Need help! Clownfish sitting still and breathing fast

GR00VY

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I did a water change today and stirred up the sand bed in one spot and then vacuumed out the water. I change one of my power head positions because I was getting a dead spot in the back corner of my tank. I also added my cleaner shrimp tonight to my main tank.

my two clowns were perfectly fine before the water change. Now the female is breathing fast and sitting in the bottom in the corner. The other is swimming around fine.

Perimeters are 0 ammonia, ph is 8, nitrites 0, nitrate 20

is she just super stressed out? Is there anything I can do. I am afraid I am going to wake up and she will be dead. She occasionally gets up and swims for a minute but then lays back down. I cut power to one of the power heads to make it a little more still in the tank just in case she has hard time swimming n the current.
 

Dine

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I would turn the Power head back on. If she is stressed more change will only make it worse.

What’s the salinity now vs before the water change?

Temperature?
 
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GR00VY

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Water temp took a bit of a dip because I accidentally pulled the plug. It dropped to 72 before I caught it. Temp is 76 now. Salinity is the same 1.025.

no new fish or coral or anything besides the shrimp which just went in after I cleaned the tank. Shrimp was in qt until tonight.
 
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GR00VY

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Fish appears perfectly healthy. I fed them about ten minutes before I cleaned the tank. She was up swimming meeting me at the top of tank eager to get food.
 

vetteguy53081

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Like with humans, “ we were fine Before something we ate”, something changed with chemistry..........
Ph
Chlorine
Salinity
Temperature
Just some of the possibilities. Did fish get startled and run into glass or other object?
 
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GR00VY

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I have no idea if the fish injured itself. I just now the perimeters are the same as before except for the temp which dropped a few degrees. The temp is back up though.
I just don’t get how it from being completely healthy and swimming and eating to laying on its side within 45 minutes. Only thing that happened was the water change and shrimp addition.
 

vetteguy53081

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I have no idea if the fish injured itself. I just now the perimeters are the same as before except for the temp which dropped a few degrees. The temp is back up though.
I just don’t get how it from being completely healthy and swimming and eating to laying on its side within 45 minutes. Only thing that happened was the water change and shrimp addition.
Temperature swing Can cause shock. Let’s hope not
 

DSEKULA

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You could always add an air stone, if their breathing heavy this could help without really messing with anything else. Are there other fish in the tank? If so how are they acting? If you really kicked up old stuff you could have released hydrogen sulfide, it would have to dissipate out but air can help. If you have more wc water you could fill a small container and temp it to the tank and move the clowns to it for temporary safe holding (a couple hours/overnight) if you did that and they perk right up at least you know it's something in the tank. That assumes you have more water and a small heater minimally though.
 

DSEKULA

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Btw I've accidentally wacked my reef with hydrogen sulfide, I closed a valve during maintenance and forgot about it. After next maintenance I opened it not even thinking about it. All the fish in the tank started acting oxygen deprived, I couldn't figure out what happened. I scooped them all out and put them in a 5gal bucket of wc water that was already temped with a heater. They immediately started bouncing back. Later the next day I found some of the sludge (black gunk) that is typically of hydrogen sulfide/septic condition etc and cleaned the valve area etc. Another day later all the fish were reintroduced without issues. The whole time the water tested 0ammonia and 0nitrites.
 
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GR00VY

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One other clownfish. It is acting normal. I just cleaned out my qt from the shrimp so that is drying. I am debating pitting some clean water in a 5 gallon bucket. I have some premixed for my the other night. I need to heat it first though. I am just worried that moving him will scare him more.
 

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Anything sick/dieing in my tank tends to disappear overnight so I'd at least be putting the fish in a breeder box to keep her safe and give her a chance of recovery. I'd also be tossing an air stone in the box just to give her the most air possible. If do the same if I decided to try a move to the bucket. Honestly it's your choice I just know she wouldn't last the night in my dt so I'd have to keep her safe somehow.
 

Greg P

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Possibly the drop in temp upset your clown but my fish recover very quickly after a power outage with the temp coming back to normal.

More likely stirring up the sand caused bacteria to use up the O2.
Usually larger fish are affected by low oxygen first.

Have a look at your surface air/water exchange
 

ruskimax

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Air stone, aim power heads at the surface, keep flow brisk as before. And I’d def consider moving to a bucket or qt if not better quick (like within a few hrs).
 

Greg P

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Groovy, does any of your return or powerhead hardware disturb the surface?

Not sure if this applies to you, but ...

Although I have a sump, a skimmer which adds gas exchange, and an overflow to help with further gas exchange, I still run my return nozzles at 'just' the waterline and they are 1/2 exposed.
This allows me to have as much exchange as possible, and I never hear my returns.
Not sure why everyone wants to run theirs below the water line ...
 

Greg P

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Dine

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A temperature swing could def cause the issue you were having. Fish don’t like changes. If the temp dropped 4-6 degrees and then you raised it back up 4-6 degrees too quick that’s a pretty big change. How is she doing today?
 
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GR00VY

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She made it through the night. I did not remove her from the tank because the other fish was doing fine and I felt that removing her would stress her more. My two clowns pretty mch travel the tank together. She is swimming this morning. Not sitting on the bottom at all. She is eating. However, she is still breathing rapidly. Not as bad as last night. I am just going to watch her and see how she does.
 

Dine

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She made it through the night. I did not remove her from the tank because the other fish was doing fine and I felt that removing her would stress her more. My two clowns pretty mch travel the tank together. She is swimming this morning. Not sitting on the bottom at all. She is eating. However, she is still breathing rapidly. Not as bad as last night. I am just going to watch her and see how she does.

eating is a good sign. I’d say you’re doing the right thing. Just wait it out and watch for improvement. Glad to hear she’s doing better.
 

Zbrady72

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Water temp took a bit of a dip because I accidentally pulled the plug. It dropped to 72 before I caught it. Temp is 76 now. Salinity is the same 1.025.

no new fish or coral or anything besides the shrimp which just went in after I cleaned the tank. Shrimp was in qt until tonight.
This happened to me recently, my heater went out overnight and my temp dropped quite a bit. It may just be stressed out give it some time especially if it is still eating.
 

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