Acclimation Question...

[cinematek]

I just added my first fish yesterday!! I got a pair of Oscellaris Clownfish. The smaller one seems to be doing just fine, and even ate a bit of mysis.

The bigger one was breathing a bit heavy last night, and as soon as I turned off the lights, he retreated to the bottom of the tank, hid in a small cave and stopped swimming. I was worried that he was in shock.

This morning they are both at the front of the tank and seem to be okay, but the big one is just hanging out near the sand. He doesn't look off balance, but he's sort of just swimming in place.

Is this normal during acclimation? Is there anything I can do to help, such as increase/decrease the photo period, or dose something?

 

[Paintbug]

they sound pretty normal. my clowns would make a bed in the sand and sleep propped up against the glass. some times they wouldnt move for a long time. clowns seem to breath a little harder than most fish as well.

 

[virginiadiver69]

What are your water params? Did you acclimate them before putting in tank? Did you quarantine them at all?
Don't get into the habit of looking toward just "dosing something". You will find that there is a remedy for stuff you never even heard of. Try not to add anything to the tank that can not be tested for.

 

[cinematek]

Water params are all good.

Ammonia: 10-20 (a bit high but not dangerous, right?)
Trites/Trates: 0 or almost 0
KH: 200 or so
pH: 8.0-8.2

Yes, I acclimated. I got them home and placed them into a bucket. I added a few ounces of tank water to their bag at a time over the course of about 45 minutes. I then poured out about 1/2 of the bag water and floated their bag for about 20 minutes to equalize the temp, and then netted them into the tank and threw out the rest of the bag water.

Also, they both seem to have a white "stripe" on either side of their dorsal fin (proper term?), although this stripe is more pronounced on the bigger clown. I will go take a pic now and post it.

 

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9785800#post9785800 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cinematek
Water params are all good.

Ammonia: 10-20 (a bit high but not dangerous, right?)

ammonia is super toxic to SW fish. is this a sudden spike? or was it that high when you added the fish? if its a spike, it could be from adding the fish, and should go away quickly. if not it may kill the fish.

 

[virginiadiver69]

You DID let your tank cycle...*right*?

 

[cinematek]

Yes, of course.

My tank has been up for 7 weeks now. Ammonia is typically between 0-10, but was slightly higher yesterday after adding the fish.

Pics to follow...

 

[returnofsid]

Ammonia of 10-20 is actually dangerous. Ammonia should ALWAYS be 0. Fish seeming to breath heavy is actually one of the most common signs of ammonia burning their gills. I'd do a couple high volume water changes to get that Ammonia down quickly. Keep in mind that adding any fish to the bioload only increases the chances of Ammonia getting even higher. Any amount of Ammonia can be deadly to fish....especially saltwater fish. The white spot you indicated could be normal or it could be from Ammonia burn. Watch for blotchy spots on their skin.

 

[cinematek]

I did a 5G water change this morning. The little one still looks and is acting fine, but the bigger one's white spots have gotten a bit bigger near his top fin and now he has one or two others lower down. Is this treatable, or do I need to get rid of him?

I do not have a QT tank available, but I do have several 5G buckets that could be used for transfer if necessary.

These pics are from this morning.

 

[cinematek]

Now that I look more closely at the picture, I can see that the two "new" white spots were there this morning. You can see them in the second picture above just behind the big white stripe in the middle of the bigger clown. They are more pronounced now.

 

[danch]

Are you sure it's Ammonia that's around 10, not Nitrate?

Ammonia at 10 ppm would be pretty drastically bad.

 

[cinematek]

I meant .10 - I was just abbreviating. My ammonia ranges mainly between .00-.10, and has climbed as high as .20. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[danch]

Ah, OK, I understand now.

 

[cinematek]

Now that we have that settled... Can anyone ID the spots on the clown above? I've found some info that suggests stress spots and some that suggests disease.

 

[cinematek]

He didn't make it...

He didn't make it...

The good news: My little clown seems perfectly healthy.

The Bad news: The bigger clown didn't make it through his second night. I'm guessing he gave in to the stress of transport.

He died inside a cave under the biggest rock in my tank. I would have to remove all the rock in my tank in order to get to him. The good news is that there are several hermits eating him right now.

Am I okay to leave him as a snack, or do I need to remove my rock to get him out?

 

[Paintbug]

it would be best to remove him. being the tank is so new it may cause another cycle, which could be good for the tank, but bad for the fish thats left.

sorry about the lose, i lost 3 fish last week including my powder blue tang, and 2 clowns. all of which i had for well over a 1 1/2 years! power outages suck and always come at bad times!!

 

[rob28]

If you haven't pulled your whole tank apart yet,You can take a syphon hose and stick it in the cave and suck the clown out...Just a thought.

 

[cinematek]

Hey rob... That's exactly what I did. Before I left for work I decided that I didn't really want to leave him there all day, so I got creative and sucked him into my siphon hose long enough to pull him out of the tank. Poor little guy.

While I was at it I went ahead and did a 5G water change, just to be safe. I then tested the water again.

Ammonia: 0.10 - 0.15
Trites/Trates: 0
pH: 8.0 (or so... I need a better test)
KH: 220 (or so... I need a better test for that, too.)

I hope my other clown makes it. I'd hate to kill both of my first two fish.