Clown fish swimming vertically?
- Thread starter pzlicious
- Start date
Virtuoso
New member
I am not nearly as experienced as snorvich (never even been in this situation myself) and he didn't jump to conclusions, so I'd hate to, but I do not think you should quarantine if the water parameters are good and the tank is getting enough oxygen. It could be disease but after 3 months in the same tank I would think both clowns would have it. The stress from moving it to quarantine could push it over the edge.
carpenterman23
New member
Im with Virtuoso. Check your water parameters, maybe do a small water change and see what happens.
Lynnmw1208
New member
both my clowns swim vertically at night in one of the corners of my tank as they haven't hosted anything yet. during the day the clowns are swimming everywhere. what time of the day is your clown doing this and is it all the time?
Chris27
New member
Care to provide us the details that led you to that conclusion?
Hi Guys,
Thanks for all of the feed back. Ok did a 20% water change yesterday. I have been doing them weekly. I have the coralife RO filter. Yesterday pH was 7.8/8.0(tought to tell), Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, and Nitrates were at 20 ppt. That is why I did the water change. I have a refractometer and keep the salt at 1.020. I have been feeding them 2x a day. The white cheek tang eats about 4 square inches of algae a day, poops, then eats it again! The 2 clowns, 3 chromis, six line wrasse, cleaner wrasse, coral beauty, and scooter blenny get new life spectrum pellets for lunch and 3 ml of mysis soaked in vitamins and garlic for dinner. Every couple of days I will swith the pellets with a cube of mussels or prime reef. I know it sounds like alot, but they usually eat all of this food but they usually eat all of this with in 5 minutes. As for sleeping...the have made a 7" crater in the sand where they literally sleep, almost looking like they are dead. So they lie down at night. Only the girl swims vertically. When I walk over to the tank she rights herself and swims over. Also notice that the clear part on her side fins was worn away down to the black. Not sure why. Thanks again.
Thanks for all of the feed back. Ok did a 20% water change yesterday. I have been doing them weekly. I have the coralife RO filter. Yesterday pH was 7.8/8.0(tought to tell), Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, and Nitrates were at 20 ppt. That is why I did the water change. I have a refractometer and keep the salt at 1.020. I have been feeding them 2x a day. The white cheek tang eats about 4 square inches of algae a day, poops, then eats it again! The 2 clowns, 3 chromis, six line wrasse, cleaner wrasse, coral beauty, and scooter blenny get new life spectrum pellets for lunch and 3 ml of mysis soaked in vitamins and garlic for dinner. Every couple of days I will swith the pellets with a cube of mussels or prime reef. I know it sounds like alot, but they usually eat all of this food but they usually eat all of this with in 5 minutes. As for sleeping...the have made a 7" crater in the sand where they literally sleep, almost looking like they are dead. So they lie down at night. Only the girl swims vertically. When I walk over to the tank she rights herself and swims over. Also notice that the clear part on her side fins was worn away down to the black. Not sure why. Thanks again.
Ok, bought 2 clown fish on the first day I got my tank cycled (3 weeks 28 days), had aclimated them with drips for 40 min the first day they looked happy, 2nd day one of them stayed on the bottom and the other one swam vertically. 3rd day in the morning i found out they were gone.
I don't know what caused the death, my water parameter was 0 on amonia and nitrite but 40 ppm nitrate. (I know 40 ppm nitrate wont kill clown fish in 3 days)
To think they were sick from the LFS is not right too cause I saw them swimming healthy in LFS tank. Thought there's something in my tank but I doubt it too as I bought other fish after and they were healthy accept 2 days ago I noticed white spots on my blue tang.
I don't believe the white spots or marine ich that my tank is suffering was there in the tank before I added the fish, and I doubt marine ich can kill clown fish in 3 days.
Very simply it is better for the fish. Try to keep your water as close to natural salt water (NSW) as possible. NSW is 1.0264
windyridge
Fish Mother
I have a maroon clown that never had it's body pointing in the direction it is going, it's body is always at or around a 45 degree angle swimming forward. It's about 6 months old and as healthy as an ox. I have two juvenile percs in quarantine due to ich. One almost died but came back swimming with it's body pointed up. The next day it was horizontal again and has been fine and ich free in hypo, 1.009, for a few weeks now.
InsaneClownFish
New member
^^^ This. What you are seeing is most likely an effect on the fish's respiratory system due to a salinity shift from the tank water in the LFS to your system. Also, I think I missed how large your tank is and the TWV?
Keep in mind that your SG might get knocked out of whack a touch, especially in a smaller system, during water changes and auto top off issues. Even a touch of salt residue in your top off water(I've done this from grabbing RO/DI Water directly from my large Brute I use for mixing up change water that had no salt added) can throw off your SG slightly. The point is if you are running at 1.020, then dips may bring you even lower- not a good idea.
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