Clown problems.

mike22cha

Active Member
Last night one of my new true percula clownfish was swimming towards the top of the tank and breathing oxygen at the top. It looked like it was having trouble swimming also. The other clown hanged out by the rocks. This morning the one that was having trouble died. Now the other fish is having the same symptons. Here are some pics. We recently treated them with other fish for ick because my new blue hippo tang died. There was no ick on the dead clown but there was a hole and my dad thought the brine shrimp in the tank, we found in the live rock, had been eating on it. What is going on? Is there an answer before my other clown dies?
 

nicetry

Active Member
How long have you had the clowns? What did you use to treat the ich and did you treat in the main tank or a quarantine tank? The pictures don't show much in terms of visible symptoms. Can you post your water parameters?
 

mike22cha

Active Member
Well I have the story about ick in my 20g on the Updated Pics and Question thread in the Fish and Photography section. I just tested and the saltanity was a little high so we added distilled water to it. I tested the ph which was about 8.0. It looks like he is having trouble with the current. Could that be the problem. Should I remove him and put him into a 5g bucket to see if he is having diffuculties?
 

mike22cha

Active Member
I put him into my 5g bucket with food and he's swimming a lot better but still doesn't have a lot of strength. What should I do?
 

nicetry

Active Member
I'm not seeing where you did anything to treat the ich, other than move the hippo tang from one tank to another. Ich does not kill that quickly so my bet is the fish was sick when you bought it and had multiple bouts of the illness. In reading the thread in the photo forum it sounds like you purchased several fish becaue of a sale, and that by your own admission, the fish weren't really all that healthy looking. You didn't quarantine for the recommended period of time. Each fish should be kept separately in a Q tank for 4 weeks. Fish that are having difficulty breathing will often hover near powerheads to get the oxygenated water flow over their gills. There could be several things wrong with the clown but parasites are my guess at this point. Do you have a quarantine tank that you can use for the clown? Read the FAQ's at the top of this forum regarding quarantine and hyposalinity. From looking at the pictures, the purple tang appeared to have some spots as well. At this point, don't add anything else to this system, and have those two small tanks ready to use in the event of illness. Watch closely for symptoms.
Having the clown in the bucket is not going to help. There is no filtration or water movement and the parameters will fluctuate quickly, probably killing it. Get it into a Q tank, but my sense is it is likely near death.
 

mike22cha

Active Member
My qt tanks are still at my moms. We still have yet to move them over. I added the ick treatement to the tank where the fish I purchased were being held. I did not think a quaritine would take that long and no other fish were showing symptoms. The clown that died didn't have any signs of ick on it. I was also under the impression that ick showed signs before suddenly killing a fish. Neither fish that died showed any white spots or any other signs of ick. The coral beauty frequently visits the fire shrimp so I think the shrimp is helping clean of the parasites. I know I made quite a few mistakes this past weekend and I will learn from them. The clown is resting on the bottom of my 5g. It seems more calm then in the 125g. So even if the clown were going to die wouldn't it be better for it to die in a seperate tank where the dieses won't spread?
 

mike22cha

Active Member
The purple tang has always been like that since we got him like 4 months ago. I'm pretty sure he's okay. I'm worried about the clown and the fox face though. The foxface seemed to be freaking out over his reflection on a wall and was stressed out and showed some brown. Ya I know that the fish store sells poor quality fish but is there a lot of good fish stores period? And in Oklahoma? Well there is one I can think of but it doesn't have any selection of swf.
 

mike22cha

Active Member
Well the fish has a lot of discoloration so its not the matter if it is going to die it is just when. R.I.P. Clownfish#1&2
 

m0nk

Active Member
You mentioned using distilled water, do you use that a lot? The distillation process removes oxygen from the water, so if you use that a lot your clown could have been suffocating. The best water to use is RO/DI (reverse osmosis/de-ionized) because all harmful chemicals get removed yet the oxygen stays. If ever using distilled water you need to make sure it aerates in an open bucket with a powerhead for several days or a week. That gets oxygen back into the water. Low oxygen could also lower the immune system in your fish and allow ich to set in. Hope that helps.
 

mike22cha

Active Member
Hey thanks monk. I never knew that. We didn't add any distilled water to neither tanks though till today after the clowns started acting weird. I need to get an RO/DI filter so I don't have to go to WalMart and fill a cart full of water.
 

m0nk

Active Member
Originally Posted by MIKE22cha
Hey thanks monk. I never knew that. We didn't add any distilled water to neither tanks though till today after the clowns started acting weird. I need to get an RO/DI filter so I don't have to go to WalMart and fill a cart full of water.
You're welcome. Wish I had some other input that might help, but sorry for your losses so far. How's the other clown doing? Hope he makes it, you can always get another one down the line and he'll most likely pair up again.
 

mike22cha

Active Member
I don't think he'll make it. He has a lot of discoloration spots, the white stripes are now majorly grey.
 

mike22cha

Active Member
Wait, I just checked and he is dead. It looks like he had parasites because there are spots on the white bars where it is really thin and I think you can see his insides, well I see a lot of orange underneath the white stripes. Parasites? Also the blue hippo tang had a lot of discoloration with the ick which you could also see. Ick?
 

babyb

Active Member
mine died the same way, im going to go to him and tell the guy, over the past month i have had 5 clowns die on me from that place, i dont know what the deal is, i dont think they aclimate very well, i have been there when he puts the fish in the tank, he floats the bags then dumps them in
 
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