Clown fish not settling in well

N

N_T

New member
I put a maroon clown in my tank yesterday, and he's not doing well. When he was first introduced the resident damsel beat him up pretty bad, and the clown took to swimming at the extreme top of the tank around the edges and behind the filter. I isolated the damsel over 24 hours ago, but the clown is still doing the same thing. Aside from some tattering on his tail from the damsel he looks fine... no ich (that's on the coral beauty, but that's another story). He won't take food either. I put some garlic soaked food in for the ich infected CB. The clown picked at one or two pieces, but I didn't see him take a piece he didn't spit out.

He's also shown no interest in the LTA that's in the tank. Water is as good as I know how to get it-- 1.023, 0 nitrate, 0 phosphate, 8.1ph, and good alkalinity. Is there anything else I can do for this guy, or just hope he gets the swing of things?
 
Why did you add another fish if your coral beauty had ick? What size tank? The maroon will settle in but it will not happen overnight. It will probably end up getting ick in the next few days though since your tank is infected. I would probably get a q tank set up now.
 
CB didn't start showing signs of ich until last night after the clown was introduced. Tank is a 29g.
 
Too many territorial aggressive fish for a 29. I would get rid of the damsel, move the Coral beauty AND maroon into QT and leave the tank fallow for 8 weeks. After that introduce the coral beauty and maroon at the SAME time and maybe pick up a goby or something that will stay out of the water column.
 
SkullV said:
Too many territorial aggressive fish for a 29. I would get rid of the damsel, move the Coral beauty AND maroon into QT and leave the tank fallow for 8 weeks. After that introduce the coral beauty and maroon at the SAME time and maybe pick up a goby or something that will stay out of the water column.
Click to expand...

damsel is already isolated in a sick box in the corner until I decide what to do with him. I'm either going to build a fuge and he'll live in there, or he'll go back to the LFS. The total population of the tank is the CB, the clown, a gold headed sleeper goby and an engineer goby. Both gobies are around 2.5" long, so they're not much of a bio load, and they keep to themselves anyway. Also a few inverts in there-- the anemone, a serpent star, a coral banded shrimp and half a dozen or so hermit crabs and snails.
 
Another question-- my wife has a scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp in her reef tank. Could his services be useful in my tank to help take care of the parasites? Would I have to move my banded coral shrimp first, or would they get along alright?
 
You need to get ALL the fish out and QT them in either hypo or copper (hypo is better for dwarf angels) while the system runs fallow for 8 weeks. This will get rid of all the ich. After that I would really consider that the dwarf angel and maroon clown (gets big) are very aggressive fish that may never do well together in a 29gal long term.

The cleaner shrimp will not get rid of ich. The ich embeds itself under the slime coat of the fish where the cleaner shrimp cant even get to it.
 
garygb said:
sg would be better kept at ~1.026 for the LTA.
Click to expand...

interesting... when i was doing my homework prior to purchasing the anemone it seemed like 1.021-1.025 was the recommended range.

I'm going to monitor the ich situation and let the tank settle for a few days before doing anything else. In the past week I've introduced two fish, removed another, rearranged the rocks twice and did a water change. I'm thinking stress is my biggest problem, and if I give them a few days to relax and settle into the environment without major changes it will go a long way for the overall health of the tank. I'll continue with the garlic soaked food though to hopefully expedite the healing.
 
N_T said:
interesting... when i was doing my homework prior to purchasing the anemone it seemed like 1.021-1.025 was the recommended range.

I'm going to monitor the ich situation and let the tank settle for a few days before doing anything else. In the past week I've introduced two fish, removed another, rearranged the rocks twice and did a water change. I'm thinking stress is my biggest problem, and if I give them a few days to relax and settle into the environment without major changes it will go a long way for the overall health of the tank. I'll continue with the garlic soaked food though to hopefully expedite the healing.
Click to expand...

That is not a terrible approach but know that your tank will always be infected with Ich now until you either leave it fallow for 8 weeks, treat it with copper, or treat it with hypo. This means that any stressed fish or any new additions are very likely to be attacked by the parasite. (sorry for camping out in your thread, I'm taking a study break)
 
SkullV said:
That is not a terrible approach but know that your tank will always be infected with Ich now until you either leave it fallow for 8 weeks, treat it with copper, or treat it with hypo. This means that any stressed fish or any new additions are very likely to be attacked by the parasite. (sorry for camping out in your thread, I'm taking a study break)
Click to expand...

i understand that, and I'm willing to accept a low level infection that healthy fish are able to fight off. I don't have the space in my house for an effective QT to isolate newcomers. I realize this is the preferred approach, but reality and logistics simply don't allow for that on a regular basis.

This might be a dumb question, but the sleeper goby doesn't eat the cysts when he sifts the sand does he? If not, is there anything I can introduce to the tank that does?
 
N_T said:
i understand that, and I'm willing to accept a low level infection that healthy fish are able to fight off. I don't have the space in my house for an effective QT to isolate newcomers. I realize this is the preferred approach, but reality and logistics simply don't allow for that on a regular basis.

This might be a dumb question, but the sleeper goby doesn't eat the cysts when he sifts the sand does he? If not, is there anything I can introduce to the tank that does?
Click to expand...

No, there are no fish that will eat cysts. That would be awesome!
 
UPDATE: Clown is doing more or less the same; however is swiming around a bit more, up and down the inside of the tank, but still around the edges, almost never in the open water in the middle. He goes into/behind the rocks periodically. His tail is healing nicely and aside from the bite taken out of it is back in one piece.

The LTA took a piece of shrimp today, and is starting to turn neon green. I am taking this as being good signs, and hopefully will become a more attractive host for the clown

The coral beauty is now spot-free. The parasites are probable in the dormant stage in the sand, but so long as they don't re-appear I'm happy.
 
update!

IMG_0313.jpg
 
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