another....is my clownfish sick? thread..

[XtremeFromHell]

ive had these two clownfish for about 3-4 months now and they both have been bonding very well, i have one that is obviously larger then the other, the smaller one just yesterday was laying in the front corner of the tank barely swimming and sometimes not even moving and sorta falling on its side, over nite i watched him and at first he was on the corner in the same place, then he moved around to behind a rock near the other clown and hovered normaly, then today just before the lights came on he came back into that corner in the front again and is just laying there, his mouth is opening and closing pretty quickly..

i feed the tank once every other day and yesterday was feeding day,

i did a quick water check and i got
Salinity at 1.026
temp at 77 F
ph: 8.2 ish
ammonia at 0ppm
nitrate at 0ppm
nitrite at 0ppm
phosphates at 0ppm


he swims around here and there but then he'll go back to laying on that same section again... could he be sick? what should i do?

 

[knights27]

you should feed them everyday idk if that will help but some people feed twice aday

 

[XtremeFromHell]

you should feed them everyday idk if that will help but some people feed twice aday

on this forum i was always told otherwise, that i should feed once every other day, i used to feed them everyday and i had a huge algae problem thats what i was told...

 

[Trademark]

alot of feeding I feel depends on your system( reef or FOWLR) if you have a FOWLR then I would prob feeding more ( if you were getting algae problems then you might be feeding the tank more than the fish ) menaing that your fish isn't eating everything you were putting in the tank, and its just something that you will have to watch when you feed ( it takes me over ten minutes to feed my fish ) I too used to feed the tank. If you have a reef tank then you could prob depend a little on indirect feedings, such as copepods, and anything else that looks good to them. If you have a FOWLR I usually also keep my salinity lower for my clowns below 1.020. This reduces their yawning rate inwhich is when they open and close their mouths. (if you notice it is different than other fish ) I would also raise the temp in your tank. Just thinking out loud!

 

[XtremeFromHell]

i have 2 clowns, 1 cleaner shrimp, 10 blue legged hermits, 3 scarlet hermits, and i have 1 xenia frag a couple of ricordias and some mushrooms, thats why i keep the salinity high, i used to keep it fairly lower around 1.023 but i was told it should be a but higher for a reef, i thought 77 degrees was a bit high, you recommend i go higher?

 

[XtremeFromHell]

bump

 

[XtremeFromHell]

the little guy is still doing this anything??

 

[celamb89]

does it have any white dots? I mean does it have ick? rapid breathing, scratching, not orientated (swimming vertical)...

Have you added anything new to the tank?

Just thinking about stuff... hope everything works out for the clown!

 

[XtremeFromHell]

does it have any white dots? I mean does it have ick? rapid breathing, scratching, not orientated (swimming vertical)...

Have you added anything new to the tank?

Just thinking about stuff... hope everything works out for the clown!

i dont see any visible white dots at all i was looking at him, he was swimming around earlier and showing normal signs of the submissive twitching to the female but after a little he goes down back to the corner, it does not look like ick, and he isnt scratching either..

 

[Trademark]

Unfortunatey it may be something internal with the fish, but lets not give up yet. Do you have a QT, if so transfer. I would also kick up the temp a little which will also speed up his metabolism and hopefully help him recover a little quicker instead of keeping everything slow. I completely understand your salinity, thanks for clearing that up

 

[XtremeFromHell]

Unfortunatey it may be something internal with the fish, but lets not give up yet. Do you have a QT, if so transfer. I would also kick up the temp a little which will also speed up his metabolism and hopefully help him recover a little quicker instead of keeping everything slow. I completely understand your salinity, thanks for clearing that up

no problem, and i appreciate the help, i did notice my LFS keeps his tank at or around 80 F, i will slowly move the temp up a degree day by day as to not shock them, and as for a QT i do not have on, today he was more active though.. so im seeing an improvement in him

 

[WDLV]

Gill flukes, ick, brook and amyloodinium can all cause the rapid breathing. The latter three usually attach to the gills first.
I have always fed at least twice daily. If you see algae, I would reduce the volume of the feedings not the frequency.

 

[XtremeFromHell]

Gill flukes, ick, brook and amyloodinium can all cause the rapid breathing. The latter three usually attach to the gills first.
I have always fed at least twice daily. If you see algae, I would reduce the volume of the feedings not the frequency.

i was looking at the gills and i did not see anything out of normal, i will start feeding short feedings everyday and see if this works out better for me, thanks for the help!

 

[WDLV]

Unless you're removing gill samples for microscopy or cutting off the gill plate to do a necropsy, you probably wouldn't see anything there. The only way you'd know is observation of symptoms.