[reefland89]

i have had my tomatoe clown for about 1 week add a half and the other day i noticed since the other day hes had white slime material on his back fin and noticed hes been going in my anemone latley so i was thinking hes protecting himself till a little more grew on his body and today i came home and he was laying on the sand ..what could this be ..this is a fairly new tank 20 g and about 1 month and half or so its been running is this going to harm any thing else that i put in the tank bacteria wise????

[reefland89]

i have had other fish in the tank little chromis damsels and there fine the water tested good and i have some live rock with a 30g biowheel

[Samper]

Were you ready to add fish when you did so and were they quarantined?

[leebca]

Anemonefish quite often have a disease known as brooklynellosis. I recommend the treatment of all newly acquired Anemonefishes for this disease whether they look like they have it, or not.

The conditions you described do fit the symptoms of that disease. However, there are other considerations here.

The 20 gallon display tank is not suitable for almost any marine fish. You may wish just to make it a reef display. The Tomato, for instance, can grow to an amazing 6" in captivity and should start out in an aquarium that is about 40 gallons. Even if this fish was under 0.5 inches (and thus only a baby) it would very quickly outgrow that size display tank.

The quarantine of all newly acquired marine life is one essential means of keeping healthy fish and making sure new fish don't kill other fish by bringing a disease into the display tank.

If you like to do some reading, check these out regarding quarantine:
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

and:
A Fish Quarantine Process

You'll find other information of interest in this one 'Table of Contents' post which contains links to other articles and posts. Check out:
Table/Contents - Link List

If you have questions, we're here to help.

[art_of_war]

That sounds a lot like Brooknella (aka. Clownfish disease). It's sad but hard to explain sometimes. If he/she is crashing to the bottom often, that is usually a pretty good sign of it.

Actually, 20 gallons is a fair size to use for a tomato clown. They can be territorial but not destructive. However, if your tank is fairly new...well...nevermind. I have to admit, that is kind of strange. I have a tomato (however, I'm thinking it's more like a cinamon) right now in an 8 gallon nano-reef and that thing is unbelieveably resilient. He's been living in that tank for well over a year; doing great and is very people responsive.

I don't like him that much but my wife won't let me keep that 8 gallon nano-reef unless I keep tomato too. Oh well.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by reefland89

i have had my tomatoe clown for about 1 week add a half and the other day i noticed since the other day hes had white slime material on his back fin and noticed hes been going in my anemone latley so i was thinking hes protecting himself till a little more grew on his body and today i came home and he was laying on the sand ..what could this be

I would have to agree with Lee that it could very well be Brooklynellosis. If so, that's bad news. Has it shown any improvement yet? Is it still alive? (P.S. -- Never mind. I just reread the title of your post and it appears that the tomato clown is already dead. Sorry.)

You would have to remove the fish and give it a bath/dip in a formalin solution. Copper doesn't work on Brooklynella.

What size is this fish? Do you know if it was wild-collected or captive-bred? Captive-bred clownfish from reliable sources are not likely to have parasite problems.

..this is a fairly new tank 20 g and about 1 month and half or so its been running is this going to harm any thing else that i put in the tank bacteria wise????

Yes, if it's Brook or Velvet, it can be passed on to other fish in the tank. Both are parasites.

As Lee has already pointed out, a 20-gal tank is definitely too small for any of the larger species of clownfish. A tomato clown requires at least a 40-gal tank.