Emergency STAT: 2 clowns breathing fast

[Matti]

awakenedd this morning to clowns huffing and puffing. am checking labs now. please someone with experienc3e call me. I'll pay for the call later.

Thanks,
Matti

 

[Matti]

Update: Fish Gallery in Dallas was open!! I pulled the anemone because the fish have been standoff-ish around her the last two days. Then I put in some oxygen for 1 hour. Right now, oxygen (via pump like for freshwater tanks) has been off for 15 minutes and they are not breathing heavily.

I do have some elevated nitrates and nitrites, so am anxious to go get some more RO salt water. Just did a water change yesterday. I think it's the anemone. I have isolated her outside the tank, and the poor fishlets are searching the tank for her.

Please feel free to send any advice!!

Thanks,
Matti

 

[Altohombre]

if you have nitrites then your tank is still cycling. Your clowns should not be in there. A cycling tank is like poisonous gas. Once your have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and 20 or less Nitrate, then you can add your clowns back. See if Fish Gallery will hold your fish for you while you finish your cycle.

 

[Bifferwine]

It could be oxygen or nitrites. If you have nitrites at anything but 0, your tank is definitely not a good environment for an anemone (or fish for that matter). Nitrites are extremely toxic, even at low levels.

You did the right thing by oxygenating the water more, you can buy a dissolved oxygen test kit to know for sure if that's a problem.

Let us know how things turn out.

 

[yote]

Matti
Do you have a power head rippling the surface of your water?If not,I suggest doing that.That will push the gas exchange of your water and up the dissolved oxygen.
Be carefull about posting you number too.Even though I would trust any of the members here in my home,we have no idea about guests that never start an account or post.And they can read what we post as well as the rest of us.

 

[UnderwaterWorld]

Check your salinity also

 

[chaosfinity]

The temperature of salwater reduces the amount of oxygen that saltwater so check your temperature and if its not 76-80 bring it down. Also since your fish are gaping at the surface look really close at there gills if they are any different color than the rest of the body then they have ammonia poisoning if not then you may not have enough oxygen in the tank.

To add oxygen use a powerhead to ripple the surface. Air pumps do not add oxygen to the tank because oxygen must be dissolved to enter the water column so at best they just break the surface of the water to help with oxygen exchange from the atmosphere. Also look at the surface of your water looking from the bottom if its got alot of crud use a fish net at the surface to try and remove some of the buildup.

If the gills are a different color then you need to do a large water change or get some Amquel Plus and use that in the tank to detoxify the ammonia it willl also detox the nitrite and nitrate. it is reef safe but its a last resort so check closely.

Sorry for the long answer just wanted to try and answer everything before you had to ask since it takes time to answer a question

 

[cthegame]

Can you provide a little bit more info about your tank. Is it currently going thru the cycle? If not, how long has it been running for? How often to do you to water changes, what is your salinity, etc.

It could be an oxygen issue but might not be...depends on many things...need more info.

By the way, posting your telephone number on any public board is not recommended...