Clown being a clown? Or possible disease / Ammonia

[Munkiful]

Hello,
I've recently posted about an ammonia "issue" I'm facing. Long story short, Nh3 is give or take 0.04. Tank is (was) cycled. Nitrates - 0~5 Nitrites -0. PH 8.4, salinity 1.023, temp 24°C. Tank is 50 Gallons, about 2/ 2 1/2 months old. FOWLR tank, 40lbs rock. Currently have 2 clowns, one eel. Pictures attached. Clowns have recently been added within the past week.

I'm new to clowns ( at least at night time). One has been showing odd behavior. It's currently night as well. Vertical swimming, crashing into rock and glass, erratic swimming, what seems to be heavy breathing in comparison to the other clown. No discoloration on gills or body. Has been seen to rest on sand. The Eel and the other clown are absolutely fine, calm, and normal.

I have my powerheads creating surface agitation once I noticed the clowns breathing. They were at the top of the water line, but not creating as much agitation as they are now. Went to my LFS to talk about my combined ammonia reading of 0.8. They recommended algon. I've put it in my canister filter.

What also may be worth noting, is I've recently ( before the ammonia spike) preformed a large waterchange. My DKH was very high and I was un aware. Like untestable high. I believe it was this that caused the spike personally. I should have waited longer between the large water change and adding two new clowns, and allowed the bacteria in my tank to replenish to capable levels.

Lastly I want to add, I work at the same LFS, and have been watching these guys for months. They've been with us for a long time before I finally bought them, and brought them home. I understand fish can hide diseases at a store, however in the months I've seen them there they have exhibited no signs of disease. They lived in our invert system and were never medicated either.

Is my clown just being a clown? Is the algon stripping oxygen from my tank? Is it possibly the ammonia? Could they finally be exhibiting sickness?

 

[brandon429]

We talked already about your math conversion for ammonia, and that you don't have an ammonia problem

When fish issues arise, read the disease forum sticky notes then apply fallow and quarantine to your system to prevent fish loss

You're still misreporting your ammonia levels in these posts and it leads folks/ the pet store/ to falsely assume your cycle needs help

Report all future ammonia levels as nh3, if you insist on testing ammonia after a cycle is complete buy an nh3 tester, not an nh4 tester
Reefing doesn't use nh4 data we're nh3 only


Skipping all fish disease preps is your issue

 

[Munkiful]

We talked already about your math conversion for ammonia, and that you don't have an ammonia problem

When fish issues arise, read the disease forum sticky notes then apply fallow and quarantine to your system to prevent fish loss

You're still misreporting your ammonia levels in these posts and it leads folks/ the pet store/ to falsely assume your cycle needs help

Report all future ammonia levels as nh3, if you insist on testing ammonia after a cycle is complete buy an nh3 tester, not an nh4 tester
Reefing doesn't use nh4 data we're nh3 only


Skipping all fish disease preps is your issue

Understood.
I apologize I'm following the test kit itself to get my NH3 levels. It's telling me with a combined reading of 0.8, I should have 0.04ppm NH3. I Apologize if that's still incorrect.

 

[Gtinnel]

IME the staying vertical at night isn’t uncommon clownfish behavior but the issues with swimming and heavy breathing is.
Once your tank is cycled there is no chance that it uncycled, outside of you removing all of the surface area that contains the bacteria (rock, sand, etc). Doing a water change has no impact on your tanks ability to process ammonia.
Im not familiar with algon, but if it was causing an issue with oxygen in the tank I’d expect both fish to be having issues.
I agree that it is likely a disease/parasite issue.

Also without dosing anything how did your alkalinity get sky high? Since your pH is pretty high I’d guess you’re dosing something to raise it? If so additives to boost pH will raise alkalinity too.

 

[brandon429]

I would also add that it’s very much inside information we are telling you about your cycle- you can’t find this info in books or magazines or articles (the point about permanent ammonia control after a cycle, and that no display reef fails to be cycled fully given your timing, stock levels and surface area in the tank)

there is an entire industry aligned with soothing cycle fears, things for purchase, and frankly lfs employees do the best they can/they mean well/ they have not spent 22 obsessive years online nerding out on reef tank cycling so we forgive them. The part about nh3/4 is well known, I myself didn’t understand one lick of it until chemistry forum bros explained it to me several times. There are more and more lfs employees who understand that basic chemistry nowadays but its the vast minority of anyone consulted at a lfs. A seachem ammonia alert badge will show you the tank is safe (reads as nh3)

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Hello,
I've recently posted about an ammonia "issue" I'm facing. Long story short, Nh3 is give or take 0.04. Tank is (was) cycled. Nitrates - 0~5 Nitrites -0. PH 8.4, salinity 1.023, temp 24°C. Tank is 50 Gallons, about 2/ 2 1/2 months old. FOWLR tank, 40lbs rock. Currently have 2 clowns, one eel. Pictures attached. Clowns have recently been added within the past week.

I'm new to clowns ( at least at night time). One has been showing odd behavior. It's currently night as well. Vertical swimming, crashing into rock and glass, erratic swimming, what seems to be heavy breathing in comparison to the other clown. No discoloration on gills or body. Has been seen to rest on sand. The Eel and the other clown are absolutely fine, calm, and normal.

I have my powerheads creating surface agitation once I noticed the clowns breathing. They were at the top of the water line, but not creating as much agitation as they are now. Went to my LFS to talk about my combined ammonia reading of 0.8. They recommended algon. I've put it in my canister filter.

What also may be worth noting, is I've recently ( before the ammonia spike) preformed a large waterchange. My DKH was very high and I was un aware. Like untestable high. I believe it was this that caused the spike personally. I should have waited longer between the large water change and adding two new clowns, and allowed the bacteria in my tank to replenish to capable levels.

Lastly I want to add, I work at the same LFS, and have been watching these guys for months. They've been with us for a long time before I finally bought them, and brought them home. I understand fish can hide diseases at a store, however in the months I've seen them there they have exhibited no signs of disease. They lived in our invert system and were never medicated either.

Is my clown just being a clown? Is the algon stripping oxygen from my tank? Is it possibly the ammonia? Could they finally be exhibiting sickness?

Why are there bags over all the powerheads and intakes?

 

[Gtinnel]

I just finally got the video to work and IMO you need more surface agitation too. The water on the right side of the tank looks completely still in the video.

 

[Munkiful]

IME the staying vertical at night isn’t uncommon clownfish behavior but the issues with swimming and heavy breathing is.
Once your tank is cycled there is no chance that it uncycled, outside of you removing all of the surface area that contains the bacteria (rock, sand, etc). Doing a water change has no impact on your tanks ability to process ammonia.
Im not familiar with algon, but if it was causing an issue with oxygen in the tank I’d expect both fish to be having issues.
I agree that it is likely a disease/parasite issue.

Also without dosing anything how did your alkalinity get sky high? Since your pH is pretty high I’d guess you’re dosing something to raise it? If so additives to boost pH will raise alkalinity too.

After a lot of trial and error I found it was my apartment most likely using a ton of water hardener. My ph was at the time very low, and barely registering. And I had to go through 3 rounds of the salifert test in the same vial before it showed a result for my DKH. It was a real head scratcher and pain. I've since bought an RODI unit.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I just finally got the video to work and IMO you need more surface agitation too. The water on the right side of the tank looks completely still in the video.

Ya more surface agitation for sure, the water is basically still