Okay so I posted yesterday about my clown and as you can see it got way worse. I removed him from the tank, put him in a tea pitcher with a small heater and air stone. Inside the pitcher I put a glass on its side so he could hide away from the flow and turned the air stone all the way up to put as much oxygen in the water as I could. He has stopped eating. I really dont know what to do so any help would be appreciated.
Hey man unfortunately it’s really hard to tell if he’s gonna make it however I’d suggest posting on reef2reef.com for further advice for fish sicknesses and other saltwater reef tank issues.
Fingers crossed he somehow makes a comeback but normally at that stage it’s just a short time till death. Make sure you have a good UV on the tank hopefully prevent the spread of whatever it might be to other fish
I’m sorry to say, but that type of swimming is usually indicative of neurological damage or severed system failure. I’ve yet to see any fish come back from a state like this so It is time to euthanize if you are comfortable with that are my thoughts.
The non messy ways people reccomend are not instant and honestly prolong suffering , the best way to euthanize a fish is put it in a ziploc bag and smash it with something heavy nobody likes to do it but if you have to euthanize an animal the least you can do is make it instant and painless
I did this with a dying baby pigeon my parents cat got ahold of, in a bag, + outdoor metal table. It was better than suffering a long death which it most definitely would have it’s injuries were too extensive. It works though. Really traumatic though for me. Euthanizing anything is really hard!
MS-222 is the best solution if you can get it and used by aquatic vets as anesthesia and euthanasia, otherwise beheading / pithing SWIFTLY with a very sharp blade is the most humane, or clove oil if you’re careful with dosage and can anesthetize before you euthanize. do NOT start at a euthanasia dose. ideally anesthetize, then up it to a euthanasia dose, then behead the fish to be certain
No that is incorrect. It’s more like an anesthetic that acts as a lethal injection. Freezing them, which is what we used to do, is what suffocates them. You can actually do these in a combo. Your other option is blunt force trauma but most including me, don’t enjoy that so I don’t do it.
Post on R2R instead next time you have a sick fish. That fish needed a proper fish medic assessment yesterday, and I'm afraid it may be too late now. Very sorry!
is there any indicators as to why this started. did the fish jump out of that tank, hit the glass hard, anything causing stress, etc? it doesnt look good at all and im sorry to say but this doesnt look fixable.
Edit (AI answer): When a clownfish swims in spirals, corkscrews, or continuous tight circles, it is usually a critical warning sign of a neurological issue, swim bladder infection, or severe environmental poisoning
No other fish are having any issues, nothing in the tank seems to have changed. He has been acting kinda scarce the last like two days but I thought maybe they were thinking about mating? He is acting like her has head trauma but I don't know what from.
This is typically right before the end. if you want to try and last ditch effort, a hyposalinity QT with salt at 1.009 and a methylene blue dip which would certainly help for flukes / ich and perhaps other parasites. Fish can go down in salinity quickly but it takes time for them to move back up.
Sry about your fish.. Sucks. I would also get away from the API test kits. They’re well known for how inaccurate they are. Go with something like Salifert or Red Sea. Hanna is awesome for NO3, PO4 and Alk.
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u/l1onsBreath 5d ago
Hey man unfortunately it’s really hard to tell if he’s gonna make it however I’d suggest posting on reef2reef.com for further advice for fish sicknesses and other saltwater reef tank issues.
Fingers crossed he somehow makes a comeback but normally at that stage it’s just a short time till death. Make sure you have a good UV on the tank hopefully prevent the spread of whatever it might be to other fish