Clown Help

A

Aquatic Pet

Reefing newb
I have posted in other areas, but i think its getting bypassed because I was a little confused.

I have a 55 gal tank with 60lbs Live sand, 60lbs Live Rock.

I added my first 2 fish, Ocellaris Clowns (other then my cleaner crew) and the one is doing great. The other one is doing bad! She is laying in the corner and seems to be gasping for air. She started yesterday and today she is doing much worst.

Honest, I dont know what is wrong with her. At first, I thougt temp was too high, then i thought maybe oxygen, then i thought maybe ich because i did see 2 little white spots, (but now i actually think that is actually part of the sand from her laying down).

She isnt eating and just basically lays down and moves every now and again. I do not have a QT to treat her for ich if that was the case and if I add copper to the tank, it will kill all the snails and shrimp.

Anyone have any ideas of what to do? I dont want to lose this little guy because my daughter has fell in love with this fish and will be crushed if it dies. PLEASE HELP!!!!
 
It's really tough to say, when something "hosts" a clown, they'll lay in it and only move every once in a while. It would really help if you could post a video of what it's doing. That way we could see if it's just normal clown behavior or something's wrong.
 
You'll need to either upload it to photobucket or YouTube and then paste the link into your post.
 
My fish did that exact thing due to poor gas exchange. He ended up dying because I did not know that my solid top was causing the problem until other posters pointed it out to me. Is part of your tank open and getting fresh air? A flap? A screen? Or do you have a solid top? Do you have flow directed at the surface causing ripples in the water? What are your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates testing at?
 
Sorry, Couldnt figure out how to post the video.

What i did last night was I took half the glass panels off and folded them back allowing the gas to exit. Now, half the tank is covered, and half is not. I noticed today that she is MUCH better then yesterday. She even ate a few pieces of food today! Which is HUGE becuase she hasnt really ate since i got her.

When I got up this moring, I looked her all over and dont even see any white spots that were there yesterday so i am thinking they were sand particals??? Still going to head to the LFS today and get some ich meds and do another water change

Also, I got my water temp down which i think may have had something to do with it as well. I bought a chiller from LFS yesterday and it definately worked lowering the temp.

How do you guys point your powerheads? My powerheads are on each side of the tank and about impossible to point at the surface. My protein skimmer puts off ripples in the water with the water flow. Do you think that is enough???
 
Glad to hear things are better!
The skimmer rippling the surface should be enough, I think the biggest thing was getting that top uncovered. Now, just watch out for fish jumping out! You may need a screen...
Make sure not to treat for ich unless you're sure that's what it is, maybe give it a few days. Also, clowns are tough, can usually fight off ich on their own if that is what it was....
 
I would hold off on treating for ich.

Sarah's right, those glass tops are terrible and pretty much unnecessary. Protein skimmers should be adding plenty of o2 into the tank - post some pics, if you can, of your tank, and maybe we can help a little more.

Pointing powerheads is going to depend on the brand...

Do you have a test kit for no2, no3, and ammonia?
 
SarahSmile said:
Glad to hear things are better!
The skimmer rippling the surface should be enough, I think the biggest thing was getting that top uncovered. Now, just watch out for fish jumping out! You may need a screen...
Make sure not to treat for ich unless you're sure that's what it is, maybe give it a few days. Also, clowns are tough, can usually fight off ich on their own if that is what it was....
Click to expand...

Ninja'd!
 
I'm sorry if you've stated this before; how long have the two been together? Have you ever noticed any aggression between them? Chasing, "dive-bombing"? That video looks very familiar to me, mine did the same thing, was getting beat up by the other clown. Once I removed the bully the panting and laying on the sand stopped and he swum around happy, for a day or so then died. It'd odd, and sad.
 
Mine would do this maybe once every few weeks, I'm forgetting now, then it would seem ok for a while. Eventually he was just too weakened. Well, that was kinda my own diagnosis.
 
Also, in my earlier post when I say that i had one die due to poor gas exchange I'm referring to my first fish, a chromis, and not the clown that died later due to bullying.
 
I bought them from a very repuitable place, Pacific East Aquaculture and they were already paired up. I added them on Friday. I NEVER see any bullying, as a matter of fact, at night the male goes to the bottom and lays with her. Its the wildest thing to watch. Fish spooning....LOL
 
Im sure the gas isnt a issue now. I have good air bubbles, top is off, i have a total of 4 outlets for powerheads, 2 pointed at the top to ripple the water and 2 pointed in the middle.
 
Oh, fish spooning, that is sweet.
Right, yes, I know you fixed the gas exchange, I just didn't want my posts to be confusing as I list the fish I've lost for various reasons. Which, seems like I didn't help that at all :)
I didn't realize you had JUST gotten the fish. Do you know if they were tank raised? Sometimes fish are caught using cynanide (tho I've not heard of it used with percs/occ) and they just don't make it thru the first few weeks. Did you drip acclimate them to the tank?
 
Yup, drip aclimated them to the tank. These are tank bred at PEA. I have checked my water and taken my water in to have it checked to make sure i wasnt missing anything and they say its fine. Frustrating!
 

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