Clowns acting strangely

[terrance]

I just bought a pair of percula clowns. When i introduced them into the tank two days ago they were swimming around together just fine and they were eating too. Now, i see them on opposite sides of the tanks, each on at the top of each side not willing to move. This isnt normal behavior for a mated pair is it? I dont know if they are stressed or not. Also, when i introduced them, a day later my royal gramma died, i dont know if they had anything to do with that. Can anyone offer any ideas? Water parameters are all normal except my salinity, which is abot 1.026 which i will correct tomorrow.

 

[fishguy4]

try to raise your tank temp to about 80-82. give it a few days and check on em. if theyre still acting badly, give em a short fresh water bath.

 

[sebae0]

first off how old is the tank? secondly what is the temp of the tank? and third don't give them a fresh water bath until you know what the problem is(no offense). if the tank is cycling then maybe your getting an ammo spike or trites this is the problem. give a little more info and we can help better.
welcome to the board also!

 

[terrance]

My temp is 78. Would there be any reason for them to be on opposite sides of the tank? I thought mated pairs would stay together all the time. At least when i feed them they eat really well.

 

[karajay]

If they continue to eat well and their physical appearance looks normal, I would not worry too much. I've had my pair of false percs for months and they are rarely in the same place. When I had them in another tank with other fish, every night they would be in opposite corners bobbing at the top of the tank. Now they are the only two in my current tank. And they both dig seperate holes in the sand bed to sleep.

 

[terrance]

My tank is 40 gallons and has been running for 3 months, no ammonia or nitrates. Every water parameter is fine except for a slightly high salinity. I have 2 percs, a brittle star, a dragon goby and 3 chromis.

 

[terrance]

Well, after a few days of my clowns not eating, one of them died and was quickly a meal for my clean up crew. Now, only one of the clowns is left. Oddly enough, now that the other clown is gone, the one left has finally left his spot and is now swimming freely around the tank. This was the bigger of the two and i bought them as a mated pair, so does this behavior indicate that they werent compatible?

 

[janelle]

not to scare you, but i bought a mated pair of clownfish and they were doing great for about two weeks. then all of a sudden (no changes to the tank except the addition of 2 astrea snails and 2 hermit crabs) the male came down with what i finally figured out to be amyloodinium. he was not eating, got skinny overnight, breathing heavy. i consulted conscientious marine aquarist and clownfishes books and found out it was amyloodinium, which is a quick killer. since the parasites are too small to see with the

[hr]
eye, you may only notice slightly hazy white patches on the fish. you may not even see anything and the fish will all of a sudden just die.
im not saying your tank is infected, but i would research it a little further.
I am treating my remaining clown with cupramine in a 10 hospital tank (which was once its 10g home) with no substrate, 2 pieces of pvc and a plastic plant. she is doing fine, but her mate is a goner.

 

[terrance]

Well, after the remaining one was swimming around looking just fine, he suddenly looked like he was going into shock and started convulsing, then just died alll of a sudden. It sounds like that could be the case, but does it only affect clowns because i have 3 chromis and a dragon goby and they are doing fine. THanks for you help, if it is that disease how would i go about treating my tank?

 

[janelle]

i am using cupramine (non chelated copper, supposed to stay in suspension, not absorb into everything and then leach back into the system later, but I still am using it in a dedicated hospital 10g tank) per the instruction on the label. be sure you have the seachem copper test kit or the fastest copper test kit, and it is not old or been exposed to heat. since I made the mistake of buying a red sea copper test kit i have to rely on my lfs to test my water for me. copper is the most reliable way to treat oodinium, unfortunately. let your main tank go without fish for a good month, keeping your fish in quarantine. if you go to about.com and type in cryptocaryon, there is a great article on treating ich and oodinium and other fish maladies. its called 'saltwater ich diagnosis, treatment and prevention.' I printed it out for future reference. I am currently also treating my 20g for ich using the osmotic shock therapy method. wish me luck! good luck with your fish.

 

[bdhough]

Your salinity level is fine. I wouldn't adjust it drastically. If you want to occasionally take out a cup of water and add a new cup of lower salinity water that would be the best way of lowering it. It will also tend to come down on its own over a long time. I know mine have. Its better to have above .024 than below .024 anyways. I have read that the average in the ocean is .026.....
Clowns have their own weird diseases that all the ocean raised percs have to deal with. That is why tank raised percs are so common and more expensive; because they never have to deal with said diseases, and why you should never mix the two types. Its possible that it may go to other fish but without knowing exactly what it is, its very hard to tell if that will actually happen.

 

[janelle]

oodinium is also called clownfish disease, but any other fish can get it.
my percs (now singular perc) are tank raised breeding stock from ORA and they still got oodinium by exposure somehow.