Clownfish lying on bottom breathing heavy....help!

[piscivorous]

Nothing different than usual. I switch up what I feed them...pellets, flake, mysis....today I fed pellets and shortly after doing that I noticed my two clownfish (only fish in the tank), are lying on the bottom front corner of the tank....female in particular appears to be breathing heavy. I am concerned something is wrong. They don't really seem to do this type of behavior unless they are sleeping...and I don't ever see them like this on the bottom.

[Jacob D]

This is almost certainly Brooklynella ("brook"). Formalin baths will cure it, depending on how bad/how long the fish have had it they can make a recovery.

[Ben_Im]

This is almost certainly Brooklynella ("brook"). Formalin baths will cure it, depending on how bad/how long the fish have had it they can make a recovery.

I don't mean to be rude, but isn't this sort of a hasty diagnosis? It could be a a number of things just based on "heavy breathing".

[Jacob D]

Sure it could be a number of things. Nobody can give a 100% accurate diagnosis across an internet forum.

Clownfish are susceptible to brook, lethargy and heavy breathing are both symptoms of brook, no other fish in the tank are sick. Without any other information my suggestion would be to treat for brook, or if the OP cares to come back and provide some more info/ask questions it's up to them. In two days there were zero responses, so that is my suggestion. Maybe I should rephrase "almost certainly" to "likely to be".

I don't find your post rude, but somewhat odd that rather than contribute something useful to the OP's question you chose to call out my attempt to help.

[Ben_Im]

Sure it could be a number of things. Nobody can give a 100% accurate diagnosis across an internet forum.

Clownfish are susceptible to brook, lethargy and heavy breathing are both symptoms of brook, no other fish in the tank are sick. Without any other information my suggestion would be to treat for brook, or if the OP cares to come back and provide some more info/ask questions it's up to them. In two days there were zero responses, so that is my suggestion. Maybe I should rephrase "almost certainly" to "likely to be".

I don't find your post rude, but somewhat odd that rather than contribute something useful to the OP's question you chose to call out my attempt to help.

I was trying to help by preventing the OP from immediately taking your word and starting formalin dips as per your suggestion. I wasn't trying to blatantly call you out, rather let the OP know it could be a number of other things. I apologize if it came off the wrong way.

[Jacob D]

OK, I guess *I* came off wrong. I didn't take your post as rude or offensive but my point is, if you have some advice for the OP why are you focusing on my post rather than giving some helpful advice? Doesn't it go without saying that most symptoms can be caused by a number of things? If everything was black and white we wouldn't need forums such as this.

My suggestion is: if you have some more specific ideas add them to the thread without being a detractor. For instance you could have specifically suggested some of the other "number of other things", and/or asked the OP for more info. I could have initially done the same but I probably was half way through a four pack of Old Ras when I replied. Instead we now have this.

[jt_milstead]

Brook is the first thing i thought of as well. It would help if the poster would come back with more info.
Im curious as to how long hes had the clowns, if they were wild caught or tank raised, stuff like that.

[LisaD]

Me too. And if it is another gill parasite, formalin dip, properly done, should offer some relief.