Help! Clown lying on sand

[BSej]

Hi all, I've had these two clowns for about 2 weeks now in a 20 gallon cube. The cube is about 10 months old. They seemed to be doing great and I Just fed them and they ate well. I turned on a powerhead and within 10 minutes I noticed one of the clowns lying on the sand breathing rapidly. Not sure if the powerhead had anything to do with it, but the other clown still looks happy and healthy. If it means anything, I also just lost my fire shrimp after a molt, and an emerald crab. I don't have materials for a quarantine tank, and I don't think it's any kind of disease. What could it be?

Tank is cycled



Parameters before turning on powerhead (could the powerhead have stirred up some toxins or something from the sand or etc? )


I turned the powerhead off. Should I keep it on?

Calcium 400

Alk 8.5

Phosphates 0.05

Salinity 1.0255 Nitrates < 10

 

[JayM]

You'll be better off uploading a video with white lighting to Youtube (30-40 seconds) and posting a link here.

 

[BSej]

You'll be better off uploading a video with white lighting to Youtube (30-40 seconds) and posting a link here.

hard to get a good angle

 

[pazlebon]

Check for stray voltage

 

[BSej]

Check for stray voltage

I don't have a multimeter on me at the moment. Will check ASAP.

 

[BSej]

He still doesn't look good, but he's now briefly hovering over the sand instead of laying on it. I just changed 4.4 gallons of water also with

Nature's Ocean Live Nutri-Seawater.​

Never heard of it until today, but was convenient as my LFS was an hour drive in traffic.

 

[BSej]

He's swimming around the tank now. Completely unsure of what happened. Maybe some kind of ammonia shock? Or perhaps it is the stray voltage, not sure why it would only affect one clown though.

 

[TheNative192]

He's swimming around the tank now. Completely unsure of what happened. Maybe some kind of ammonia shock? Or perhaps it is the stray voltage, not sure why it would only affect one clown though.

Kind of looked like temperature shock, ammonia shock, or stray voltage. Do you have a heater in your tank?

Also do you have an open lid that allows for gas exchange and enough flow. There is a chance the water is not aerated enough as a glass lid could cause that issue.

 

[BSej]

Kind of looked like temperature shock, ammonia shock, or stray voltage. Do you have a heater in your tank?

Also do you have an open lid that allows for gas exchange and enough flow. There is a chance the water is not aerated enough as a glass lid could cause that issue.

I have a heater, and monitored the temperature during that time. No lid, water gets decent agitation from the return pump, and now the added power head.

 

[TheNative192]

I have a heater, and monitored the temperature during that time. No lid, water gets decent agitation from the return pump, and now the added power head.

Is he swimming around the tank still or any signs of sickness? I know you had multiple inverts pass away and then he started to swim around after a water change which makes me think there still may be an underlying issue. When introducing him to the tank did you drip acclimate him or just temp acclimate. Some LFS run their tanks on very low salinity (1.02 or 1.021) so that is another possibility. The weird think though is your inverts passed and I think you mentioned you had them for a while already.

Have you calibrated your refractometer recently? Every couple of months mine will just randomly be off and that can cause issues. Not sure what you are using for that test.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

#fishmedic

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi all, I've had these two clowns for about 2 weeks now in a 20 gallon cube. The cube is about 10 months old. They seemed to be doing great and I Just fed them and they ate well. I turned on a powerhead and within 10 minutes I noticed one of the clowns lying on the sand breathing rapidly. Not sure if the powerhead had anything to do with it, but the other clown still looks happy and healthy. If it means anything, I also just lost my fire shrimp after a molt, and an emerald crab. I don't have materials for a quarantine tank, and I don't think it's any kind of disease. What could it be?

Tank is cycled



Parameters before turning on powerhead (could the powerhead have stirred up some toxins or something from the sand or etc? )


I turned the powerhead off. Should I keep it on?

Calcium 400

Alk 8.5

Phosphates 0.05

Salinity 1.0255 Nitrates < 10

This fish may be moribund but hard to tell as image is blurry. I see it breathing heavy and a video with clearer image will be of great help. Does flow affect them- most definitely and to determine if flow is an issue, turn it back down and see if the clown perks up. Heavy breathing can also be possible aggression especially from another clown

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I don't have a multimeter on me at the moment. Will check ASAP.

It's not stray voltage. That is over rated as a cause of fish health issues, and logically, even if it did cause problems like this, ALL of the fish would be affected.

 

[BSej]

Is he swimming around the tank still or any signs of sickness? I know you had multiple inverts pass away and then he started to swim around after a water change which makes me think there still may be an underlying issue. When introducing him to the tank did you drip acclimate him or just temp acclimate. Some LFS run their tanks on very low salinity (1.02 or 1.021) so that is another possibility. The weird think though is your inverts passed and I think you mentioned you had them for a while already.

Have you calibrated your refractometer recently? Every couple of months mine will just randomly be off and that can cause issues. Not sure what you are using for that test.

The crab I had for about 8 months before passing. The shrimp was just a couple weeks and died after molting. Both are swimming fine and eating, no sign of sickness. I only temp acclimated, they were ORA farm clowns. I use a hydrometer for salinity testing.

 

[BSej]

This fish may be moribund but hard to tell as image is blurry. I see it breathing heavy and a video with clearer image will be of great help. Does flow affect them- most definitely and to determine if flow is an issue, turn it back down and see if the clown perks up. Heavy breathing can also be possible aggression especially from another clown

He seems completely back to normal now. I kept the powerhead on.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi all, I've had these two clowns for about 2 weeks now in a 20 gallon cube. The cube is about 10 months old. They seemed to be doing great and I Just fed them and they ate well. I turned on a powerhead and within 10 minutes I noticed one of the clowns lying on the sand breathing rapidly. Not sure if the powerhead had anything to do with it, but the other clown still looks happy and healthy. If it means anything, I also just lost my fire shrimp after a molt, and an emerald crab. I don't have materials for a quarantine tank, and I don't think it's any kind of disease. What could it be?

Tank is cycled



Parameters before turning on powerhead (could the powerhead have stirred up some toxins or something from the sand or etc? )


I turned the powerhead off. Should I keep it on?

Calcium 400

Alk 8.5

Phosphates 0.05

Salinity 1.0255 Nitrates < 10

How is the clown this morning?

I wonder if it got startled and ran into something, putting it into shock?
There are also disease issues that can cause these symptoms, but I'm not considering those because of your "cause and effect" observation about turning on the pump and seeing this 10 minutes later.

 

[BSej]

How is the clown this morning?

I wonder if it got startled and ran into something, putting it into shock?
There are also disease issues that can cause these symptoms, but I'm not considering those because of your "cause and effect" observation about turning on the pump and seeing this 10 minutes later.

He's great. Both are swimming normally and eating like pigs again.

 

[Largeangels]

It could have been chasing/aggression from the other clown. If you've only had them for a couple of weeks they are still trying to figure out who the boss is and who will become female. Its not uncommon to have them seem fine and then all of the sudden a burst of aggression and then back to normal.

 

[MnFish1]

Glad the clown is better!! - Just an added comment - since you didn't quarantine your fish - I would watch for anything suggesting disease going forward - independent of this current event. Thickened mucus, rapid breathing etc