more plausible than velvet because up until he was resting near the bottom of the tank he was very lively. Perhaps he was resting to try and give his gills a break? Ammonia burn is still bad, but I'd be happier to treat that than another parasite infection! Will continue to update.