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Emergency: Help Clownfish jumped and acting wierd


Carebearcatz

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Carebearcatz

Just a few minutes ago my small black clownfish who I've had for at least 8 months jumped out of my tank. Luckily I was standing right there when he jumped. In the last couple of weeks he's been nipping at the top of the water. I also had a number of fish die on me in recent months. Most Recently, my tank has developed a "biofilm" on top of it. I'm very worried that my oxygen level may be low because of this and was wondering what to do. (I put a bubbler in until I figure out a better long term solution).

 

Here's a bit about my tank:

 

I have an older 14 gallon biocube that I bought used. It's open top with a kessil 350. I'm running the stock pump (I've been seriously considering upgrading it but don't know with what, recommendations greatly appreciated) with nothing but heater in overflow compartment. A few months ago tried running the smallest powerhead I could find (the koralia nano 265gph) for a few hours/day and all my beloved ricordeas promptly melted. I'm considering putting a fan on the edge of the tank to hopefully agitate the surface water without agitating my coral. Let me know if you think that this a good idea or likely to work.

 

I've had this tank running for almost a year and all my coral are currently looking fabulous (from my first neon green lavender tipped acro which I've had from about 6 weeks to my zoas, montis, acans and ricordeas,ect). I do 20% water changes once a week on average and use a water bottle auto-topoff. I don't dose. My salinity is at 1.026. Tank temperature is 78 degrees. I have two tiny clownfish (black and orange) both under 1". I feed pellets daily and frozen brine/mysis 1 to 2x/week.

 

Let me know if you need any more information. Thanks for any advice/feedback. --Jill


Additionally, Fish are not displaying any signs of ich and were carefully tank-transferred before they were introduced to the tank.

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I think you need more water flow especially with sps. You can probably upgrade to a Maxijet pump. I would also add a small powerhead in the display to agitate and oxygenate the water.

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HarryPotter

Hmm thats odd. My clowns sometimes nip at the water surface, but thats just when I am near the tank. You do a lot of water changes, so I think the jumper might just be random; it got scared or nipped and jumped. Some people put a clear mesh on the top of their tanks to avoid just this.

 

 

While reading your description, a few issues pop up. Obviously your corals are doing well, but here are the issues I see.

 

  • The biofilm implies that the water level in the rear chambers is too high. If the water level was lower, the film would be broken up by the overflow.
  • You don't know your water parameters beyond temp and salinity? If all the Ricordia melted, theres probably a TON of bad stuff in the water from their bodies. How is the phosphate? nitrate?
  • 265 GPH is not sufficient for the tank. You need to upgrade the pump if you want to avoid using a powerhead.
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