Big clownfish want to stay at the top of the tank

[Lisa Cain]

My big clown is hovering at the top of the tank swimming and will not go down to the bottom. This is the first time that I have seen him do this. He does not look sick, meaning he has not spots or ich. He seems to be breathing hard by looking at his gills.

I tested my water- My parameters are the following
Ph 7.4
Ammonia 0ppm-25 looks more like 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm very concerned will hurry to the store tomorrow and do a water change
Salinity 1.019

Everybody else is fine. I did a transfer from my old 95 gallon tank to this 65 Red Sea

Also the blower send out small particles. Does this mean that something need cleaning. Thanks!!

I posted a picture of the clownfish at the top.

 

[Jonify]

Yikes, a couple of things are off in your parameters.
First, a pH of 7.4 is going to start to dissolve carbonate--that needs to be 7.7 at least, and a better target is 8.0-8.4. When is the last time you calibrated your pH checker? Second, your ammonia should be 0. 25 is concerning, but 50 will kill your fish. Third, your salinity is way low--that should be about 1.025-1.026. When is the last time you calibrated your salinity checker?

All that said, clowns will be clowns, and sometimes they act very strange for no reason at all. Still, some of your parameters are out of whack. Calibrate, then re-check. If the same, fix it.

 

[Lisa Cain]

Hello worried

 

[Jay Hemdal]

As mentioned, you need to double check your water testers - either they are inaccurate, or your values are off. The pH is low, and so is the salinity. However, the corals look pretty good, so that leaves me wondering if your tests are off.

A single clownfish breathing rapidly at the surface is odd - no other fish are showing symptoms? Is this clownfish still feeding?

Jay

 

[Reef.]

As above...but before you change anything double and triple check your results, refractometers are hard to be 100% sure they are giving you the correct reading even after calibrating them.

Ph is very low, make sure the room has fresh air coming in and the surface of the water is breaking up, those two things alone could rise your ph where it needs to be.