lawnmower
New Member
Clown Trouble??
[hr]
I have a 18 month old false perc who is in a 75 gallon tank. The only other fish in the tank were him, a lawnmower blenny, and 3 blue damsels. I have had the tank since July 2004. The man before me had it for 6 months. Originally there were two clowns. The smaller clown died unexpectedly last March. We have not added any fish until Wed. Oct. 26 when we received an order from saltwaterfish.com. We waited to add anything because we moved the tank to a different cabinet and put in a sump system in late September. We added last week 2 more false percs. and 3 humbug dascyllus. By Friday I noticed one of the humbugs with a sore on his mouth. He got worse and died on 11/3. By Sunday 10/30 I noticed white spots on both humbugs. They are only on their fins none on their body. They seem fluffier than ick and bigger. Not sure if it is ick or lymphocytosis? My real problem came on Sunday when the original clown, who is about 2 inches long started to act quiet. He first started hanging out on the bottom sometimes resting on the side of the g lass. Sometimes just floating close to the bottom. Then he started hanging out and hiding toward the rocks in the back of the aquarium. Now he is hanging out in a cave in the aquarium. He is not coming out to eat at all. I have not really seen him eat since Sunday. I feed flakes 1xday and brine shrimp in the evening. I use garlic guard and Zoecon to their food. I also got some pellets from my lfs called Dainichi. He is not really interested in anything. The last 2 days it almost seems like he is going to go for something but doesn't. Looks like he holds his mouth open to catch something?? The first 4 days him and the 2 new percs swam together like crazy, If I got up at night and checked on them they were still swimming, it was like they were never resting. Now even though he hides during day and is quiet, if I check on him at night he is resting outside sleeping head down like he normally always did. in the back corner of the tank. Last night one of the little percs was next to him. Also sometimes in the cave with him. I have not noticed any of the fish pick on each other at all. I even sit up with the moonlights on and the room dark and watch what I see at night. Some of the books I read about percs was that you could keep them in groups, but I see on these boards that you should only have 2. Should I take 1 back? Should I get rid of the humbugs?? Does anyone think my original perc is sick?? I don't noticed any white spots on him or anything else on his body, his color looks good? Help I don't know what to do! My levels in my tank are pH 8.2, sp gr. 1.023, Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate less than 10, Calcium 600, alkalinity 3.5, temp 78. I have a protein skimmer, 2 penquin power filters, 40# of live rock,(I know I could have way more, we are doing this a little at a time.) powerheads for water movement, sand bottom, some mushrooms, yellow polyps, sea urchin, 2 skunk clearners, 5 peppermint shrimp, 1 sally lightfoot, 1 emerald crab, 4 feather dusters, hermits and snails, 2 150W halide, 2 96W actinic, 3 1W moonlights. P.S. I get a different story from every LFS I have talked to.
Thanks for any help
Lawnmower
[hr]
I have a 18 month old false perc who is in a 75 gallon tank. The only other fish in the tank were him, a lawnmower blenny, and 3 blue damsels. I have had the tank since July 2004. The man before me had it for 6 months. Originally there were two clowns. The smaller clown died unexpectedly last March. We have not added any fish until Wed. Oct. 26 when we received an order from saltwaterfish.com. We waited to add anything because we moved the tank to a different cabinet and put in a sump system in late September. We added last week 2 more false percs. and 3 humbug dascyllus. By Friday I noticed one of the humbugs with a sore on his mouth. He got worse and died on 11/3. By Sunday 10/30 I noticed white spots on both humbugs. They are only on their fins none on their body. They seem fluffier than ick and bigger. Not sure if it is ick or lymphocytosis? My real problem came on Sunday when the original clown, who is about 2 inches long started to act quiet. He first started hanging out on the bottom sometimes resting on the side of the g lass. Sometimes just floating close to the bottom. Then he started hanging out and hiding toward the rocks in the back of the aquarium. Now he is hanging out in a cave in the aquarium. He is not coming out to eat at all. I have not really seen him eat since Sunday. I feed flakes 1xday and brine shrimp in the evening. I use garlic guard and Zoecon to their food. I also got some pellets from my lfs called Dainichi. He is not really interested in anything. The last 2 days it almost seems like he is going to go for something but doesn't. Looks like he holds his mouth open to catch something?? The first 4 days him and the 2 new percs swam together like crazy, If I got up at night and checked on them they were still swimming, it was like they were never resting. Now even though he hides during day and is quiet, if I check on him at night he is resting outside sleeping head down like he normally always did. in the back corner of the tank. Last night one of the little percs was next to him. Also sometimes in the cave with him. I have not noticed any of the fish pick on each other at all. I even sit up with the moonlights on and the room dark and watch what I see at night. Some of the books I read about percs was that you could keep them in groups, but I see on these boards that you should only have 2. Should I take 1 back? Should I get rid of the humbugs?? Does anyone think my original perc is sick?? I don't noticed any white spots on him or anything else on his body, his color looks good? Help I don't know what to do! My levels in my tank are pH 8.2, sp gr. 1.023, Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate less than 10, Calcium 600, alkalinity 3.5, temp 78. I have a protein skimmer, 2 penquin power filters, 40# of live rock,(I know I could have way more, we are doing this a little at a time.) powerheads for water movement, sand bottom, some mushrooms, yellow polyps, sea urchin, 2 skunk clearners, 5 peppermint shrimp, 1 sally lightfoot, 1 emerald crab, 4 feather dusters, hermits and snails, 2 150W halide, 2 96W actinic, 3 1W moonlights. P.S. I get a different story from every LFS I have talked to.
Thanks for any help
Lawnmower
