Clownfish Question

[CoralFixation]

Hi folks. A few days ago, I jumped headfirst into a SW reef tank (no, not literally).

The tank had been established for over a year, and was told that it was very health by the LFS - they did the monthly maintenance on it.

I brought it back to my place, and set it all up. Everything has gone very well, though its only been 3 days. The salinity, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, all check out well. The PH is at 8.0, and I believe it should be 8.2.

There are two clownfish (a tomato and percula), a sailfin tang, fiji devil damsel, 3 anemones, a sea cucumber, numerous starfish, mushrooms, and corals. It is a 55g setup. Fluval filter, 3 power heads, protien skimmer.

Since we set up the tank, the percula clownfish has been swimming near the top with his mouth constantly open. He hasn't closed it once. I asked a person at the LFS about it, she confirmed my thoughts that it just might be stress. However, I wanted to get a few other opinions here. She did recommend doing a water change, which I plan to do this afternoon (probably 15%). I'll recheck the PH after adding B-Ionic with the water change.

Anyone have any thoughts on what else I could do for the clownfish?

Thanks,
Chris

[justin42279]

Post your water parameters.

Justin

[CoralFixation]

Certainly. My Ammonia reading was less than .025. The test vial was clear, but the "color swatch" that came with the pack only goes down to .025 as a very light pink.

Nitrate - less than 10 (again, that is the lowest that the swatch reads).

Nitrite - less than .1 (ditto)

PH 8.0

Those are the only testing tools I have at the moment, besides the hydrometer which reads 1.023.

[CoralFixation]

The situation has gotten worse. The little fish is moving his fins quite a bit, but he seems to be sideways just near the surface mostly. He swims upright for a few seconds, dives about an inch or two, then back to swimming sideways near the top.

Still, his mouth is always open.

:sick:

[wastememphis]

I dont understand the situation of how you got the tank. You said that you just set it up like 4days ago but that it was set up for a year? Was it set up at the store and you took it down and brought it home?


"There are two clownfish (a tomato and percula), a sailfin tang, fiji devil damsel, 3 anemones, a sea cucumber, numerous starfish, mushrooms, and corals. It is a 55g setup. Fluval filter, 3 power heads, protien skimmer."

If you didn't take all the water, sand, rocks... your probably going to have a cycle. I bet the clown is stressed out from the move, is it eating?

[CoralFixation]

The tank was at another person's home. She had it setup there and running for over a year (I *think* she said about 16 months). She was selling the house, so I bought it just as it sat. The man from the LFS came to her house w/ me, broke it all down, we packed it up, and I brought it here. The LFS had been coming to her house to do monthly maintenance.

We brought the water, rocks, everything. I tried to put everything back exactly as it was. The only difference was that I bought a protien skimmer and set that up too (upon recommendation from the LFS). So that is the only real difference.

When the LFS took the tank down, he tossed about 15 gallons. I added 15 fresh gallons. I added "Instant Ocean" salt until the hydrometer read 1.020 (the salinity was a little high at her house from evaporation).

The clownfish is eating - and it seems fairly voraciously - which I was very surprised at, since his mouth doesn't close.

His scales and fins look good to me. The only other thing I can think to mention is that the other clownfish is a bit larger (2x) and spends all the time in the anemones. I doubt if it matters though. I've been reading, and it seems that clowns don't need anemones at all in an aquarium.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this.

Chris

[justin42279]

clowns don't need anonomes. I've got 2 in my FOWLR tank. You mentioned that you were going to do a water change. Have you done it yet? I would do about 25% and keep an eye on the parameters. It sounds like you might be going through a small cycle and that clown is just over stressed.

[CoralFixation]

Yes, I have already done it. I changed about 15% (10 gallons) of the water. I added both parts of B-Ionic calcium buffer as well.

Chris

[Blinky]

The tank is cycling, which I'd expect after tearing it down and setting it back up. If you can get to a LFS, get some Prime water conditioner. It will help to detox the ammonia and nitrite - it doesn't get rid of it, but binds it so it's not poisonous for the fish. I'd also mix up a big batch of SW and do a small water change every couple days until the cycle finishes.

[VippiN]

Same thing happened two my two Clowns when I got them. First one died in 2 days with same symptons, second one in a week with same symptons. Couldn't narrow down the cause.

[amf82380]

had the same thing happen I had bought 2 percula clowns and a yellow tang and put them in my tank and the smaller of the 2 clowns died with in like 3 days then the second clown started doing the same thing "swiming near the top movin iradticly with his mouth open" did that for about 4 days then come to find out that the yellow tang had ich and the clown ended up with it. so I removed the clown and the tang and put them in a hospital tank and have been treating them for about 4 days now and he has come around alot he is more active and his mouth isnt hanging open any more.so I would keep and eye on all the fish in your tank and see if any are showing any signs of ick or any other stress related diease.

[CoralFixation]

Thank you all for the advice.

Blinky: I'll get to the store today and try the water conditioner. While I'm there, I will look for a better test kit.

amf82380: Unfortunately, I don't have a hospital tank. I have a 30 gallon FW, but thats it. I think I should probably invest in one. Any suggestions on what to get for a hospital tank? Size? Suggestions for medications to have on hand? Filter type?

Thanks again.

Chris

[wastememphis]

Two things: you said you put 15gallons of freshwater in and then added salt. Was this to your tank with the fish in it? You should never mix the saltwater in the system. The other thing is that hospital tanks need to be established or else they would go through a cycle with your fish in it, so the fish would probably get worse. You only need a 20gallon or so tank with no substrate and get some PVC pipes for the fish to hide in. To set it up you should have some sort of filtration on it, I use a sponge filter, but you need to have the sponge sitting in your display tank for a few months before bacteria will establish in it. If you set up a new tank and even if you put the water from your display in it could still cycle. If you use a powerfilter (emporor, aqaclear) the biowheel should be taken out. HTH

[CoralFixation]

Thanks for the tips on the hospital tank. I think it would certainly be worthwhile for me to get one started....

I pre-mixed my salt (instant ocean) in some fairly hot water. It seemed to dissolve very well. I let it sit until it came down to about 80F (my tank heater is set at 78), siphoned water out, and then siphoned the new water back in. I figured rather than just pouring it in, and shaking up everything (like I do in my FW tank), I'd siphon it back in. It worked pretty good I guess.

As for the clownfish, his mouth is still open all the time, but he is swimming better and not so close to the surface, and I really haven't seen him on his side today at all. I'm hoping things are improving.....

I looked for white spots on all the fish (on my FW tank, I've had ich, so I assume the symptoms are the same). Didn't see a thing. I also check salinity and ammonia again today. Salinity was 1.023, and ammonia was less than .025 (as low as I can measure).

I'm going to do another 15% water change tomorrow as Blinky suggested. I wouldn't think doing it everyday would be helpful, would it?