Clownfish fading colors breathing heavily new tank

[rajdeepsaha]

Hi All,

I am completely new to Reef Tank and 2 clowns were added less than a week back who arent doing well. Its a 67 Gallon Tank and the guy who set it up said all water parameters are good. Tank has just two fishes - likely 3 band Clownfish/Clarkii.

Noticed One of the fishes to have torn / edgy fins and was breathing heavily. The color was fading and turning whitish, not eating properly. Other was was vibrant and fine until today when that fish too started having same symptoms of breathing and faded color. My guy (who got the setup done) isnt responding much and I have no one else to ask. The pump looks small, Could oxygen be a problem? Or this is something else? Please help

 

[vetteguy53081]

These guys appear to have a bacterial issue or skin irritation versus typical brooklynella.
First thing that jumps out is water temperature.
What is your water temperature and salinity level?
Are fish still eating ?
Are they breathing normal or rapid?
is this a newer tank? If so, what is current ammonia level?

 

[Josiah_445]

You need to get your water parameters… it could be impossible to know what’s going on/fix what’s going on if you don’t know what’s going on in your water . Were the fish quarantined?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I would add that the two fish may also be fighting, have you seen them react to each other in a bad way?

Jay

 

[rajdeepsaha]

You need to get your water parameters… it could be impossible to know what’s going on/fix what’s going on if you don’t know what’s going on in your water . Were the fish quarantined?

Hey sorry for the delay guys, so did some heavy research on water parameters and thats where it was going wrong and fishes were highly stressed. Bought test strips from Amazon and found that kH / Alkalinity of the water was dangerously low levels (like normal drinking water) whereas its supposed to be highly alkaline. Got sodium bicarbonate added slowly dosing daily and the kH went to normal again and fishes started to look way healthier.

But I still got issues with Nitrite. Ammonia was zero all along even when kH was low, but nitrite was high, little lower than 5ppm. Nitrates were there too around the same value. Turned of skimmer and added Biobacteria and I let it cycle for 11hours, but didnt work so fast.

Its been 3 days since i added bacteria, but no luck and nitrites creeped to 5ppm, so had to do a 20% water change (first time in my life). Nitrite is diluted now but still there somewhere around 2-3ppm. I added Seachem De*Nitrite in a mesh bag in a corner with the other biomedia ceramic bars and rings, but even if its working its too slow & not removing faster than its generated. What to do now? WAIT some more?

I have the following Bio Load:
2 clarkii clowns, 2 damsels, 1 yellowfin tang, 2 starfish and 1 hermit crab

 

[rajdeepsaha]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I would add that the two fish may also be fighting, have you seen them react to each other in a bad way?

Jay

Hey Jay, no they aren't fighting but colorations returned to normal overnight after i added Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate) to bring up the alkalinity. But Nitrites are still high around 3ppm and fishes are withstanding it fine so far. Waiting for it to go down.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey Jay, no they aren't fighting but colorations returned to normal overnight after i added Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate) to bring up the alkalinity. But Nitrites are still high around 3ppm and fishes are withstanding it fine so far. Waiting for it to go down.

Nitrite isn’t toxic to marine fish, only freshwater fish.
Do you know the pH of the water? Alkalinity just isn’t normally an issue except for with corals - fish don’t have a specific need for alkalinity except how it relates to pH.
Jay

 

[rajdeepsaha]

These guys appear to have a bacterial issue or skin irritation versus typical brooklynella.
First thing that jumps out is water temperature.
What is your water temperature and salinity level?
Are fish still eating ?
Are they breathing normal or rapid?
is this a newer tank? If so, what is current ammonia level?

Skin Irritation yes for low kH, water temp is around 32c, salinity 1.22-1.24 with hydrometer, there were lethargic and eating less due to stress, but after adding baking soda, they have revived and feeding normally. Breathing is still a little fast, guessing due to high nitrite levels 3ppm, Ammonia is Zero and yes its a new Tank around 3 months old.

 

[rajdeepsaha]

Nitrite isn’t toxic to marine fish, only freshwater fish.
Do you know the pH of the water? Alkalinity just isn’t normally an issue except for with corals - fish don’t have a specific need for alkalinity except how it relates to pH.
Jay

Hey Jay, pH is around 8-8.4 and kH is 80-120 ish but seems to be bearable values. Ammonia is zero. But nitrites i knew would suffocate fishes and kill them if goes above 5ppm, maybe i am wrong. But all fishes look normal now, playing along, normal movement etc. just want the nitrites and nitrates to come down to zero. My Filtered Water has none of them, also no chlorine and Im adding Aquaforest Salt which brings all parameters to expected level. But for some reason the Microbacter just isnt there enough which is supposed to breakdown nitrites and nitrates.

 

[CoralB]

What test kits are you using ?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey sorry for the delay guys, so did some heavy research on water parameters and thats where it was going wrong and fishes were highly stressed. Bought test strips from Amazon and found that kH / Alkalinity of the water was dangerously low levels (like normal drinking water) whereas its supposed to be highly alkaline. Got sodium bicarbonate added slowly dosing daily and the kH went to normal again and fishes started to look way healthier.

But I still got issues with Nitrite. Ammonia was zero all along even when kH was low, but nitrite was high, little lower than 5ppm. Nitrates were there too around the same value. Turned of skimmer and added Biobacteria and I let it cycle for 11hours, but didnt work so fast.

Its been 3 days since i added bacteria, but no luck and nitrites creeped to 5ppm, so had to do a 20% water change (first time in my life). Nitrite is diluted now but still there somewhere around 2-3ppm. I added Seachem De*Nitrite in a mesh bag in a corner with the other biomedia ceramic bars and rings, but even if its working its too slow & not removing faster than its generated. What to do now? WAIT some more?

I have the following Bio Load:
2 clarkii clowns, 2 damsels, 1 yellowfin tang, 2 starfish and 1 hermit crab

there is clear aggression damage to body and in alignment with what damage would be done by damsels. Get the damsels into sump or acclimation box for best chance of clown healing. Should heal on its own as long as left undisturbed.
Spend money on reliable test kits. Test strips are Bare Minimum as is ammonia badges and others. Please take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at
I will never trust a $7 badge or $28 master kit to sustain hundreds of dollars in livestock. On the clowns its an aggression issue and not water quality.
Disregard nitrates which play a role in Freshwater and no significance in marine unless sky High

 

[vetteguy53081]

Skin Irritation yes for low kH, water temp is around 32c, salinity 1.22-1.24 with hydrometer, there were lethargic and eating less due to stress, but after adding baking soda, they have revived and feeding normally. Breathing is still a little fast, guessing due to high nitrite levels 3ppm, Ammonia is Zero and yes its a new Tank around 3 months old.

baking soda elevates Alkalinity and should not have adverse affect on fish behavior unless PH was very low. 1.022 is a little low and try to maintain in 1.024

 

[rajdeepsaha]

there is clear aggression damage to body and in alignment with what damage would be done by damsels. Get the damsels into sump or acclimation box for best chance of clown healing. Should heal on its own as long as left undisturbed.
Spend money on reliable test kits. Test strips are Bare Minimum as is ammonia badges and others. Please take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at
I will never trust a $7 badge or $28 master kit to sustain hundreds of dollars in livestock. On the clowns its an aggression issue and not water quality.
Disregard nitrates which play a role in Freshwater and no significance in marine unless sky High

Hey, thank you so much for the suggestion, actually when i started this post, there were only 2 clowns with no other fish and the photos are from then, with ragged discolored body, right now its like this, close up - so much better. Only after they recovered after adding Baking Soda to stabilize kH, did i add the damsels/tang. However i have seen that damsels are territorial and have claimed the central area and pushed clowns to the upper area of the tank. I will be moving the damsels to the refugium / sump for sometime and permanently - if sustainable.

 

[rajdeepsaha]

baking soda elevates Alkalinity and should not have adverse affect on fish behavior unless PH was very low. 1.022 is a little low and try to maintain in 1.024

Strangely pH was always between 7.8 to 8.4 but alkalinity showed 0 (literally). Hardness was ~400 which is normal. I used this test strip & mostly for estimating purposes, they are not accurate i know. But i used these strips at a fish store on a perfectly good tank and the readings showed all normal parameters, so trusted it bit more. However i use Salifert Ammonia Test and they result in Cloudy white solution with no yellow tinge, chart says its zero. Results attached.

 

[rajdeepsaha]

NEED HELP
so the fishes seem to be doing just fine, Parameters look fine EXCEPT NITRITE. its near 5ppm and i want it down to Zero. I am yet to get my hands on API Nitrite test kit, but surely nitrite levels are higher than zero. What can I do? Tried adding Bacteria Supplements, added more bio filtration (ceramic bars, Seachem Denitrate and Matrix), added a Media Reactor with Bio Media, but nothing seems to be working? Is it expected to take more time like weeks to grow sufficient Microbacter for breaking down nitrites to nitrates?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

NEED HELP
so the fishes seem to be doing just fine, Parameters look fine EXCEPT NITRITE. its near 5ppm and i want it down to Zero. I am yet to get my hands on API Nitrite test kit, but surely nitrite levels are higher than zero. What can I do? Tried adding Bacteria Supplements, added more bio filtration (ceramic bars, Seachem Denitrate and Matrix), added a Media Reactor with Bio Media, but nothing seems to be working? Is it expected to take more time like weeks to grow sufficient Microbacter for breaking down nitrites to nitrates?

You can dilute your test sample with fresh seawater and then test again. For example, if you mix up a sample that is 50% tank water and 50% new seawater, just multiply the test results by 2 to get the actual reading.

As I said though, nitrite itself is not toxic to marine fish. 5 ppm is pretty high though, (most tanks top out at around 3 ppm) and that means either the test kit isn't reading accurately, or the tank is getting a strong influx of ammonia and just needs more time to produce the needed bacteria.

Jay