Help! What’s happening to my clown fish??!

[Lindsey S]

I purchased two clown fish for my new tank last week. They seemed fine for the first 3-4 days. The 2-3 days they’ve been staying in one area, mouths opening and closing rapidly and they won’t eat. One fish is staying very close to the bottom of the tank and floating sideways a lot. Like he’s struggling to swim straight? His top fin is flat to his body and one of the fins on his underside looks similar. The other is moving around slightly more but also not eating. Tested water and everything looks fine. Can anyone tell me what’s going on? I’m so worried that they are going to die.

[seabass]

Hi, welcome to Nano-Reef.com.  Sorry to hear about your new fish struggling.  Can you please post a picture of them for us?  Otherwise, is there any white spots on them?

 

It's not that unusual for new fish to carry diseases like Marine Ich, Marine Velvet, and Brooklynella hostilis.  You might wish to visit this site:  Fish Diseases to see if your fish are experiencing any of these symptoms (and how to treat them if they are).

[mcarroll]

17 hours ago, Lindsey S said:

I purchased two clown fish for my new tank last week. They seemed fine for the first 3-4 days. The 2-3 days they’ve been staying in one area, mouths opening and closing rapidly and they won’t eat. One fish is staying very close to the bottom of the tank and floating sideways a lot. Like he’s struggling to swim straight? His top fin is flat to his body and one of the fins on his underside looks similar. The other is moving around slightly more but also not eating. Tested water and everything looks fine. Can anyone tell me what’s going on? I’m so worried that they are going to die.

Clownfish act weirdly anyway so most of your reported behavior could be written off, but not eating is a bad sign.

 

Can you report the test values you got for the water tests you've done so far?  Ammonia, pH and temperature would be particularly interesting.   What was it like getting the fish....anything interesting?

 

Most common diseases (which @seabass already mentioned) have symptoms that you haven't named....which is a good thing for you, at least so far.  Watch out for tiny white spots like powder or like salt.  Also watch out for twitching or "flashing" behavior.  These are typical signs of these diseases.

 

Unfortunately, there are other potential problems and not all of them have external indications.  This is espeically true when they just stop eating and there's nothing else apparently wrong.