Help, Sick clown

[ForumPete58]

Please help, I have a pink skunk clown in my tank that is not looking too good. I have had him for a few weeks and my tank is cycled. I have just started to notice that the fish is swimming a little strange and he has a few little bubbles on him. I am not sure if the bubbles mean anything but it is swimming a little off and not eating well. Also I have a yellow stripe maroon clown that is having some trouble with his fins. On a couple of them the ends are getting a little frayed. I do not think the clowns are fighting but I dont know what they do when I'm asleep. I also have two damels that are doing great. Please help.
Thanks,
Matt

[OrionGirl]

Water parameters? Any aggression? Damsels and clowns are in the same family, and not well known for being compatible. The skunks are typically less aggressive than both maroons and most damsels, so could be getting the brunt of the abuse.

[ForumPete58]

As far as my water goes, My Nitrates are at about 15 ppm, Nitrates are between 0-.25ppm, Ammonia is also between 0-.25ppm, and pH is right at 8.2. As for aggression, I have never seen any of them act up. They are always very nice. But like I said I'm not sure what they do when the lights are off. I'm sorry to say te Skunk has died. The rest of the fish are all very active and hungry. Although the problem still remains with the Maroon clowns' fins.
Thanks,
Matt

[OrionGirl]

Were the clowns exposed to high ammonia/nitrites previously? Could be a case of a weakened immune system allowing an infection that lingers after the initial exposure--but in my gut I would still be suspicious of the damsels and the maroon. In smaller tanks, they can be lethal. I had a pair of perculas that killed a maroon within 24 hours--they didn't go after it when first introduced, but the next day, while I was at work, they beat the heck out of it. By the time their treachery was discovered, it was far too late to save the maroon. This was in a 65, with lots of rock work and hiding places, too.

[ForumPete58]

I did have the clowns in while cycling. Do you think it is possible that the damsels are beating up on the maroon? The damsels do not show any sign of trouble, only the maroon. The tank I am using is a 55. The clown would often hide in what rocks I do have for cover. Now that my tank is cycled I would like to switch up my livetock a little bit. Would it be alright if I was rid of the two damsels, and kept the maroon. Would it be a problem if I were to get a lion, a panther grouper, and an atlantic cow. I understand that all of those fish will probably outgrow my 55 in a relatively short period of time. But I do not plan on keeping the fish for that long of time.
Thanks for your help,
Matt

[OrionGirl]

Since the clowns were exposed during the cycle, that's likely the larger problem. The damsels may be contributing to the problems, making more than the fish can recover form.

Personally, I wouldn't get those fish for a 55. My reasoning is thus: I want to provide the best home possible for the fish, and a tank that is several times too small is not that. Second, turning the fish in is problematic--many stores won't take them, if a store does, it's likely they won't go to a good home. Third--those fish will outgrow the tank within a year, under good conditions. Why get a fish for a year? I get attached to my fish, and wouldn't want to be forced to get rid of them, especially fish that have such interesting behaviors and personalities. Fourth--in a small tank, stunting can occur without any visible signs until it's too late. Very few SW fish survive long after being stunted, so even keeping them in a small tank for a year can cause serious harm.

As I said, JMO.

[ForumPete58]

Do you think it is possible that the skunk had a case of sw ick? I have read about some other fish that will start out acting rather timidly then developing the bubbles on its body. Is is possible that it got some ick and was harassed by the damsels so it could not heal? Also do you have any thoughts about why the maroon would be losing its fins?
Thanks

[ForumPete58]

If ick is the problem how do you suggest I treat my remaining fish?
Thanks

[OrionGirl]

Marine ich looks like small grains of sand--I've never seen it look like bubbles. Are the fish rubbing against anything? Flashing?

[ForumPete58]

No they are not really doing any of that. The Pink Skunk was starting to sit on the sand just before he died but that is it.
Thanks

[Stimey]

I have a similar setup to yours (55) and I would suggest getting rid of the damsels. They were my first saltwater fish, so I had a sort of newbie attachment to them...but even though they might seem unagressive at this point, as they get bigger they get unpredictable.(in my experience).
I learned this the hard way. I had 2 damsels that got along with all of their tankmates peacefully for 6 months, then one day became extremely vicious and attacked my cowfish and killed it.

I also had a Percula clownfish with the damsels and they left it alone until they realized they were bigger than it.

Unless I setup a purely aggressive tank, I will never get damsels again.

[ForumPete58]

What kind of cowfish did you have? What else do you have in your 55 now?
Thanks,
Matt

[ForumPete58]

I still have a brown covering over quite a bit of my sand a some of my rock. Its just a light dusting that kind of looks like algae. I was told it was diatoms. What I forgot to ask was; is this a good thing? Should I be stirring it up? I know that I need to be careful stirring up my sand but I don't really want these diatoms to overtake my tank.
Thanks,
Matt

[Stimey]

It was called a Helmet Cowfish.(see attached file) It's smaller than the longhorns. So it's good for a 55. It's the only cowfish I know of that stays on the small side.
They are sometimes called Hovercraft Cowfish as well.
They get about 5" long.

In my 55 I have

1 dart fish (my least favorite fish. He's scared to death of everything)
1 Percula Clown
1 Flame Hawkfish (got him 3 weeks ago. He's very entertaining)
1 Catalina goby
& I'm picking up my new Cowfish tonight. I just hope he has the personality of the one I lost.

The Diatoms have started to invade my tank as well, so according to everything I've read on this forum, snails should do the trick. I'm tackling that problem now.

[Stimey]

Sorry, Having problems attaching for some reason.

[Stimey]

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