Strange Clownfish Behavior

[Kylefitz]

Hey all, have been following the forum for a while now and finally decided to make an account! Recently under the advise of my LFS i added more live rock to my tank(Fluval 13.5 gallon). It was placed in a bag of water and driven 15 minutes home and put in my tank. After some more research I realize now that I shouldnt of added the new rock to my tank straight away but figured there would be very little die off due to quick placement. Ever since my clownfish have began acting strange(stranger than a usual clown). They both now place themselves against the intake grate and dont wonder from it. One in particular is struggling to swim and must constantly swim down just to hold itself in the water column, whenever it stops it quickly floats back to the top. This is also accompanied by heavy breathing and laying on its side at the top of tank. Have been testing the water every day and parameters seem within reason. salinity 1.024 PH 8.0 ammonia/nitrite 0 and nitrate 2. Just did a water change to see if that helps! The several corals i have seem to be in great shape. Any advice or ideas of what may be stressing them out would be great, thanks!

[Clown79]

If the liverock was completely established(from a tank with life in it) its perfectly fine to add to an established tank. It's already cycled.

 

If it was in a holding tank with just flow, was dirty, dying coral on it- that needs to cycle.

 

The first thing to check is ammonia, that would be the reason for uncycled liverock being unsafe to add to an established tank.

 

15mins of rock being in a bag of water wouldn't cause die off. It takes hours out of water if not longer for liverock to dry and cause die off.

 

How old is the tank? Was it properly cycled?

 

How long have the fish been in there?

 

How much flow is in the tank?

[Kylefitz]

@Clown79

 

thanks for the reply! 
 

The tank is just over a month old and readings showed it had fully cycled, I started it with live sand and live rock so relatively quick cycle. The fish have been in for about a week and a half and were behaving fine previously. Tank has the stock pump and a jebao sw2 wavemaker. I did a 20% water change last night because I was concerned about ammonia and am taking the water to be tested again so we will see. Also the pair has began fighting since if that makes a difference?

[Kylefitz]

Oh and yeah the live rock was in a holding tank with flow, no other livestock 

[Clown79]

I would monitor ammonia levels.

 

The behavior may be coincidental to the rock addition but may have nothing to do with it.

 

Could be aggression or even illness.

[Kylefitz]

Ammonia level came back at 0