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Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 2/4/2007 2:56:49 PM
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| Hello, I was wondering if someone could tell me what to treat a clownfish that has something like this on it (it's the white puffy looking stuff just behind the first white bar). The clown is breathing somewhat heavily and has lost some interest in food so I am starting to get worried and would like to know what you would recommend for treatment. Thank you for your time.  :  
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Group: Moderators
Last Login: 10/7/2008 12:38:12 PM
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| Supernerd, Welcome to this forum. Nice pics of a beautiful clown. If you could post a close up (macro) of the area in question, that would be great. How long has the "puffy white" stuff been there? Is it spreading? At the base of the area is there any discoloration/redness? It is hard to tell from the pics, but it appears to be possibly lymphocystis. Lymphocystis is a viral infection so antibiotics (used to treat bacterial infections) will not help. How long have you had this clown? Is it wild caught or captive bred? What are you feeding it? Any recent changes to the tank - new additions, change in water parameters, death of a tank mate or invert, aggression or mating activity? At the moment, I would make sure all water parameters are within normal limits. Doing extra water changes wouldn't hurt either. Enrich the food with vitamins, garlic and beta glucan to boost the clown's immune system so it can fight off this pathogen. Some may suggest scraping the "white stuff" off with a razor blade - I would not recommend it as this will cause stress and could lead to a secondary bacterial infection. Again welcome and keep us posted.
Kelly
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Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 2/4/2007 2:56:49 PM
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Hi Kelly, That was a really quick response! Thanks for the welcome and compliment. I will try to get a better macro shot but it seems that the picture gets blurry when I try to focus past a certain point. Both clowns are wild caught and I've had them for maybe a little over a year. I first noticed this puffy white stuff (PWS) on the side/belly area of the smaller clown. It went away with time, recurred on the anal fin and then went away again. While the clown was infected "he" would swim with his anal and dorsal fins clamped, jerk about as if itchy and try to scratch himself against the rock/back of the tank, breathe heavily, and lose interest in food for a day or so before resuming feeding. The areas around his infection would also swell or become inflamed/red and appeared more like open sores or bruised injuries with PWS in the center. I am seeing the same symptoms in this fish now except for the clamped fins and open sores/redness. The PWS has been there for two days now and appears to be concentrated around the gill area and only on one side. My nitrates and ammonia are negligible but I do always seem to have a phosphate reading that does not seem to lower past a certain point. SG is 1.024-1.025. Ca maintained in upper 400s and I TRY to keep the alk in the mid 3s. Temp is maintained in the 80-82 range. I feed them mysid shrimp,flakes, formula 1 and 2 and cyclopeeze once or twice a day. Should I feed them more often and what else would you recommend? How do I add the vitamins, garlic and beta glucan and to which foods do I add them to? Up until now I have just been adding a portion of selcon to the frozen mysids I thaw in a cup. By the way...sorry for the white lines. I have no idea why my computer added them and cannot for the life of me get rid of them for this post.
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Group: Moderators
Last Login: 10/7/2008 12:38:12 PM
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Supernerd,
I still think we could be dealing with lymphocystis with this clown. The redness that the last clown had with the white spots could have been a secondary infection. Did you treat the last clown with anything or did it go away by itself?
This clown does not have redness so I would definitely enrich the food with vitamins, beta glucan and garlic. You can add the supplements to any of the foods you listed. Simply add/soak the other supplements with the selcon/food for about an hour before feeding. Increase the water changes over the next couple of weeks.
If you could post a macro pic, that would be great.
Keep us posted.
Kelly
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