Injured or ill clownfish help

[Kai]

I posted on R2R as well so I apologize if any of you are seeing this twice, I'm just very concerned as a new fish parent.
Today I started to observe my fish in QT properly, I never bothered much before because they came from a system with low dose copper and I figured that it would take a while for anything to show if it was going to. I got my two clownfish on June 24, and my neon goby and kaudern's cardinal on July 4th. They're all in the same QT.
Today I noticed that my smaller clownfish has what looks like an injury or chunk missing to his right gill. It looks almost like (sorry) when you gut a fish and take a knife down the gill for... well you get the picture. A little part of the black is missing, and it looks like it's physically indented somewhat and the gill seems to be peeled away almost. I can't 'see' the gill on my other clown, or on this clown's left side, yet you can see it on his right.
My ammonia is .5ppm from a test kit that reads a constant .25 on a fully cycled tank. As soon as I took the reading for ammonia I did a double dose of Prime. Many people on R2R were saying it was ammonia poisoning but I don't believe it is for the following reasons:

I looked up pictures, and many of the pictures seem to be more 'rash' like, like a patchy area, blended out without any clean lines where it stops. This is a very cut and clean mark and with it only being in the little 'bite' area and along the gill. @Humblefish 101 says it's a "redness around the gill areas" but this is a very distinct 'chunk' of red with a distinct start and stop.

He's not the smallest fish in the tank, the neon goby is and he seems fine (I had originally posted worried about the red coloration by his neck but I'm pretty sure now that it's just his coloring again based on my google image searches). So if it was ammonia poisoning, wouldn't more than just the one fish have something? I understand the cardinal is larger, maybe more hardy, but 1/4 fish make me question that.

That aside, if it was ammonia poisoning on the little clown, why is it exclusive to one gill? Even if for some reason his immune system was just worse at dealing with the ammonia than the others, why is it isolated to a single side?

I did a five minute FW dip thinking it might be flukes in his gills and I didn't seem to notice anything that fell off him. I mostly want second opinions because I feel that because of the dozen people telling me to check my ammonia that nobody will read to any of my questions about why it might not be.

In this last one you can even see a bit of what I mean with how his gill seems to be out from his body.

 

[Mark_C]

You'll find a lot of police that specialize in certain areas.
There's Tang Police, Quarantine Cops, etc...
When one offers a response, the others will jump in to agree, as they think the first guy or gal responding knows what's up. Ignore them for the most part.

I am the first responder here, so probably best to ignore me as well.

BUT!

IMHO!

First! Knock ammonia off the list. The rest of the tank is fine. No-one is suffocating and there are no lesions on other fish.

That's a clean cut on that fish, no rot, no disease.
Could be a bite, or he could have dashed and hit a rock.
Perhaps he donated it to another fish in need of a gill.

Watch to see if he's being bullied, which is a common occurrence with clowns and leads to a lot of losses. It can start at any time, and if he is being bullied he won't last long, a few days at most, so catch and adopt him (or the aggressor) out.

Sit back, chill, don't worry, don't over-analyse.

If there seems to be no bullying, and maybe this was a scrape on a rock or a random nip, you could drop in some EM Erythromycin, which helps with wounds, gill damage, open lesions, and potential fungal infection (following wound), and let things run the course.
It won't harm any livestock.

Worry about systemic problems if other fish start showing signs.

Its your tank, you know what it looks like, you'll eventually know its feel... go by that.

 

[Kai]

When you go to a large site you'll find a lot of police that specialize in certain areas.
There's Tang Police, Quarantine Cops, etc...
Ignore them for the most part.

And knock ammonia off the list. The rest of the tank is fine. No-one is suffocating and there are no lesions on other fish.

Thats a clean cut, could be a bite, or he could have dashed and hit a rock. Doubt any disease process.

Watch to see if he's being bullied, which is a common occurrence with clowns and leads to a lot of losses. If he is being bullied he won't last long, a few days at most, so catch and adopt him or the aggressor out.

Sit back, chill, don't worry, don't over-analyse.

If there seems to be no bullying, and maybe this was a scrape on a rock or a random nip, you could drop in some EM Erythromycin, which helps with wounds, gill damage, open lesions, and potential fungal infection (following wound), and let things run the course.
It won't harm any livestock, but will cull some of the bacterias that may be beneficial.
So, I'd also dose, after 24 hours, with Special Blend (can not recommend enough, I use it on a regular basis).

Worry about systemic problems if other fish start showing signs.
Don't go crazy modifying things based on things you've read - as long as the rest of the tank is doing well there's no need.

Its your tank, you know what it looks like, you'll eventually know its feel... go by that.

Thank you!! I'm so glad to have someone that I would trust back up my thoughts. A lot of the people telling me that it was ammonia poisoning were fairly new members, which I know doesn't mean new to the hobby, but there's no way to tell their credibility. I already lost one fish in the tank and I have gotten rather attached to this little guy. He's smaller than a quarter. I definitely read too many threads on terrible diseases wiping out tanks that is good for me so I got very worried it might be the start of something. I'll certainly watch closely to make sure nothing develops on any of them.

I have an isolation box which I could throw him in if I notice anything. I'm trying to watch for bullying now and will isolate someone if needed. I'll see if I can find those things locally or will place an order, I don't want a little scratch or nip to turn into something bigger.

 

[Mark_C]

Erythromycin is a first line broad spectrum antibiotic, meaning it can wipe out a number of different bacterial infection with minimal disruption.
You can find it on Amazon or in most big shops like Petco, Petsmart, etc. Runs about $10.
May not be needed, but may prevent possible infection.
If you decide to go with a dose, sooner is better.

 

[Kai]

Erythromycin is a first line broad spectrum antibiotic, meaning it can wipe out a number of different bacterial infection with minimal disruption.
You can find it on Amazon or in most big shops like Petco, Petsmart, etc. Runs about $10.
May not be needed, but may prevent possible infection.
If you decide to go with a dose, sooner is better.

I'll go out and get it tomorrow then, I want to make sure he doesn't catch anything. Should I treat that fish on it's own, or the whole tank?

 

[Mark_C]

I can't say. Your call.
The treatment is minimally disruptive, but will kill some good bacteria in your rocks and sump.
But isolating the fish adds to its stress level, especially after a freshwater dip, which increases susceptibility to stress related probs (ich).
I've treated twice for fish injury in tank.
I've dosed the antibiotics and turned off skimmer for 24 hours.
When I restart the skimmer I dose with 'Special Blend' to compensate for good bacteria loss (though I dose with this on a regular basis).

Please don't take my responses as Gospel, but as opinion via my experience.
Let a few others weigh in and catch their opinions and suggestions over the next day or two.

 

[Kai]

I can't say. Your call.
The treatment is minimally disruptive, but will kill some good bacteria in your rocks and sump.
But isolating the fish adds to its stress level, especially after a freshwater dip, which increases susceptibility to stress related probs (ich).
I've treated twice for fish injury in tank.
I've dosed the antibiotics and turned off skimmer for 24 hours.
When I restart the skimmer I dose with 'Special Blend' to compensate for good bacteria loss (though I dose with this on a regular basis).

Please don't take my responses as Gospel, but as opinion via my experience.
Let a few others weigh in and catch their opinions and suggestions over the next day or two.

Sounds good, I'll keep open to what others come up with, they're in a somewhat cycled QT so it wouldn't disrupt too much with the biological filter so I think I'll do that to start. I was planning to start TTM this weekend anyway finishing up with getting them into the DT but I'll keep them a bit longer now just to be sure.

 

[Humblefish]

Regarding the positive ammonia reading:

1. What test kit are you using?
2. Are there any chemicals/meds in the water which could be interfering with the ammonia test kit reading?

 

[MadReefer]

It does look a fresh wound from fighting or scraped some how. I'm no expert either; just keep an eye it and everyone else.
I never used Erythromycin in a SW tank so cannot comment.

 

[Kai]

Regarding the positive ammonia reading:

1. What test kit are you using?
2. Are there any chemicals/meds in the water which could be interfering with the ammonia test kit reading?

It's an API test kit, there is nothing in the water except Prime and some bottled bacteria, no medications.

 

[Kai]

It does look a fresh wound from fighting or scraped some how. I'm no expert either; just keep an eye it and everyone else.
I never used Erythromycin in a SW tank so cannot comment.

I'm watching them carefully today, unless fish have really sensitive scales that injure easily I can't imagine what he might have scraped himself on. He loves the submarine which is all smooth ceramic. There's the little castle but it doesn't have any really sharp edges, and the PVC which makes me worry it's a case of bullying.
There was some nipping at first when I had gotten the first two clownfish, but nothing major as they just established who was the bigger fish but now they're often swimming together. I hate to think it might be the cardinal just because he seems the least pleased with being in QT, very jumpy and skittish, hides whenever I'm near, that sort of thing.

 

[Humblefish]

It's an API test kit, there is nothing in the water except Prime and some bottled bacteria, no medications.

API test kits are notoriously inaccurate. You'll get better results using a Red Sea or Giesemann ammonia test kit.

It does look like an injury to me; either self-inflicted from scraping himself or from the other clownfish.