Brand new clown fish, suddenly lethargic?

[NancyFish]

So we pulled the trigger on a young mocha storm clown, he was very active in the bag.. we slowly acclimated (1hr) him to a 10g new quarantine tank. We dosed it was stress guard and Fritz turbo start and used imaginatrium boxed saltwater and a heater, plus hob filter.

Probly put him in about two hours ago, I checked all the levels, which were good. Salinity were within .02 from the store.

A hour later he was on the bottom tilting to his side, stirring upright then tilting again. I got paranoid, checked the ammonia, and salinity. Added another dose of Fritz 900 out of paranoia since it says same day fish.

Then just checked him now, still near the bottom, not active but not tilting, not wanting to leave the bottom or swim. His mocha color seems slightly more bright somehow? He didn’t move when I put my hand near the glass so I put my hand in to see if he’d swim. He barely moved until I touched him gently then he jetted up and away to his corner under the filter again.

We put in a 2-3 flakes (why it looks dirty) to see if he’d eat, didn’t really do anything. I’m just paranoid he’ll be dead by morning, or something else — any advice?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

NancyFish Welcome to the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Forum!

The #fishmedic team and other knowledgeable members of our community will do our best to help you resolve your questions. Please provide as much of the following as you are able:

• Brief description of the issue you are observing and answers to the following questions:
  • How long have you had the fish with the condition?
  • Did you quarantine with medication when you first acquired the fish? (If Yes, which medication?)
• Current water quality measurements
• Clear photos of the issue taken using WHITE light and/or a short video of any behaviors (post in your response or on YouTube).

If you can help us by providing as much of the above info as possible, it will make diagnosing and providing recommendations for treatment MUCH easier! The Fish Medic team will get back to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, other members of our community may also share their experience with similar situations and advice that they may have regarding your situation.

You may also feel free to provide a more detailed description of the condition if you wish to share more info than the above list.

Additionally, these links may be useful while you await a response:

• CURRENT QT PROTOCOL LINK
• HOW TO ASK FOR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS HELP LINK

 

[vetteguy53081]

So we pulled the trigger on a young mocha storm clown, he was very active in the bag.. we slowly acclimated (1hr) him to a 10g new quarantine tank. We dosed it was stress guard and Fritz turbo start and used imaginatrium boxed saltwater and a heater, plus hob filter.

Probly put him in about two hours ago, I checked all the levels, which were good. Salinity were within .02 from the store.

A hour later he was on the bottom tilting to his side, stirring upright then tilting again. I got paranoid, checked the ammonia, and salinity. Added another dose of Fritz 900 out of paranoia since it says same day fish.

Then just checked him now, still near the bottom, not active but not tilting, not wanting to leave the bottom or swim. His mocha color seems slightly more bright somehow? He didn’t move when I put my hand near the glass so I put my hand in to see if he’d swim. He barely moved until I touched him gently then he jetted up and away to his corner under the filter again.

We put in a 2-3 flakes (why it looks dirty) to see if he’d eat, didn’t really do anything. I’m just paranoid he’ll be dead by morning, or something else — any advice?

How did you actually acclimate?
It seems you equalized the tank to the salinity of bag in which you wanted to adjust salinity of bag to the that of the tank. Tank should be at least 1.024 and you want to float 20 minutes to adjust temperature then add water (see example below) then aim for salinity. Additionally stress guard does not reduce stress as bottle implies but is rater a water conditioner. Adding fritz zyme turbo should be done for tank as its set up and it appears you set up tank and added fish which is denitrifying bacteria and added more with the fish present and adding stress to fih further. Lower the lights and check ammonia level and add air stone for added oxygen if airstone not already in place.
My method of acclimation and there are other methods:

I generally:
Float for 20-30 minutes
Transfer fish and water into a clean bucket
Then . . . .
Measure the Ph, salinity and temperature of the bag water. If you can, make up some water in a container that has exactly the same measurements as the bag readings and move the fish right over, then you can add a cup of tank water to bucket every 15 mins 6 times (almost 1.5 hours)
Then check salinity in bucket and compare to tank. If no match or very close, add a cup of water every few mins until youve reached salinity and trap fish in same cup and pour off water and release into display.

 

[NancyFish]

Okay so I did not acclimate as long as I esential based off of that. I wasn’t too worried about matching the tank because the qt is for this fish only.

We brought it home, set up the big tank, the fritz was added to the tank while he was still in the bag. To acclimate, we dropped a 30% of the bag from the tank into the bag every 15 mins for a hour, while he also floated, the lfs said that was plenty unfortunately.

He looks better today, but I’m still seeing him tilt near the bottom random, which he wasn’t doing in store, or bag? But he swam up on his own once, just stayed more on bottom. Do you think he’ll be okay, or there’s something wrong?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The tank is not cycled, the poor clown is doing the cycling.

 

[NancyFish]

The tank is not cycled, the poor clown is doing the cycling.

Our big tank is cycling, videos by bulk reef guys say to do the quarantine with the fish in the cycle in a sterile empty tank as a fish in cycle, so we don’t get anything in a new tank.

This was the only reason we got the QT and the fish early? 1 of 2 local fish stores said that was their method when I told them I was waiting on our big tank, and made me sound like I was over reacting reading forums.

Do you think that’s why he’s tilting? Is there any way to make it easier?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Our big tank is cycling, videos by bulk reef guys say to do the quarantine with the fish in the cycle in a sterile empty tank as a fish in cycle, so we don’t get anything in a new tank.

This was the only reason we got the QT and the fish early? 1 of 2 local fish stores said that was their method when I told them I was waiting on our big tank, and made me sound like I was over reacting reading forums.

Do you think that’s why he’s tilting? Is there any way to make it easier?

Most of us will suggest against a fish in cycle, as you see its not pleasant for the fish. But fritz supposedly works very fast and maybe effective now if you say your fish is looking better today. I would just suggest to double check ammonia again and doesn't hurt to add an airstone for oxygen. But its just my 2 cents I'm not a fish medic

 

[NancyFish]

Most of us will suggest against a fish in cycle, as you see its not pleasant for the fish. But fritz supposedly works very fast and maybe effective now if you say your fish is looking better today. I would just suggest to double check ammonia again and doesn't hurt to add an airstone for oxygen. But its just my 2 cents I'm not a fish medic

Thanks for your opinion anyways. The fritz I did a double dose yesterday.

We checked the water ammonia before adding anything, then after adding the solution and fish, then one more time before bed & once this morning (paranoia). They all read 0 on the ammonia and other nitrite nitrate test. And the salinity seems okay. I gave a little extra of the stress guard as it’s all we have besides Fritz.

I also wanted to preventativly treat in the QT and the lfs talked me out of that. Everything seems right, but I hate that he seems like he’s struggling on and off at the bottom and don’t know what to do.

 

[Cell]

Always QT new fish, observational for 4-6 weeks at a minimum but medicated QT is definitely recommended. You will get much better advice here than the majority of LFS's.

 

[NancyFish]

Always QT new fish, observational for 4-6 weeks at a minimum but medicated QT is definitely recommended. You will get much better advice here than the majority of LFS's.

Do you have any advice for the tilting? He got up when I put food in but didn’t take any, and swam for a little fine. Then went back to his corner, tilting, trying to get up tilting again? I hope we are not accidentally killing him somehow.

 

[Cell]

Hard to say. I don't think ammonia is the issue though, Fritzyme works fast and I dont believe 1 clown is going to spike ammonia in a tank within a few hrs or even a day. What do you have for flow other than the HOB? Considering you aren't medicating, consider making it more comfortable, maybe add a rock or two and/or a fake plant. The not eating suggests there may be an internal disease.

 

[NancyFish]

We have a pvc corner tube in there under the filter he’s been hiding behind. Since it was a qt we were keeping it empty. The food we wrote off as the guy had him on pellets, didn’t have any and had to get flakes. So we’re going for pellets to today to see. I eventually saw him eat two flakes but spit them out - so I hope it’s just because they’re not pellets.

As soon as we got in the car he had a green string in his nose or mouth that we didn’t see in the store. I assumed maybe he got algae on the way out of the tank, I haven’t seen it since we’re home. I read that can be a issue if it’s not algae

Nothing else for flow, maybe we will get that too today just incase. He’s just acting totally different than the lfs and worried it’s not because it’s a new tank.

 

[Cell]

If you aren't medicating, you can put more than just a pvc pipe in there. You should have more flow than just an HOB. A small hydor koralia would work great for cheap.