brian92 Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 My perc clownfish was awesome and swimming for four days even this morning until I saw him when i got home he was sitting on the bottom against the glass alive when i watched him for a while he swam around a bit but lloked tired. There are no physcial signs of disease. He didn't eat much lately and his poop and kind of clear it wasn't yesterday though. I don't want to be some idiot that kills fish from negligience all water tests are fine Link to comment
holdorf333 Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 They generally aren't active swimmers. Continue to observe closely, but it may be getting aquainted and comfortable with it's surroundings. Link to comment
Nikole._ Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Need more info.... Did you just get him? Did you acclimate him correctly? Has their been any drastic temp changes or drastic changes in salinity? What are your tank specs? Size, filtration, how long has it been set-up, what els is in the tank? Sometimes my clowns would sleep on the sand bed at night, if I turned off all the lights and it was pitch black. But not eating isn't a good sign, little clowns that are healthy are aggressive little eaters. Nikole They generally aren't active swimmers. Continue to observe closely, but it may be getting aquainted and comfortable with it's surroundings. My clowns are pretty active swimmers Link to comment
brian92 Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 I got him saturday last weekend my tank is a 28 gallon bowfront with 29 lbs of lr and biocube protein skimmer, biowheel filter. I acclimated him for two hours with the drip method. I first fed him and he didn't really seem interested in food at all when i saw him. Maybe getting a small piece or two floating in the water but not snatching from the top of the tank. He was very active until today i noticed his stomach is sunk in and i tried to feed him fine shredded shrimp but it was ignored. He is the only fish in the and when i added him four days ago the tank was 1 month old Link to comment
allenspidey Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 White stringy poop could be a sign of a problem. And if he's only been in there 4 days I would suspect either disease or tank issues. What are your params? Nitrates, ammonia? Are you sure your cycle was over? Try soaking your food in garlic and see if that tempts him to eat. Link to comment
brian92 Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Nitrate 20 ppm nitrite 0 ammonia 0 ph 8 Link to comment
allenspidey Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Could you post a pic of the fish? Do you see any white stuff on it? Like it has a sunburn or something? Link to comment
brian92 Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Could you post a pic of the fish? Do you see any white stuff on it? Like it has a sunburn or something? It looks fine just a little darker on the top for some reason. He was one of the smallest clowns in the tank of about 50 i got him from. No sunburn i'm just using 35 watts of pc for now not halides or anything. Link to comment
Nikole._ Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I had an issue like this once. I just got a bad fish, when I went back to the store to talk to the guys I looked at their clowns and they were in the same poor state as mine. Panting and not eating, not to active. I now always ask to see a fish eat before I buy it. The store might not of had them very long, or their tanks could have had a much lower salinity than yours. Some pet stores keep their fish in fish only tanks at about 1.019 instead of the average 1.022 or for reefs 1.024. From what you describe the fish sounds stressed. Also your tank may need more time to mature. 1 month isn't that long. Mine sat for well over 6 before I added anything, complicated like fish or corals. I would give the little guy sometime. He has been moved from one tank to another and also 50 clowns in one tank is a lot he could just be getting used to his new home too. It is hard to tell with out seeing pics or video. I can understand your frustration, it would almost be easier if you could tell he was sick with something you knew how to treat instead of wondering what is causing the poor thing to go down hill. Keep us posted and I hope the little fella snaps out of it. Link to comment
allenspidey Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 It looks fine just a little darker on the top for some reason. He was one of the smallest clowns in the tank of about 50 i got him from. No sunburn i'm just using 35 watts of pc for now not halides or anything. It just looks like peeling. Just thought you may have clownfish disease developing? Very common in a tank with 50 fish. Link to comment
brian92 Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 I agree that i rushed it. I wanted to wait but when i went to the lfs for more astrea snails my dad kept bothering me about adding fish and he offered to buy the clown for me. I didn't really want to but couldn't resist the offer. If the fish dies I'm going to wait a lot longer before adding fish. I am sorry for this fish and I didn't think i was rushing but now i look back and wouldn't take the risk again even if it did turn out well Link to comment
nahtanoj Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 i have had fish do this before, fine one minute on the bottom stressed the next. you are lucky he is your only guy. unless i am wrong and he recovers, he'll be dead in about a day. it is an internal parasite, and it will spread through the fish like wildfire. i lost one fish per day until all but one chromis survived. wake up and feed them in the morning, that afternoon get home, on the bottom, next morning dead. hopefully all goes well and he gets better, but wait at least another month and perform water changes to eliminate the parasite from your tank, or every fish you add will suffer the same fate. Link to comment
brian92 Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 i have had fish do this before, fine one minute on the bottom stressed the next. you are lucky he is your only guy. unless i am wrong and he recovers, he'll be dead in about a day. it is an internal parasite, and it will spread through the fish like wildfire. i lost one fish per day until all but one chromis survived. wake up and feed them in the morning, that afternoon get home, on the bottom, next morning dead.hopefully all goes well and he gets better, but wait at least another month and perform water changes to eliminate the parasite from your tank, or every fish you add will suffer the same fate. that kinda sounds like what happened. And good thing i have an excuse "for myself" to wait for a month Link to comment
nahtanoj Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 that is the day i learned the importance of a QT tank for new fish, i had just added one, it was the first to go, and then a domino effect that i couldn't stop. Link to comment
brian92 Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 this may sound weird but it seems as though he has gotten better. He is swimming around and pecking the baby snails of the glass. I fed him and he is eating a bit too. Maybe it was just stress. Too soon to say though Link to comment
nahtanoj Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 lets hope for the best. glad to hear he is eating Link to comment
brian92 Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 ya actually he almost doing to well i thought he got switched for a new fish when i got home. He's going all over the place. Link to comment
allenspidey Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Its called the "throws of death". Just kidding. Glad to hear everything is doing better. Link to comment
brian92 Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 Maybe he just has a bucket list he made after Dr. told he him he had 3 days left Link to comment
brian92 Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 well it died unfortunatley two days ago. Went to fish store no more clowns Out of 60 they had last week. I think it was a bad batch Link to comment
genghis Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Once your tank clears up I'd also look into finding some tank raised clowns if their available. They're a little more adapted to captivity and you know they weren't captured in any manner that may eventually kill them. I got two ORA ocellaris and they're doing great in my 12g. Good luck Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I am sorry for your loss. I just went through this about 5 weeks ago with one of mine. Actually odds are it had Clownfish disease. Also odds are it was a wild caught one. You need to let the tank sit with no fish for about 4 weeks. Inverts and corals are ok to add but no fish until the parasite dies off. After that you do need to do a QT tank with each new fish and I would strongly suggest you get a confirmed tank raised clown not a wild caught one as wild caught ones tend to be chock full of diseases and parasites and are less hardy than tank raised ones. Plus it is a cruel practice to capture them. UH Link to comment
brian92 Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 I'd like to personally thank everyone who responded to the forum. Genghis and Urchinhead thanks for the help I will definitely buy captive bred and wait four more weeks before adding fish Link to comment
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