Help! Clownfish head down not eating..

[iko2thdk]

Reposted from Tank emergency!!
I know this has been covered but since I'm a bit of a newbie..My tank is only about seven weeks old. Seeded the tank w Dr. Tim's and four small clownfish. All were doing well until one stopped eating, his respirations seemed to increase and I lost it last week. Now this week, one of the smaller clowns started swimming in one place, head down and stopped eating. The tank seems to have cycled, ammonia at 0 similar for nitirites. Planning a water change for tonite. any thoughts? thanks r2r.

 

[BestMomEver]

Can you post all your parameters? Also a picture would help.

 

[iko2thdk]

will do this evening thanks.

 

[BeejReef]

From what I've read and been told by peeps far more experienced than me... clownfish don't really work well in small numbers other than one or two. One chills by his/her-self. Two come to an understanding... I'm the Alpha, know your role. Any more than that and someone is on the oustside and will get bullied, stressed, killed. Usually the same if you try to keep more than one pair. There can be only one!

I think the exception is huge harem tanks or schools of clownfish, but I don't know really.. just that a handful is generally bad.

 

[iko2thdk]

Can you post all your parameters? Also a picture would help.

Here’s a video of the clownfish I am concerned about. Not eating either

 

[Mjrenz]

There are several things that could be of concern, ammonia or disease would be at the top of the list imo. Test for ammonia first even though you added Dr Tim's, you may need more bacteria to establish a proper biofilter. Have you noticed any white stringy poop?

 

[iko2thdk]

No white stringy poop. I suspect velvet. Apparently a lot of these fish have it and we cannot see it. I DO believe my tank has cycled..

 

[iko2thdk]

Can you post all your parameters? Also a picture would help.

Ammonia 0, nitrites. Minimal pH8.0 s.g 1.024 temp 74. Have not tested for alk or phosphates its a newish tank. Only 6-7 weeks old. Hasn’t eaten in days and swims mostly head down in the back of th tank. HELP!

 

[iko2thdk]

There are several things that could be of concern, ammonia or disease would be at the top of the list imo. Test for ammonia first even though you added Dr Tim's, you may need more bacteria to establish a proper biofilter. Have you noticed any white stringy poop?

Still no ammonia or white stringy poop but still not eating either

 

[Mjrenz]

Still no ammonia or white stringy poop but still not eating either

I think a freshwater dip would be a good place to start to make sure that you aren't dealing with flukes, here's how to safely do it https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/
What kind of food are you feeding? Live foods or frozen foods with a drop of garlic may help to stimulate his appetite, it is very important to try to get him eating. Do you have a tank that you could set up as a hospital tank?

 

[iko2thdk]

Hi. I set up a 29 gal quarantine tank. It isn’t cycled. I’m going to try the dip. Just tried some frozen brine and the clownfish was not interested. It was eating pellets until about 5 days ago.