Is my clown dying? Please help ASAP!

[crazyzeus1]

Long story short...got two Clowns today from internet order (not this site). One was already dead...the other has acclimated & been in thank for 3 hours & has either been swimming upside down, vertically (head up, tail down) or lying on the bottom sucking heavily.
Now he's bent into a crescent shape, sucking hard, & my Emarld Crab walked over him & he didn't react...
Do I put him in the freezer to end this suffering??? Is this temporary???? Please advise....this is our first fish....I'm almost in tears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[crazyzeus1]

End the thread....he did die...the Emarld Green crab was dragging him away to the rocks just as I was walking in to get him out of the tank to put him in the freezer.

 

[speg]

If he is laying on the bottom breathing hard and not moving much... he isnt long for this world. Its up to you if you wanna freeze him or let him 'try' to live through it.. sorry bud.
This hobby is great.. but do not be surprised if you lose a lot of livestock too.
You say its your first fish... you REALLY need to try using hardier fish FIRST before you go and buy things like clowns. Try putting in a couple chromis or damsels before anything else. If these things die.. somethings still wrong. If they are doing well still after a week or two then you can try something else.
Whats your water levels?

 

[crazyzeus1]

Salinity 1.021
Nitrates 1-5ppm
Nitrites 0
pH 8.1-8.3
temp 78
Our tank has multiple corals, leathers, & inverts for the past month. All levels have been stable for that long...

 

[speg]

purchase a couple green chromis first.
You probably just had bad luck with the order sounds like.. but still try putting cheap and hardy fish in your tank first.

 

[todmr]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I haven't been on the list long, but have been semi-blindly keeping the saltwater tank for almost 10 years now. It sounds as though I've been really lucky, but we've had a maroon clown that has out-survived all other fish through too many bad things to count (or I'd like to admit) like being washed out into the driveway with a hose in the winter (trying to clean some barnacles of slime algea when I first started and he was hiding in one), to having the sump submerged in water from Hurricane Isabel several years back and being without lights or circ pump except periodically on generator for almost 2 weeks. This is nothing compared to what those in the Gulf region are going through, they are most certainly in our thoughts and prayers!
What I started to say is, sounds like you received a poor batch of fish, all clowns aren't really fragile, so don't be afraid to to try and get some more in the future, they are great fish!

 

[crazyzeus1]

Oh, thank you all for your words of reassurance! I cried when I told my hubby the fish died...he wasn't upset at me, but I just hate the thought that TWO fish died for NO reason, other than we wanted them in our tank. But, I suppose that's part of the risk with having any type of tank. Things die...
I'm just such a tender heart...ugh...

 

[carshark]

sorry for your loss, my first loss was an expensive one....i never lost a clown, never lost a damsel, never lost the yellow tang, the foxface, or a blue tang, but i got my first angel, a flame angel, died inside a week.....that was a long time ago, but never the less i still havent gotten over it, especially the price tag at a LFS!! i know how you feel..

 

[snailheave]

it sounds like bad transit

 

[sweetdawn]

just wondering if the first fish was doa if it was dead in the litlle bag for long with the other fish probably had amonia in the bag that killed the second fish maybe

 

[crazyzeus1]

The fish were in two separate bags..

 

[monalisa]

Wow, really sorry!!

Lisa :happyfish

 

[crazyzeus1]

We're going to get some Damsels or Chromis this weekend I guess. It's hubby's tank in his office...so it's really up to him
For the future, are Clowns really a fickle fish? I thought they were rather strong...
And was this fish smaller than normal? He was about 1 inch from tail to mouth...I have never seen a Clown this small in the LFS.

 

[bigarn]

Clowns are pretty hardy fish .... they're members of the damsel family. As stated, it sounds like bad transit procedures. I wouldn't be afraid to try them again .... not from that site though.

Just an FYI ...... if you have multiple corals I'd get the SG up to around 1.025 and the temp to 80 -82.

 

[crazyzeus1]

Someone on this board also suggested getting the salinity up to 1.025. Thanks for the temp. advice...will get that fixed too!

 

[bwilson]

I didnt read all the answers however here is my story. We got two false clowns and they were fine (Aclumated: 1/2cup of tank every 5min for 45min. ) then all of the sudden one of them stopped using his right fin. Then he started to look like his eye was clouded. We called our lfs and he said clowns stress easy and we should take RO fresh water and put him in it for 2 to 5min. We put him in and he turned upside down and so i glenty nugged him and he kinda just froze for the three mins he was in there. Then we put him back into the tank and bang he was fine been doing good for two weeks now.
Just an Fyi.
BW