clown fish acting very strange

dbrown9

dbrown9

Member
MY false perc has been acting weird since saturday. He has done this before but not as long of a period. He is laying on the bottom, on his belly and will lay over sometimes. breathing hard and making a hole in the sand. almost like he is dying, but at night when the lights go our he swims all night in his normal spot in the tank. not real sure whats wrong.
40 gal tank
40 pd. LR
20 pd. LS
1 400 maxijet
50 aquaclear filter
Nitrate close to 40
nitrite 0
Amonia 0
Calcium 320
aklinity 3
ph 8.2
 
dbrown9

dbrown9

Member
anybody got a suggestion. My clowns health I think is decreasing. He's not eating much if any and his color not as good. But the lights are out at this point and he is swimming again. I see a almost transparent cluster on the rocks with little white specs it it. almost looks like a bubble. Can anybody tell me what that sounds like or what the clown could possibly be doing?
 
dbrown9

dbrown9

Member
I'm having pretty much the same trouble as King Kole from another thread had. So I'm guessing my fish is dying. can anybody tell me what to do?
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member
nitrates down
if that KH is in meq/l you're fine if not get it up to 12dKH (4meq/L)
What's the salinity at?
Any use of cleaning supplies in same room of tank recently?
It also sounds like you don't have enough flow in the tank... oxygenation, pH at night (if it swings), and temp swings.
What's the temp of the tank day and night?
Does the pH drop at night when the tank lights are off?
 
dbrown9

dbrown9

Member
how many water changes should I do to get nitrates down? I know I don't have enough water movement I need another powerhead or so, but that hasn't been a problem in the past nine months. I didn't know the ph could fluctuate from night to day. temp pretty much stays the same day and night. and no cleaning supplies were used ever around the tank. salinity is at 1.0225
 
dbrown9

dbrown9

Member
The problem is my wrasse is fine and the shrimp and crabs are to. So I'm thinking it has to be something wrong with my clown. I mean I got alot of things I need to do before trying to keep angels or butterflies but just haven't had the money yet. all I have is live rock and invertes. one six line wrasse and this clown.
 
statto

statto

Member
Hello,
This is my humble opinion on the matter
Nitrates too high
Salinity too low
Do water changes, small and often to get your salinity up to about 1.025/26
(Maybe 5% water change per day for two weeks) (buy a refractometer as they are much more accurate than hydrometers)
This should also help to balance out any PH issues. If your salt doesnt give you a good enough PH (8.0 or above) try using one of the many PH buffer solutions to add to the tank.
Until you get your water parameters corrected you cannot make judgement calls like "The rest of my livestock is ok so it MUST be a problem with my clown"
Is the clown eating?
Have you considered the possibility that it is lonely?
Hope this helps a little
Statto
 
dbrown9

dbrown9

Member
Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions. I'll try the water changes that could possibly be my downfall and using straight tap water instead of RO. my clown as of tonight is acting fine, eating and such, but still sits on the bottom some. fri he wasn't even eating. Is it possible that he found a good place to sit as they do in the anemone's. Just a thought
 
dbrown9

dbrown9

Member
well my clownfish is doing fine. for whatever reason he was acting weird for two weeks he is back to his normal self
 
peachie98

peachie98

Member
A while back my maroon did somewhat the same (although I had an anenome...it wouldn't leave it or eat, and just sat in it breathing hard for days!). Turned out it was turning into a "she". It was the only clown I had also at the time...but "she" has a mate now and is doing great...never had repeat. They are weird fish!
 
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