Clownfish Trouble - need advice quick!

eden

eden

Member
I brought home 2 tank bread Ocerellis (sp?) Clown Fish last weekend from a big fish store 2 hours away. I put them in my main tank (I know! won't do it again, but the FS assured me 'their' fish were ok!!) One died immediately. I acclimated them for 3 hours, however I could tell he was breathing hard as soon as I put him in the tank. The other seemed ok, and ate that evening, but 5 days later is dead too. Now for the even worse part....
After the first one died, I assembled a Q tank with water from my main tank and put the second clown in it to separate him from my main tank. He did not do well for a few days and then perked up. I also have a small damsel I took out of a hospital bucket that was in distress in there too and he is fine!
My LFS had 2 clown fish on order for me for about a month. They never came in. That is why I got the others. Well 2 days ago they came in, so I brought them home because everything seemed ok. The other clown seemed OK and was swimming around the Q tank and seemed fine.
Since I only have one Q tank, I put the 2 new clowns in the Q tank and now one is doing the same, 'sit in one place, not eat, and breath fast' thing. :( My Amonia and Nitrite is 0, PH is 8.2-8.3, all seems well...but, nevertheless it looks like he is going the same way of the first two.
All other fish in main and Q tank are ok. Does anyone have any idea what is going on or what I should do??
Thanks!
 
killa

killa

Member
Not sure why they are dying but if it is the tank in your sig. then it comes as no surprise. Your 55 is underfiltered, I know your ammonia and nitrite are zero what about nitrates. I would take the clown back to the LFS aswell as the tang and Raccoon and get some LR, 4lbs is not much at all. You should aim for about 1-2 lbs per gal IMO. Also when you take that undergravel filter out, exchange the cc for LS or a smaller sized grain of sand. If you don't want to take the fish back, don't worry about the fluval, get more LR. The tang and raccoon will be very grateful.
As for the clowns I don't know whats wrong or whats going wrong with them other then your tank is proberly overstocked.
 
clownfish1452

clownfish1452

Member
I only had a fluval and I was also having problems with my fish breathing hard. So I had to put air into the tank. Because the fish were not getting enough air.
Sarah :)
 
eden

eden

Member
Bang Guy - You may have hit the nail on the head! I was told by my little LFS to acclimate over a 2-3 hour period. 1 hour floating and then 1/2 cup tank water every 1/2 hour for the next 2 hours.
Today we drove 4 hours RT to our huge not-so-local fish store and I told one of the managers my acclimation procedure and he about had a hemorage!
He said I killed my fish because it is 2 hours home and another 3 hours in the bag built up too many toxins and that was it! He said 20 minutes tops in the bag and then into the tank. He also said my Q tank is too small - 6 gallons - and that Q tanks are a waist of time anyway.
The good news is both my new clowns are now swimming around and look ok - thank goodness!
PS to Killa - the clowns are in the Q tank not the main tank. Also, I have 10 inches of fish in my 55, and the damsels are going back. Is that ok??
Lastly, my test kit (Laborett Tetratest) recommended by my LFS does not test for nitrate and I was wondering about that? Do I need to test that as well??
Thanks!
 
ty_05_f

ty_05_f

Active Member
I have that same test kit it works good for me all i did was just buy the nitrate test at the lfs.
 
eden

eden

Member
ok - my LFS never mentioned that this kit would not test for everything. I will go get the other kit.
 
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