Hi All, looking for a bit of advice on the below:
Late yesterday afternoon I noticed my female clownfish behaving erratically. I have a clown pair and a tailspot blenny in a Max Nano, and on further observation I saw all 3 behaving this way: rapid gill movements, gasping/open mouths, darting around the tank frantically, flicking on rocks and the tank walls. All of the inverts, including a cleaner shrimp, couple hermits, snails, and 2 feather dusters were 100% normal, and nothing had been out of the ordinary with the fish prior – this was very sudden.
The protein skimmer was running, and I have the return nozzle set to create a ton of surface tension, so I ruled out lack of O2. Tested for ammonia and that came up zero. Tested Ph and that came up 8.0, which is typical – tank usually runs 8 – 8.1. At this point I’m baffled.
Even though ammonia was zero, I added Prime just to be safe. The only other thing I could think of was stray voltage. I have no way of checking (ordered a meter that should arrive today), but I began turning off stuff one by one just to see what would happen. When I turned off the return pump, the fish stopped the scary behavior and went back to behaving normally, just like that. Turned it back on, and the weird behavior starts up again. So I added an extra wavemaker pointed at the surface in DT to help move water through the surface skimmer, kept the protein skimmer running in the back sump, and left the return pump off overnight. Figured I’d found the issue and I’d replace the pump today.
Well this morning I turned the pump back on and the fish are perfectly fine. So now I’m back to being baffled. What other potential causes could that behavior be linked to? Possible a contaminant somehow got into the tank and the Prime detoxified it, and it wasn’t the pump at all? I’m just unsure what to look for next. I’ve also ordered Poly Filters (coming today), and am preparing a water change (RO/DI). Will prob also pull the pump out and clean/inspect it this weekend either way.
As of now all looks as usual in the tank. The fish are behaving normally and have eaten their morning food.
Late yesterday afternoon I noticed my female clownfish behaving erratically. I have a clown pair and a tailspot blenny in a Max Nano, and on further observation I saw all 3 behaving this way: rapid gill movements, gasping/open mouths, darting around the tank frantically, flicking on rocks and the tank walls. All of the inverts, including a cleaner shrimp, couple hermits, snails, and 2 feather dusters were 100% normal, and nothing had been out of the ordinary with the fish prior – this was very sudden.
The protein skimmer was running, and I have the return nozzle set to create a ton of surface tension, so I ruled out lack of O2. Tested for ammonia and that came up zero. Tested Ph and that came up 8.0, which is typical – tank usually runs 8 – 8.1. At this point I’m baffled.
Even though ammonia was zero, I added Prime just to be safe. The only other thing I could think of was stray voltage. I have no way of checking (ordered a meter that should arrive today), but I began turning off stuff one by one just to see what would happen. When I turned off the return pump, the fish stopped the scary behavior and went back to behaving normally, just like that. Turned it back on, and the weird behavior starts up again. So I added an extra wavemaker pointed at the surface in DT to help move water through the surface skimmer, kept the protein skimmer running in the back sump, and left the return pump off overnight. Figured I’d found the issue and I’d replace the pump today.
Well this morning I turned the pump back on and the fish are perfectly fine. So now I’m back to being baffled. What other potential causes could that behavior be linked to? Possible a contaminant somehow got into the tank and the Prime detoxified it, and it wasn’t the pump at all? I’m just unsure what to look for next. I’ve also ordered Poly Filters (coming today), and am preparing a water change (RO/DI). Will prob also pull the pump out and clean/inspect it this weekend either way.
As of now all looks as usual in the tank. The fish are behaving normally and have eaten their morning food.