Clownfish exhausted and laying on side breathing heavy

[Regmanabq]

Looking for some advice.

I came in tonight to do our weekly water change and feed my only fish and found her lying on the bottom of the tank hiding behind rocks in the back. This is not normal for this usually active fish who was fine yesterday afternoon.

(We also discovered a huge aptasia in the sand right near there and sucked him out and the surrounding sand right away with small hose during water change.)

Once she saw me she swam around on the bottom on her side for a bit, but all bent. Did not eat.
Then she got in a hole in the rocks and finally came out a while later to lie in the back corner of the tank.

We did a quick 20% water change, tested everything, and changed out my charcoal and filter pad in case of something in the column as the last 10% water change was a week ago but the filter pad was changed on tues and thurs.

She seemed to perk up a bit, but then she swam (struggling a bit) to the top around my gyre, got caught in the gyre flow, and could not counter it, so she flew around the tank a bit in a circle until I could hit the kill switch on the gyre.

Now she's lying on the rocks, panting and not moving much at all.

Any advice would be welcome.

---------
Tank: Biocube 32
Tank was established in april of 2023.
Clowns were introduced in June.
Her partner died Sept? Oct? last year from what we all thought was brook. (my first thought was the mysis shrimp was too big, but ton's of advice thought brook and he died about three weeks later. more on this in a min)

Nitrate: 1
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
phos: .03 *still having issues with my phos and hair algae
PH: 8.2 before change / 8.3 after
Temp: 79.3 (normal is 79 - 79.5)
ALK: 7.2

Magnesium: 1335 (I was keeping this around 1500 last year by just adding a 5% extra on the A and B from my B-ionic salt mix, but all this year it's been in the 1320-1350 range as I just started doing the regular amount)
Calcium: 483 (been 480 - 500 for over a year)

Recent changes:

Birdsnest developed some infection early aug after falling into sand. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...s-after-fall-into-sand.1067407/#post-12752908

2 emerald crabs introduced early Aug. One died a week later, the other has been doing well. Been spot feeding him mysis twice a week. *and on friday I saw the clown grab a huge chunk of mysis. At the time I thought "oh lordy, that's when the other clowns issues started" but shrugged it off at the time. Now this fish is acting just like the other one did.


Can clowns get sick from eating food that's too big?

See vids.

Not sure what else to share. I'm tired and stressed. She's tired and stressed. Everyone's in bed.... Hoping we make it through the night.

See pics and vids: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7Hu11UkZHJPfhRfP6

 

[Regmanabq]

Update: She found a nice resting spot hopefully for the night and seems to be breathing a little better?

New video by Reg Roark

photos.app.goo.gl

I turned my gyre down to max 25% (usually 60-70) didn't want to leave it off all night and endanger the corals and inverts in the tank and she's safe from hard flow where she is for now.

Turning out the lights and letting us both calm down a bit and rest. This fish has been doing great for a year. I hate to see her like this and have no idea what happened.

aptasia sting?
big food or bad shrimp?
brook, (after a year, that came in on a crab?) or did she just get herself in a jamb somewhere and hurt her back or worse (she seemed able to navigate the small passage between the rocks though)?
Bacterial infection (coral had one, so????)

I don't see any change in color, flukes, ich, any slime, nothing obvious I can see on gills or mouth or anywhere. Her eyes may look a little weird?, but not like the other that had brook/dropsy, and looking at past photos I'm not sure they do look weird tonight, it could be in my head as she has always had a bit of an intense stare.

REFERENCE VID FROM FEB: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4VKrcu6GdebDHGZs8

I think she looks perfectly normal save for laying down all bent around and breathing hard. Looking at her now in her little cave, I'd expect her to dart out and bite me like she does when working in the tank. She's very active and protective...

Looking at the apex logs, nothing seems odd. the only oddity is PH went up to 8.37 at 79.6 degrees at midnight, but I did have the lights on full for quite a bit to take videos and see what I could see and it is 80+ degrees outside.

Return's working fine, heaters are working fine.
Apex is working fine.
Hydros is working fine.

The water is a little dirty now as I disturbed the sand a bit during water change as I didn't want to disturb her in her corner by overflow, and there's some greenish build up on the glass since last weeks water change.
.
but water is usually clear with good parameters except for our two month long battle with hair algae and phos control and low nitrates which I've been trying to fix by overfeeding some and brought from 0 to 1 since aug 9.

Tests tonight show no big change from Aug 9.

I probably could do a little more of a deep clean on the tank, but parameters were fine and the corals are doing great. I was just thinking that "everything's looking pretty good" and we all know how that can end up!

Sorry to go on. Just making sure I give the right info for anyone kind enough to take a look. Thanks all!

 

[fishguy242]

She looks very thin ? #fishmedic

 

[Regmanabq]

She looks very thin ? #fishmedic

She's always about that size.

I think I over feed if anything

 

[Regmanabq]

She's always about that size.

 

[fishguy242]

Experts will arrive shortly, best wishes...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Update: She found a nice resting spot hopefully for the night and seems to be breathing a little better?

New video by Reg Roark

photos.app.goo.gl

I turned my gyre down to max 25% (usually 60-70) didn't want to leave it off all night and endanger the corals and inverts in the tank and she's safe from hard flow where she is for now.

Turning out the lights and letting us both calm down a bit and rest. This fish has been doing great for a year. I hate to see her like this and have no idea what happened.

aptasia sting?
big food or bad shrimp?
brook, (after a year, that came in on a crab?) or did she just get herself in a jamb somewhere and hurt her back or worse (she seemed able to navigate the small passage between the rocks though)?
Bacterial infection (coral had one, so????)

I don't see any change in color, flukes, ich, any slime, nothing obvious I can see on gills or mouth or anywhere. Her eyes may look a little weird?, but not like the other that had brook/dropsy, and looking at past photos I'm not sure they do look weird tonight, it could be in my head as she has always had a bit of an intense stare.

REFERENCE VID FROM FEB: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4VKrcu6GdebDHGZs8

I think she looks perfectly normal save for laying down all bent around and breathing hard. Looking at her now in her little cave, I'd expect her to dart out and bite me like she does when working in the tank. She's very active and protective...

Looking at the apex logs, nothing seems odd. the only oddity is PH went up to 8.37 at 79.6 degrees at midnight, but I did have the lights on full for quite a bit to take videos and see what I could see and it is 80+ degrees outside.

Return's working fine, heaters are working fine.
Apex is working fine.
Hydros is working fine.

The water is a little dirty now as I disturbed the sand a bit during water change as I didn't want to disturb her in her corner by overflow, and there's some greenish build up on the glass since last weeks water change.
.
but water is usually clear with good parameters except for our two month long battle with hair algae and phos control and low nitrates which I've been trying to fix by overfeeding some and brought from 0 to 1 since aug 9.

Tests tonight show no big change from Aug 9.

I probably could do a little more of a deep clean on the tank, but parameters were fine and the corals are doing great. I was just thinking that "everything's looking pretty good" and we all know how that can end up!

Sorry to go on. Just making sure I give the right info for anyone kind enough to take a look. Thanks all!

This fish is breathing at three times the normal breathing rate and while many of the images are fuzzy appears to be moribund in which it may not eat or swim normal moving forward.
How are you testing the water values?
Additionally fish has significant weight loss and a reason it may be weak that it was pulled into intake. Other than increasing aeration, there is nothing I can recommend to perk it up or treat it back to health with. Wish I had something more positive

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Sorry, I agree, there isn't really anything you'll be able to do for this fish. It is moribund, actively dying. I can't explain how it could have gotten this thin, but it might be due to some malabsorption issue - where the fish eats, but cannot properly assimilate the nutrients. That could be a genetic defect, or a disease. Fish don't have much in the way of fat storage, so when they get thin, they use their livers as food energy. That in turn causes liver failure.

That sort of gradual weight loss can sneak up on you and since you see the fish every day, it is difficult to notice. Did you see this fish actively go after food? Did it tend to spit food out after taking it in?

Jay

 

[Regmanabq]

Yes, up until the mysis this week she ate fine, would go after food with gusto, very active

I feel bad as I was busy this week, so have not been watching as closely as usual since friday so I don't know what happened

My bet is the danged mysis which is all in the trash now, but too late

And testing is via Hanna colorimeters with all current supplies.

Liver damage was the consensus with her partner. She was literally happy and fine Friday when I spent a lot of time with them. But the weekend was pop in to feed and she seemed ok sat, but Sunday I may have not looked carefully.

 

[Regmanabq]

Our gut is that she's clogged up since earlier in the week which fits the malabsorption.

It bad shrimp from god only knows what Chinese factory.

I don't know if that makes sense but same brand shrimp fed to two different fish with same symptoms within a week a year apart seems more than coincidence to me

I'm done with emeralds.. getting crabs keeps resulting in dead clowns within a couple weeks.

 

[Regmanabq]

Thanks for the help everyone.

She's gone to the great ocean beyond.

I'm heartbroken. Will learn and move on.

Still blaming the shrimp until I see some other evidence though.

Now to do a deep dive into the tank to make sure we don't have some other issue.

 

[Regmanabq]

It's a sad day in the reef as our Queen Gracie has moved on to the great ocean beyond.

RIP Gracie.... we will miss you and you'll always be a part of the reef as our first Queen.

I'm heartbroken. I love that fish. She's been a good friend this last year and provided me with countless hours of entertainment and companionship.

People think fish are just fish and stupid and you can't get attached. But I'm here to tell you they are smart, have personality, know a lot more than they get credit for and can become your friends.

I will miss her terribly.

It's sad to look at the reef now and not have her dart out of the rocks to swim right up in front of my eye to do a little flip and then stare at me as if to say "hey buddy, where's that food?"
Or to see her get so excited and start swimming around the tank in anticipation when she sees the food come out of it's cabinet.
or bite me when I put my hand in the tank for something or get in the way anytime I was doing delicate work as she had to keep a close eye on things. She was so protective of everything and everyone in there. I used to hate it. Now I'll miss it.

I work hard to make sure that all the animals that depend on me for survival get my all and I love them all too. Snails, crabs, corals and fish, it doesn't matter.

But Gracie was special. She was my first Queen and certainly acted the part! And she was so smart and full of personality.

I just feel like I failed her. Her health is my responsibility. The tanks health is my responsibility and I dropped the ball somewhere.

(no, it wasn't old age like many will think. she was only a couple of years old. I've had her over a year. Anything that happened to her now is on me.)

I'm so sad because I don't know what it was that got her to even learn to be a better fishkeeper.

BUT my bet is the mysis shrimp, probably from China.

My other clown, Georgie, got sick and died right after we started introducing shrimp and we went months before trying it again out of fear.

Even though all the experts told me that couldn't be it... I think it was. With the new crab we have since early Aug we thought to give it a go again to make sure everyone got a well rounded diet.

All the Experts say the shrimp is part of a healthy balanced diet.... but days after trying some shrimp we get sick? And it happened to both fish? Too much coincidence for me.

And now I feel horrible as I did consider that when deciding to give it to her. But everyone says it's not only ok, but good for them. I never should have strayed from the pellet food that was working fine??

We will just learn from this and move on and do better next time.
Safe travels Gracie, and thank you for being my friend.

And thank you all for listening. Few others understand how a fish dying can be so painful.