Stressed/Sick Clownfish

I got two clownfish (ocellaris) this weekend and made the mistake of letting the helper at the fish store choose them for me (figured he knew more than a newbie like me). 

One clownfish is doing great.

The other clownfish is stressed or sick and it is missing part of its tail fin and part of one fin behind its gill.  The reason I think it is stressed or sick is that it hasn't eaten (at least not any of the huge variety of frozen or flake food food I put in) in almost two days, its dorsal fin isn't extended very often, its mouth is open wider when it breathes, and it breathes at least twice as fast as the other clownfish.  No other visible symptoms yet.  Fortunately it swims around a lot and it flirts with the other clownfish.  I've also noticed that it does a lot better (swims around even more and explores more parts of the tank) when I shut off the tank lights and just leave the room lights on.

Should I simply wait or should I risk stressing it more with a freshwater dip in formaldehyde or methylene blue?

Thanks Salty Fish People!

The two clownfish are the only fish in the tank.  The two clownfish are getting along very well.    Nothing is picking on the fish now, but it obviously got picked on previously by something.

I tried a huge variety of foods (in an effort to get the fish to eat) not a huge amount of food, but I will be careful not to overfeed.  Thanks!

So should I wait and hope things get better or should I do something?  I'm simply concerned whether the rapid breathing is something I should deal with (a parasite on the the little fellow's gills or something like that).

Thanks for any suggestions.

Sorry to hear about the sick fish.

There are only a few LFS employees in Utah that I would trust to that decision and only in a pinch!

It's your tank, don't trust fish selection to anyone.

You know more than you realize. Trust your judgement.

How did the sick one look when you placed it in the aquarium?

It's entirely possible that the two were both okay at the LFS, but did not get along that first night.

I'd be sure that there is plenty of hiding space and plenty of macroalgae in the tank. Do you have both of these? Call me if you need some.

clismi wrote: The fish looks the same now as it did when I got it home Saturday afternoon.

   Well, that narrows it down as to what could be wrong in your tank. I guess that now only time will tell. If it's active, I would just let it ride. As new as they are to the tank, it's normal IMO for fish not to eat much. I really don't think that there would be much you can do either way. Most of the time you can tell fin nips from a fungus, bacterial or parasitic infection. Just take a good look. If you see swelling, discoloration, sloughing, etc then you may be able to get rid of the infection.

My mated GSM's will often nipe eachother's fins during their lambadas, but it's usually the male who nips the female.

P.S.: Lesson learned I hope. Always inspect what you are buying. Always feel comfortable asking them to feed them to ensure that they eat before removing them from their tank. Always watch them swimming around and look for signs of illness. Just food for thought. Unless you're on a personal level with a store OWNER who you trust 100%, Mark is correct, don't allow a LFS to choose what's best for you.

Edited by Carl

try feeding some Cyclop-eeze its smaller and can help get him to eat...

The poor little fish died.    I lied to my daughter and told her the other fish was still in there somewhere hiding.  She is still looking for it so I better get the remaining clown fish a buddy soon.

Thanks for the help.   And yes, I did learn a lesson.  Actually, I learned it as soon as I got the fish home and I saw that it was in poor shape.  But thanks anyway to those of you that pointed out the lesson just to make sure I didn't miss it. 

Unfortunately my learning a lesson doesn't fix the dead fish.  .  I really hate it when animals die or I kill them!