Percula Clown Fish Trouble!!!

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animalman

Love My Clowns
Oct 15, 2007
361
0
0
Massapequa, New York
I just added my first fish a percula clown to my tank. He was just hanging on the bottom not swimmimg. It looked like he was having trouble fighting the current so i turned off my power head and now he is swimming around. Do I have to much circulation in my tank? I turned down the power head to low but he only swims when powerhead is off. What should I do?
 

Grins

Girl Reefer...we do exist
May 1, 2007
10,449
0
0
58
Charlotte, NC
How long has the tank been set up and cycled?
What are your water parameters?
How much flow do you have in the tank? (it is doubtful there is too much for it)
Is this the QT tank or the display tank? If the display was it QT'd at all?
How was it acting when you saw it in the store?
 

animalman

Love My Clowns
Oct 15, 2007
361
0
0
Massapequa, New York
My parameters are good. this is display no qt tank. i know i should qt all my fish but.......tank has been set up bout 3 to 4 weeks now. i had mini cycle and the shrimp i put in last week are doing fine so i thought i might be ready for my 1st fish. i have a aquaclear powerhead the box says good for 20-50 gal tanks and its on low. though after i turned off for bout 1/2 hour he was swimming just fine like he was in the store. so i turned the powerhead back on and he seems to be swimming fine now along the the back corner behind the powerhead. (if you look at my avatar you can see that my powerhead is on the back righthand side of the tank.) this is where he is now swimming up to the top and back down to the bottom non-stop. HELP OR IS HE OKAY
 

Grins

Girl Reefer...we do exist
May 1, 2007
10,449
0
0
58
Charlotte, NC
How many gph does it say it pushes? For a FO tank 10x turnover is what you want, for a reef you want at least 25x. Some people go up to 60x even 100x and that doesn't even begin to compare to the ocean currents so the clown should be fine, especially if it isn't so powerful that it is blowing sand all around.

On the parameters could you give the actual numbers? Clowns often act funny and will sometimes lay near the sand but seeing your numbers would help.
 

animalman

Love My Clowns
Oct 15, 2007
361
0
0
Massapequa, New York

soccerkidbs

How do you like me now?
Mar 9, 2007
645
0
0
36
Medford
clowns are hard shippers. how long was he at the lfs. i know mine loses about a third of the ones they get in. the keep them for a week to make sure they wont die right away.
 

animalman

Love My Clowns
Oct 15, 2007
361
0
0
Massapequa, New York
Not sure how long he was in the store tank. Right now my powerhead is on low and he is swimming round the tank. But he comes back to the corner and races up and down. He is swimming though not on the bottom anymore. Never had this problem with my freshwater tank so at first i was nervous but maybe this is normal. After all he is in a new territory. Maybe??
 

mandy21

THE REEFER GODDESS
May 16, 2006
983
0
0
41
Ohio
my clowns seem to only swim in a corner up and down. that's how they've always been until feeding time. They have never seen 3/4 of the 75 g tank. Maybe more.
 

Grins

Girl Reefer...we do exist
May 1, 2007
10,449
0
0
58
Charlotte, NC
Always find out how long the fish has been there. Stock will have a large die off in 3 days, then again in 7 days and then the survivors seem to stay fine. I don't know how big your tank is but at 27gph that would be the minimum flow you'd want in a 10g reef. Your salinty is on the low side, I'd bring it up to 1.024-1.026.

What was the salinity of the water the clown was in and how did you acclimate it? Most likely it is just stressed and acting like a typical goofy clown but in the future you really want to consider QTing, there is nothing worse than cycling a tank and introducing a parasite in the first few additions.
 
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