Just lost my clown HELP!!!

lkb3493

lkb3493

Member
Well I have just had a Royal Gramma in my 55 gal FOWLR tank. This past Saturday I added a serpentine star, 2 orange Florida snails, 3 camel shrimp, and a percula clown (tank raised). Well everyone was doing just great - eating, getting along etc..

Yesterday when I fed everyone I noticed that the clown did not eat- frozen brine shrimp- everyone's favorite. I thought maybe he ate and I just didn't see it... :notsure:
This morning he was swimming right on the bottom and pecking at the sand. Then he started floating/swimming kind of like twirling in the current. I could tell he was having major trouble. Then he would stop swimming and then float etc..I just took him out of the tank.
I tested the water and this is what I have:
Ammonia: .25
KH: 12
Nitrate: less than 10
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.024
temp 78
What am I missing? :notsure: Is there something wrong with my tank???? :help:
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
How old is the tank? You shouldn't have any ammn at all. How did you acclimate the fish before you put them in the tank?
First question to answer is where is the ammn comeing from.......
BTW brine shrimp has little to no valve to your critters, switch to mysis shrimp......
HTH
Tim
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
Originally Posted by alyssia
Yes, how long did you acclimate him?
How old is your tank?
Darn it Alyssia, no fair you type faster than me.....
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by TurningTim
Darn it Alyssia, no fair you type faster than me.....


But you go into more detail, which is better....
I'm also trying to instant message right now so I'm going fast. And getting confused...
 
saltfan

saltfan

Active Member
Guys, if he just added all those fihs on Saturday, his Ammonia is going to rise some, I don't know to what extent, but his system has got to catch up to them.
 
lkb3493

lkb3493

Member
My tank was set up late Feb. It has already cycled and has 20 lbs live rock, 40 lbs live sand, 10 lbs base rock....I acclimated them by floating in the bag in my tank for about 30 minutes and thencut a small slit in the bag and let float for 2 hours. This is what my LFS said to do. The thing is I got everything on Sat and Sat night the clown was eating and acting fine all the way through to Wednesday.....Thank for the info about the brine...I will switch it...The ammonia looks like it is between 0 and .25. It is the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand test kit and the colors are so close it is hard to read....
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
SaltFan is right could be to much to fast for a new tank and thats where the ammn is coming from. But I would have to say that the acclimation is what did the clown in.
You need to slowly acclimate the fish to your tank and not just temp. I drip evrything and I mean everything. The LFS is wrong! There are a couple of ways to aclimate critters to your tank.
I use a air line hose with a small air valve and drip (my tank water) for at least two hours (or more) and double the volume of water in the bag.
Do a search on acclimation......
HTH
Tim
BTW I would bump up the LR a bit.....
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
Oh yea, one more thing NEVER add the LFS water to your tank! Take the critter out of the bag and place in the tank and throw away the water.
 
brad1968

brad1968

Member
Where do you find mysis shrimp?
Is the hatching procedure similar?
What's the easiest way to produce a semi-continuous live food source?
 
lkb3493

lkb3493

Member
Could it be acclimation when he was fine for a few days and then had trouble? I am a newbie obviously LOL so it seems he should have had trouble right from the start? I will definately do a search on accliamtion so I know in the future.....Thanks for all of the help!
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
I would have to say it's the acclimating procedure that's doing it. You can let it float for 15min, then dump everything into a container, then pour in a cup of water along with taking out a cup every 15min three times. That would do the trick too, but the drip acclimating procedure do the best. Like it was mentioned, Brine is not gonna cut it for your fish, even though a lot of folks have success with'em. I would really suggest in looking for a frozen bar of Cyclop-eeze to feed your percula. They seem to like that a lot, especially the picky eaters, he might be hungry as well since you don't know if he eats the brine or not. Is his belly sunked in?? If that's the case, you should look into getting Cyclop-eeze to feed. :happyfish
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
Yes IMO it still could be the acclimation even if it took a couple days. Like I said I've had online sites and LFS tell me there was no need to acclimate critters of any sort but I would rather be safe than sorry and haven't lost anything yet......
Brad, don't know about the breeding but you can buy mysis frozen just like brine. If you want a food source, a fuge with a pod pile is the way to go........
The nutritional valve of brine is very small if any. Mysis is much better for the fish.
HTH
Tim
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by TurningTim
Yes IMO it still could be the acclimation even if it took a couple days. Like I said I've had online sites and LFS tell me there was no need to acclimate critters of any sort but I would rather be safe than sorry and haven't lost anything yet......
Brad, don't know about the breeding but you can buy mysis frozen just like brine. If you want a food source, a fuge with a pod pile is the way to go........
The nutritional valve of brine is very small if any. Mysis is much better for the fish.
HTH
Tim
I would agree with the Mysis statement, but I also want to add this. My baby clowns that I got would not eat mysis at all at first. I had to feed Cyclop-eeze in order to get them to eat for me. Once they've been feeding on it for a week, that's when they start to take other foods from me. Cyclop-eeze would be a better choice if it's a baby clown! :happyfish
 
brad1968

brad1968

Member
Originally Posted by TurningTim
Yes IMO it still could be the acclimation even if it took a couple days. Like I said I've had online sites and LFS tell me there was no need to acclimate critters of any sort but I would rather be safe than sorry and haven't lost anything yet......
Brad, don't know about the breeding but you can buy mysis frozen just like brine. If you want a food source, a fuge with a pod pile is the way to go........
The nutritional valve of brine is very small if any. Mysis is much better for the fish.
HTH
Tim
Great thanks, I'll go the frozen route.
 
pclown

pclown

Member
Do you know if he was eating at LFS. As far as acclimation for fish, I float for 30 min while adding a little water to the bag every 5 min. By the time 30 min comes around the bag is twice as full as it was when I started. This helps to get them adjusted to Salanity and PH. LFS keep their Salanity very low to fight Ich and their PH low as well (not sure why.)
I always make sure the LFS feeds them in front of me. I also like Cyclop-eeze and I also think that live foods are overated.
I am sorry about your loss
 
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