What is wrong with my clown fish?

L

Larson

Reefing newb
I bought two "true" percula clown fish 5 days ago, they were acclimated and were doing fine until yesterday. One of the clown fish isolated himself to the upper corner of the fish tank. (I have a 20 gallon fish tank with about 7-9lbs of live rock.) The clown fish did not move very much and did not eat very much in fact maybe a small flake or two. Now a day later it continued to remain in the upper corner of the tank by himself while the other fish swam around like normal. I noticed the night before that the fish had white stringy poop continually coming out of him for about 10-20 minutes. Today he has not eaten any food at all and just tonight has for the first time since they have been in the tank receded into the live rock and lays on it. Some times he goes under a ledge lays on its side and floats up under the ledge and lays there like its dead. I have been giving them about 12 hrs of light, i feed them once a day a pretty good amount. The chemical levels are good but to me the fish looks unhealthy.

Like said before the other fish appears perfect and unaffected by what ever is affecting the sick one. Both have good coloration, the first night here both of there color had faded but came back when i turned the lights on. They have not faded since, and there are no spots.

Does anyone have any tips, opinions, or knowledge that could help me understand what is going on?
 
Could just be a bad fish. Happens sometimes. I would keep an eye on it and do exactly what you're doing.

Have you noticed any aggression between them at all? Did you get two difference sizes? Is the smaller one the one that's "sick"?
 
It was perfectly healthy at the LFS, there is no real size difference, and they were the only fish in the tank that i purchased them from, the store owner was trying to mate them because they seemed to pair up. I just recently started my tank, i have heard to wait about a month for the tank to stabilize so that was what i was doing. The store owner said that if i took the water from his tank with the fish in them, water that was already cycled that they would be fine. So i did so thinking he knew what he was talking about. I checked the chem levels yesterday and the nitrates/nitrites were very low and the ammonia was at 0.5 ppm so i did a 25% water change yesterday night. What do you think?
 
Usually you shouldn't put LFS water into your tank. Who knows what kind of chemicals they have put in the water? And maybe you should add a little more live rock. 9 pounds isn't enough. You should have about 1-2 pounds per gallon. It could have been the ammonia having an effect at them. Just keep up the water changes until its all good. And by the way, did you mix your salt water before putting it in the tank during your water change?
 
White stringy poop is generally indicative of a parasite.

Try some Prazi-Pro.

And FWIW, clowns staying in one part of the tank is totally normal behavior.
 
No i did not mix the salt water during the water change. Should i have? Would that effect anything?
Also i have read that white stringy poop is a sign of a parasite, could this be the case? if so how harm full can this type of parasite?

thank you for your help!
 
by nitrites and nitrates low...what do you mean, do you have a specific number?

If your ammonia is that high then that might be the case

clowns will swim apart from each other, my perculas did for the first week
 
What do you mean by mix? Like stir?

The nitrates and nitrites were a tad too low to be put to the scale that i have. if i continue doing water changes will i be able to keep the fish alive "theoretically".
 
what I do to mix my salt is throw it in a plastic trash can or container with a powerhead and heater...mix it like that for 24 hours

weird that you ammonia spiked like that, did you just wait a month or monitor the cycle? did you get a spike in ammonia/nitrite and then tested until it went to 0?
 
I was told to wait a month so everything could stabilize but then a LFS told me that if i took the water from the tank that the fish that i was going to buy then it would be fine because that water was already cycled. but it turns out he was most likely just trying to make a instant sale. I am new to this hobby so it made sense at the time. We buy our water from there as well it is "pre-mixed" so it is mixed to the perfect salinity.
what are your thoughts?
 
The water that you buy to do water changes is probably fine. I would invest in your own (drip) test kit so you can monitor your own parameters (and check their water) if you haven't already. A refractometer is also a good idea.

Very very little of the beneficial bacteria lives in the water column. It is all in the rock and in the sand. So using the water from an already established tank does little to nothing for you.

You should never add the water from the LFS' TANKS to your own system. Many of them treat right in the displays, so you never know what meds you're getting in the water.
 
I was told to wait a month so that everything would stabilize. But then the owner of the LFS told me that if i bought the water from the tank that the fish that i was going to buy was in that it would be fine because it has already been cycled. I am new to this hobby and it made sense to me at the time. Now that i look back at it i think he was just trying to make a sale because he also told me i needed a emperor 500 filter for my 20 gallon tank. With the information i have shared about the fish what are your thoughts do you think it will make it.
 
my thoughts are your tank prob didn't cycle if you are getting an ammonia spike like that with low nitrite and nitrate...did you buy a whole tank full of "cycled water" or just what was in the bag from the clowns?

there is nothing wrong with buying the pre-mixed water but I would still get a hydromter to test it
 
Larson said:
I was told to wait a month so that everything would stabilize. But then the owner of the LFS told me that if i bought the water from the tank that the fish that i was going to buy was in that it would be fine because it has already been cycled. I am new to this hobby and it made sense to me at the time. Now that i look back at it i think he was just trying to make a sale because he also told me i needed a emperor 500 filter for my 20 gallon tank. With the information i have shared about the fish what are your thoughts do you think it will make it.
Click to expand...


I started with a 14 gallon Biocube, 25 pounds of rock and sand. In my experience it is a very hard thing to keep everything in check and fish alive in a small tank, especially as a beginner. We then went to a 40 when Petco had their $1 per gallon sale. That was much better. We killed several fish in the small tank. A water testing kit like the APIis a must in a small tank. I was constantly checking my parameters. Good luck. I have the biocube set back up with a yellow watchman and a pistol shrimp, but my main display tank is a 90 now.
 
Best bet would be to bring the fish back to your LFS and make sure your tank runs a complete cycle before adding any. Also, a good idea would be to set up a Quarantine Tank to make sure new fish you get are healthy before adding them into a display tank. Good luck with whatever you decide though! :)
 

Similar threads

Mike
We're Back!
Replies
0
Views
649
Mike
Mike
G
What is this on my Dragon
Replies
0
Views
1K
Goofiegirll
G
Hellybell80
Corals dying
Replies
16
Views
3K
Hellybell80
Hellybell80
H
Peppermint shrimp dying
Replies
3
Views
1K
mark r ramsey
mark r ramsey
Hellybell80
Water quality advice needed.
Replies
4
Views
2K
Hellybell80
Hellybell80
Back
Top