Clowns.....

CourtNjoeZreef

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
196
Reaction score
158
Location
New Jersey
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So when I started my tank I had two clown fish that lasted for about 3 to 4 weeks they passed away and all the other fish coral beauty a Tang a lawn mower blenny and a six line rest all seem to be doing fine so this morning I woke up and we had replaced those clowns about 2 weeks ago so this morning I find my orange clowns swimming upside down and kind of just being blown around unfortunately I have no place to put it to help it get better so I don't know what to do however my bigger question is why do I keep losing clownfish which are supposed to be super Hardy and these other fish seem to have absolutely no problem.

The first set of clowns in the second set of clowns were from two different locations about 2 hours apart from each other so I doubt the same warehouse also
 

dedragon

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,895
Reaction score
4,399
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
most likely a parasite or infection getting to your fish. Before I call in the doctor (humblefish), i should ask what your water parameters are :Ammonia,Nitrate, Salinity, are the three important ones but calcium, phosphate, magnesium and alk are good to know as well as what test kits youre using and if you have a refractometer. Are you using RODI water or tap water and conditioner? Are the clownfish that are having these problems getting paler or whiter, or have dots on them, do they have stringy white poop, are they breathing heavy most of the time? Sorry I know its a lot of questions but they are all important
 
OP
OP
CourtNjoeZreef

CourtNjoeZreef

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
196
Reaction score
158
Location
New Jersey
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I use RODI 4 stage after my whole home water softener.
77.5-78 degrees 2 heaters & controller
Ph 8.2-8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-5
Api test kit

Calcium- 430-460 (red sea kit)
Alkalinity 9.0 (dose soda ash/tropic marin all for reef) hanna alkalinity checker
Magnesium- 1400-1700 (red sea & seachem test kits) lower end is seachem higher is red sea.

Salinity- 34.5-36.5 hanna checker/hydrometer/refractometer all give different answers and haven't found someone to confirm any of my tools so I'm shooting in the dark with this.

Phosphate near zero

10g water changes weekly. 70gallon system. (This is all I have room to premix at once at the moment. Would prefer to do 20 per week.)

The few times I saw poop it was brown. There is a black clown fish that seems plump and eats well. The orange one ate just not as fast as the black clown. 3-1 pellets per feeding is probably the intake difference.

Last night I fed they both ate and my wife and I were saying how well they were doing. This morning as stated before it was acting like a swim bladder issue. Not bloated at all and even went towards food in this state.

Stocking

2 clown
1 coral beauty
1 six line wrasse
1 algae blenny
1 anemone (eats and spreads out also very brightly colored)
4 coral frags - bird's nest greed with purple polyps 2 zoanthids 1 pulsing xenia.
All this seems healthy
One of the zoa opens less then the other cluster but it has only been about 2 weeks for the corals over all.

It's odd to me that only 1 species seems to have issue in my tank. I have many fresh water tanks and generally speaking right parameters= happy fish. Seems to not be the case here.

I am careful with contamination. I wash hands and wear gloves, wash tools before contacting water. Alcohol and RODI water when washing. Thoroughly dry everything after wash ect.

Filter socks are cleaned every 3 days.
Ato filled at the same time.
Marine pure bio brick
activated charcoal & GFO in bags
Reef octopus classic 110 skimmer that gets good and black and stink I assume that's working well.

2 power heads face each other accross the rock work. And the pump is a 800gph probably more like 650 after the 4ft height. 1000gph siphon overflow.

I feel like I covered it all
 

dedragon

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,895
Reaction score
4,399
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Seems like you are doing everything you should. This one may have had a swim bladder issue. The first set of clownfish seems like they were the first fish in the so it may be unrelated. How long ago did the first clownfish die?
 
OP
OP
CourtNjoeZreef

CourtNjoeZreef

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
196
Reaction score
158
Location
New Jersey
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Tank set up early January. round the 15th or so is when the first two clowns went in. They lasted about 4 weeks so mid February. we waited about a week after those two seemingly died together. I was feeding 1x a day at that point. We waited about 2 weeks and now here we are 2.5 weeks later and here we are. I will say this the first two 1 was fine the other slowed down they sat together on the bottom of the tank for 2 days 1 passed then 2 days later the other passed.

this time the one like i said it seems like swim bladder but IDK.

We purposely bought from a different store hours apart to make sure we are getting from a different supplier.
 

dedragon

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,895
Reaction score
4,399
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
oh forgot to say refractometer calibration solution is easy to find on amazon and just match it to that value, i find precision is better than accuracy. Seems like your first clowns deaths are unrelated and that new one may have just been the problem. I personally like to ask my LFS when they get in clownfish from ORA or sustainable aquatics or other breeders and purchase them directly from the bag. That way I get a fish that wouldnt be contaminated with LFS water, and you dont have to pay the shipping. Those big breeders would be f'd if they had any parasites
 
OP
OP
CourtNjoeZreef

CourtNjoeZreef

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
196
Reaction score
158
Location
New Jersey
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thats kinda my thought tbh is that I have fish with issues to begin with.

As far as the salinity goes I have the 35 salinity recalibration drops and the Hanna checker packets. one time the Hanna was low like 32 after a calibration and the refractometer was up around 41.. the hydrometer is garbage as it checks the buoyance of air bubbles rather then the salinity.

The Hanna seems to figure it out faster when I rinse in RODI then check. if I don't it just bounces all over.
The refractometer is the BRS one. It is auto temp calibrated and I use their drops. I Adjust to 35 and then I check. For some reason I get more then one answer depending on how i hold it and if i wipe off and go again. The method im going with is : 3 drops of calibration solution. calibrate. Wipe clean with paper towel. 3 drops of tank water then check. This is the second refractometer the first one idk cheapo amazon special so i sent that back.
 

dedragon

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,895
Reaction score
4,399
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
hmm weird I would contact BRS about the refractometer, it shouldnt bounce around too much. They will say to rinse with RODI between the calibration and tank water though. My refractometer usually raises a bit after calibration but only from about 1.026 to 1.027 and i use calibration solution after to double check.
 

dedragon

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,895
Reaction score
4,399
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If that clown is still alive make an emergency post right now and @ humblefish they might be able to help before it actually perishes
 

dedragon

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,895
Reaction score
4,399
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
swim bladder issues can be caused by a few different things you just want to make sure it isnt an infection that can spread and I am not good with identifying internal problems like others are.
 

dedragon

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,895
Reaction score
4,399
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and air pump is an easy qt container if you already have access to these things
 
OP
OP
CourtNjoeZreef

CourtNjoeZreef

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
196
Reaction score
158
Location
New Jersey
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I unfortunately am at work 8am-6pm. it if is alive ill definitely do that.

It never put on size so I'm thinking an internal parasite but there was no bloat or abnormal poop. Its color is as it always was. I would take pictures but blue lights and cheap phone don't produce anything but blurry nonsense.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 38 52.8%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 38 52.8%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 15 20.8%
  • None.

    Votes: 18 25.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 6 8.3%
Back
Top