Scott Bennett
January 3rd 04, 08:29 PM
I’m looking for advice on possible diagnoses and treatment for a
possibly sick clown and gramma in my reef tank. Trouble is, the
symptoms are rather non-specific; I’m afraid I “shocked” them doing a
water change and so wonder if I can/should do anything other than let
them be. The message below is long in the interest of completeness.
Tanks specs are as follows. 75G, 100Lbs LR, tank’s been stable for 8
weeks with ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 8.2-8.3. The inhabitants
include 2 3-stripe damsels, 1 true percula clownfish, 1 royal gramma, 1
rock blenny. Also 2 emerald crab, 3 peppermint shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 1
black cucumber, about 40 snails, 1 xenia coral.
The concern is for the gramma and clownfish, especially the clown.
They’ve both been in the tank and doing well for a while, the clown and
damsels have been there 8 weeks, the gramma about 6, the blenny about 3.
Today is Saturday; on Thursday I noticed the clown mainly just
hovering in one spot near the bottom rather than swimming all over as he
usually does. Also starting on Thursday, I started to not see the
gramma very much (he’s alive, but has been visible maybe 2x a day rather
than swimming around). The gramma looks normal when he comes out. On
the clown, I can maybe see some things that could be wrong, but it’s
hard to tell: his dorsal fin is lowered (this isn’t normal for him), he
has one dark greyish spot on one side (but he’s had that there for at
least a couple of weeks), he maybe has some growth inside/on his top lip
but it’s hard to tell, and he maybe has a couple of white spots on one
side (they are NOT all over), but I think I have noticed a spot or two
before and it hasn’t bothered him. No white fungus all over, no thready
stuff. Neither the clown nor the gramma are eating much the past day or
two, certainly not like usual, as they usually come right out when I put
food in.
Friday I set up my quarantine tank with anti-fungal medicine, and tried
to catch the clown (Friday and today), but couldn’t (he retreated into
the rock). I hate to terrorize him with further chasing.
The only thing I can think of that happened about this time is that I
cleaned the tank of algae, stirred up quite a bit of detritus for a bit,
and did a pretty big water change (about 20% total, fighting algae) over
Tuesday and Wednesday evening. In hindsight, I suspect that on the
Wednesday change I didn’t heat up the replacement salt water to near
tank temp, and so I am afraid that I “shocked” the fish with a temporary
temperature drop. Could this be making them behave oddly? Any other
ideas? I’ve read about shock bringing out dormant parasitic infections
and wonder if this is explaining what I see on the clown. Then the real
question is what to do – keep working to corner the clown and get him
out to medicine, or just leave them in, keep calm, and hope they make
it? The water quality still tests as good per above.
Grrr – I thought I was past the hard part of the tank setup/learning
curve and onto successful fish-keeping… Thanks for reactions/advice.
possibly sick clown and gramma in my reef tank. Trouble is, the
symptoms are rather non-specific; I’m afraid I “shocked” them doing a
water change and so wonder if I can/should do anything other than let
them be. The message below is long in the interest of completeness.
Tanks specs are as follows. 75G, 100Lbs LR, tank’s been stable for 8
weeks with ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 8.2-8.3. The inhabitants
include 2 3-stripe damsels, 1 true percula clownfish, 1 royal gramma, 1
rock blenny. Also 2 emerald crab, 3 peppermint shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 1
black cucumber, about 40 snails, 1 xenia coral.
The concern is for the gramma and clownfish, especially the clown.
They’ve both been in the tank and doing well for a while, the clown and
damsels have been there 8 weeks, the gramma about 6, the blenny about 3.
Today is Saturday; on Thursday I noticed the clown mainly just
hovering in one spot near the bottom rather than swimming all over as he
usually does. Also starting on Thursday, I started to not see the
gramma very much (he’s alive, but has been visible maybe 2x a day rather
than swimming around). The gramma looks normal when he comes out. On
the clown, I can maybe see some things that could be wrong, but it’s
hard to tell: his dorsal fin is lowered (this isn’t normal for him), he
has one dark greyish spot on one side (but he’s had that there for at
least a couple of weeks), he maybe has some growth inside/on his top lip
but it’s hard to tell, and he maybe has a couple of white spots on one
side (they are NOT all over), but I think I have noticed a spot or two
before and it hasn’t bothered him. No white fungus all over, no thready
stuff. Neither the clown nor the gramma are eating much the past day or
two, certainly not like usual, as they usually come right out when I put
food in.
Friday I set up my quarantine tank with anti-fungal medicine, and tried
to catch the clown (Friday and today), but couldn’t (he retreated into
the rock). I hate to terrorize him with further chasing.
The only thing I can think of that happened about this time is that I
cleaned the tank of algae, stirred up quite a bit of detritus for a bit,
and did a pretty big water change (about 20% total, fighting algae) over
Tuesday and Wednesday evening. In hindsight, I suspect that on the
Wednesday change I didn’t heat up the replacement salt water to near
tank temp, and so I am afraid that I “shocked” the fish with a temporary
temperature drop. Could this be making them behave oddly? Any other
ideas? I’ve read about shock bringing out dormant parasitic infections
and wonder if this is explaining what I see on the clown. Then the real
question is what to do – keep working to corner the clown and get him
out to medicine, or just leave them in, keep calm, and hope they make
it? The water quality still tests as good per above.
Grrr – I thought I was past the hard part of the tank setup/learning
curve and onto successful fish-keeping… Thanks for reactions/advice.