brandon17617
New Member
I have 2 maroon clowns in a 55 gallon tank. I have a lot of rock (more than 80-90 lbs) 80 lbs of sand. The tank is cycled and has been running with no ammonia, nitrite, and low nitrates for a few weeks. I have had 3 green chromis fish in there since it started cycling. I recently (about a week ago) added an orange diamond gobie, and a mate pair of maroon clownfish. The clowns were in the same tank at the lfs. This spot they were in was very small (1' x 1' x 2'). They were housed with some inverts and an anemone. I brought them home with the gobie and added them to my tank. Within a week 2 of my chromis fish were dead. The other chromis is still in the tank alive and seems to be doing well. The one chromis that died seemed to have some brown or black spots on him it looked as though maybe he had been bullied or picked at, the other chromis had no signs of any attacks. He was just laying on the substrate and seemed very close to death. The gobie seems to be doing fine. My big issue is the 2 clowns they are not acting right at all. At first I thought the clowns had ick because I thought I saw a small spot on the male and possibly some hair or discoloration. I started treatment for ick with a product from the lfs that is copper free and safe for reef tanks and inverts. I have given the tank 2 treatments so far and nothing seems to be changing. The male will lay on the substrate for a brief time then get up and swim around like normal or sometimes he even swims weird. With his head pointed up towards the top of the tank and swims like a pencil bobbing in the water. His tail also looks a little tore up almost like strands of hair. This lead me to believe that the female maroon clownfish was bullying him... but they were a mated pair and at the pet store they were in the same very small tank together for weeks and doing great. The female (larger clown) doesn't seem to be acting normal either. She is very reclusive. Sometimes she will sit at the top of the tank in the back corner and just stay there. I am still treating the tank for ick even though I am not totally convinced that is what the problem is. I have been keeping an eye on the water quality and ammonia is 0 nitrite is 0 and nitrates are less than 20 and usually around 10. I change water if they get to 20. I do not have an anemone but I would get one if that would solve this problem. I didnt want to get one if there was a parasite or bacterial problem in the tank though. Any help would be very much appreciated!!!!!
