Firefish sick

[magicSmoke]

Hey everyone! I noticed my firefish showing signs of distress yesterday and when I came home today, he seems to have gotten much worse.

He is breathing heavily, low energy/movement, ragged fins. Maybe some marks on his side?

A while back, my clowns became territorial and started nipping at his fins. Once I removed them from the tank, he healed up nicely and whatever this is seems to be very sudden.

I currently have him in a quarantine tank but don't know where to start treatment. Any advice or insight into what this could be is greatly appreciated!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone! I noticed my firefish showing signs of distress yesterday and when I came home today, he seems to have gotten much worse.

He is breathing heavily, low energy/movement, ragged fins. Maybe some marks on his side?

A while back, my clowns became territorial and started nipping at his fins. Once I removed them from the tank, he healed up nicely and whatever this is seems to be very sudden.

I currently have him in a quarantine tank but don't know where to start treatment. Any advice or insight into what this could be is greatly appreciated!

This is a delicate fish subject to aggression and may have reoccurred with clowns who are territorial.
Fish will have to be isolated for best chance of healing. This really does not require treatment but isolation from culprits

 

[magicSmoke]

This is a delicate fish subject to aggression and may have reoccurred with clowns who are territorial.
Fish will have to be isolated for best chance of healing. This really does not require treatment but isolation from culprits

The clownfish were removed from this tank about 2 months ago and, since then, the firefish had healed very quickly and was back to normal within 2 weeks.

The symptoms I have described above were very sudden (within the past 2-3 days) and I have not seen any other fish being territorial with him. All of the other fish/inverts are also acting fine with no signs of illness or stress.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The clownfish were removed from this tank about 2 months ago and, since then, the firefish had healed very quickly and was back to normal within 2 weeks.

The symptoms I have described above were very sudden (within the past 2-3 days) and I have not seen any other fish being territorial with him. All of the other fish/inverts are also acting fine with no signs of illness or stress.

Are you providing it a place to hide (tubes, etc) Heavy breathing may be elevated ammonia, gill flukes or intimidation from others. Often fish are on their best behavior when in your presence.

 

[magicSmoke]

Are you providing it a place to hide (tubes, etc) Heavy breathing may be elevated ammonia, gill flukes or intimidation from others. Often fish are on their best behavior when in your presence.

He has many hiding spaces away from the established territory of other fishes.

I will keep an eye on him for now and dose some stress guard to help heal his injuries.

 

[vetteguy53081]

He has many hiding spaces away from the established territory of other fishes.

I will keep an eye on him for now and dose some stress guard to help heal his injuries.

Stress guard wont do much . good water quality and diet however will help

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey everyone! I noticed my firefish showing signs of distress yesterday and when I came home today, he seems to have gotten much worse.

He is breathing heavily, low energy/movement, ragged fins. Maybe some marks on his side?

A while back, my clowns became territorial and started nipping at his fins. Once I removed them from the tank, he healed up nicely and whatever this is seems to be very sudden.

I currently have him in a quarantine tank but don't know where to start treatment. Any advice or insight into what this could be is greatly appreciated!

The ragged tail fin is the only real clue in the photo. Has it been with no other fish? Did the fin heal up completely after the first issue with the clowns, or is this damage leftover from that?

Rapid breathing in this case is a sign of gill disease - the two most commonly seen would be protozoans or flukes. Given the fin damage, I’d lean towards flukes. Prazipro dosed twice, 8 days apart would be a good treatment for that.

Jay