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New clownfish at surface of water


apharing

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Hi everybody,

 

This is my first post on here, so hello! I have been cycling a new 10g tank with live sand, live rock, and I've been feeding the cycle with raw shrimp. The cycle finished and I added a clownfish and a couple hermit crabs. The clownfish has not eaten and is swimming right under the surface of the water. From doing some googling I think maybe there is not enough dissolved oxygen in the tank (I only have a HOB filter). I ordered a nano pumphead to fix the oxygen issue but it won't be here for a couple of days. Is there anything I can do in the mean time to help this guy out? What are the odds he can survive until it gets here?

 

 

Parameters:

SG: 1.024

Carbonate Hardness: 8

Calcium: 440

NO3: 0

NH4: 0

Phosphate: 0.25

 

Thanks!

 

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Do you have access to an air pump? You could run a bubble line in a corner of the tank until the powerhead comes in. I did that when I had a bacterial bloom and it kept everyone alive until it was over.

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Clowns will do that in the beginning. They'll act weird for a few days when introduced. A partner will help it. Get another clown, either larger or smaller, and they will start doing new strange behavior with each other.

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Do you have access to an air pump? You could run a bubble line in a corner of the tank until the powerhead comes in. I did that when I had a bacterial bloom and it kept everyone alive until it was over.

 

Definitely. You can pretty clearly tell if the fish looks like it is gasping for air. If that's the case add a bubble line immediately as a temporary solution. Pics of the tank and filtration will help with better diagnostics.

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Well the powerhead arrived this morning, but the clownfish died last night :(

 

All of my parameters are still good, so I'm guessing he either died from not eating or lack of dissolved oxygen.

 

Well that was a disappointing way to enter this hobby. I want to get another fish, but I want to make sure this doesn't just happen again. So now I have the powerhead, my parameters are good, I have live rock and sand, and a few hermit crabs. Does anyone see anything I'm missing before I introduce a fish? I have read in a few places that introducing two fish at the same time is better for the stress, but I have also read the exact opposite and that it is too quick of an increase in bioload. Any thoughts on that?

 

Thanks!

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Even though you didn't have a powerhead, I don't think you would have poor oxygen with the hob filter. Granted, it won't be as good, but it's not still water. Plus, he hob brings in good gas exchange. Must've been something wrong with the fish.

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Losing a fish certainly sucks. I think everyone went through losing a fish in this hobby. My first addition was 5 peppermint shrimps. One died in transit and got eaten by the other four, and then 3 died after I put them in my tank. (I drop-acclimated.) Another fish I lost in my QT was a Royal Gramma from Petco.

 

Btw it might be a good time to think about setting up a quarantine tank?

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I lost my first clown pair a few weeks ago after my anemone died on my Powerhead. They came down with velvet after that stressful event and died a week later. My tank is doing awesome now and I'm keeping it fallow until Christmas when I change to a new 11 gallon. I will be getting a new clown pair and will be safeguarding my Powerhead if I ever do another anemone.

 

You can't possibly read every scenario before you encounter it. Don't get discouraged. This hobby has been so much fun since I got into it and I am always learning something new.

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