My clown fish is swimming/floating at the top of the tank...

dhutchinson

Reefing newb
Hello!

Does anyone know why my clown fish would be floating at the top of the tank. His eye is above the water level even. He started by swimming vertical for a week or so and now he looks like he's dying but I wondered if there was something I could do??
 
Is the surface of the tank still or rippled? More agitation of the surface is what gains you Oxygen.
Have you tested your water parameters?
Have you added any new fish recently?
 
+1 everyone...my clown has decided he is in love with my overflow (even gets sucked in once in a blue moon)...yet he stays there...unless it's feeding time. He wiggles vertically half the time. I've had him since day 1.

If you have enough water movement, then he should be ok. We would need more info on your tank, parameters, etc to make any better guesses if he is sick. But clowns are clowns, like jc said.
 
My clowns always act dopey...and I have 4 (two pairs in two seperate tanks). One minute they look dead while the next theyre playing with my fans...love those lil fellas
 
That's totally normal from what I've seen of clowns throughout the years. Especially at night, they just float in a corner, wiggling once in a while to stay there. My new black perc loves the return line and disperser, and always the same one. He also spends quite a bit of time vertical in the same area in the corner, during the day part of the time. They are unlikely to be sick if nothing else is, they are very hardy fish usually. Just think of them as hosting an imaginary anemone. Unless there are obvious signs like external parasites or gulping for air.
 
The only time i had an issue is when i added a phosphate remover....began to sufficate the fish...if you didnt add anything i wouldnt worry....nemos are some strange yet cool fish
 
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