Clownfish breathing hard at bottom

D

DHolbrook

New member
Hi everyone,

My young clowns this morning were both at the bottom of my tank breathing hard. They appear to look normal (coloring, gills). Also, they wont eat. What can I try to get them to perk up?

Tank info:
4 months old fish are 2 months old, and my only fish.
20 gallon long
PH is 8.1
Ammonia is .10
Nitrite is .50
Nitrate is 5
temp is 77

I have two power heads pointed at surface and one HIB filter with fresh carbon providing lots of surface agitation.

I did a 40 percent water change but fish still act that same.

I'm new at this so any advise is appreciated!

-Dean
 
I ordered a bunch of snails rom reef cleaners and I think they caused an ammonia spike. I've taken about half of them out, and did a water change with the rest of the salt water I had.

Sooo.. yes I have ammonia in my tank. Can I do around a 50 -75% water change? Should I buy an ammonia reducing product? Both ideas? New ideas?

-Dean
 
I recommend a couple big water changes (40% - 50% or so and make sure salinity and temp are same as tank) to lower immediate levels to try and save the fishies. You need to do something ASAP if you want to save them, and a clean-up crew is not going to do that.

You could add a bag of carbon or run a hang on back with new carbon filter in it. This would be okay in conjunction with water changes.

You technically could try some amquel or something to detoxify the NH3... but I'm not a fan of these types of products on a regular basis.

What all is in there? How much live rock? You need something with good surface area for nitrifying bacteria to colonize, or else your tank will never be able to rid itself of NH3 with any significant amount of bio load. What other filtration do you have on it?

*You also might want to make sure they have enough oxygen. Can you put an air-line on one of your powerheads to make sure air bubbles are being introduced? Water/surface agitation is probably good enough, but just to make sure until you can pull them through this.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply.

I did a 40% change this morning, I'll do another this afternoon.

Tank was happy with my two clowns and one fire shrimp and one skunk cleaner shrimp. (my only live stock) Clowns are still very young around only 1 - 1.5 inches long each. After I ordered a clean up crew my problems began. Maybe they were too much bio load. I added about 25 little cerith snails at once.

I have two Korallia PW's one 250 and another 570 gph I think. I also have a 125 gph HOB filter which I clean religiously and put fresh carbon in this morning. Otherwise I have 20lbs of live sand and about 17lbs rock. No corals in there. My HOB filter adds many large and small bubbles to the water continually.

My tank did cycle for about 6 weeks (four months ago). Ammonia spiked then Nitrite, Nitrate. When two clowns were added all levels were zero. I use an API liquid kit but the LFS confirmed.

After work I'll do a water change and add a water treatment product. I agree they shouldn't be used regularly, but I just need my fish to make it another day!

Thanks for the advice.

-Dean
 
Oh about my live rock..

I bought dry rock and live sand, hoping the sand would carry over to the rock. I also used Quick Start from API to add bacteria. Although I've had different algae on my rocks, they generally look the same as the day I bought them, even though they are now months old in the tank.
 
Something caused your spike. Prolly just not enough bacteria to deal with a spike in nutrient levels. I have used prime and nite out to deal with situations like this in the past. Quarter capful of prime and dose with nite out every day. I have had great results with this is my at tanks when water changes were not enough. Your bio filter will just get better with age.
 
OK I get off work soon and I'll do a water change and add a treatment. I'll look for prime and nite-out or biospira.

I thought my shrimp were very sensitive to water changes, by they are acting normal. I thought to preserve my clowns, my shrimp would also be a gauge of water quality. Like when the shrimp act funny the fish may be in trouble. I do water checks too of course. So if my fish are near death, why haven't my shrimp died yet?
 
Ok so after work I replaced 5 more gallons (8 earlier today) of the 20 gallon tank. I also added the dosage of prime and nite-out and biospira.

I got 15 gallons of RODI water from my LFS. Should I do another large change tomorrow? All 15 gallons or a smaller amount?
 
DHolbrook said:
Ok so after work I replaced 5 more gallons (8 earlier today) of the 20 gallon tank. I also added the dosage of prime and nite-out and biospira.

I got 15 gallons of RODI water from my LFS. Should I do another large change tomorrow? All 15 gallons or a smaller amount?
Click to expand...

I suggest not doing too much (gallon wise) water changes in consecutive days.. Wait a couple of days, test your parameters again and if the ammo and nitrite is still the same levels, do another big water change.
 
Today the activity of my clown went from 10% to 20%. Water tested 0 ammonia and .50 nitrite and 15 nitrates. Did more dosing of treatments and we will see...
 
How can you measure the % of your fish's activity? =0

I would keep adding prime, run some fresh carbon. Go to your LFS and get some LR that is very well established and porous. That will help with the spike.
 
Just be cautious of how much chemicals you are adding to your tank. I like to use TLC which has no chemicals. Try to keep everything as natural as you can.
 
Well the article indicates that clownfish were lethargic but had no long term effects from nitrite levels of 33ppm! And that clowns exposed to nitrite levels of 3ppm showed no effect. I guess my clown is still recovering from an ammonia spike. I know my ammonia levels are zero now, so I guess all I can do is wait. My clown showed interest in food this afternoon which is a good sign.

Side question: I give half a cube of frozen mysis shrimp to my clowns and shrimp once a week, can uneaten mysis shrimp cause an ammonia spike?

Thanks JustinGr for the article.
 
My other clown, even smaller than the sick one, was acting a bit lethargic yesterday, but today was very active and hungry. Mainly it was caring for the other though, down in the sand.
 
Yes. If your bio filter doesn't have a large enough colony of bacteria your ammonia will spike. That's what the nite out is for. As long as nitrite stays under 1 dont dose prime. Prime is very good ad locking in the nasty parts of nitrite and ammonia while still letting your test kit still measure the amount present. Get yourself an ammonia alert badge and just keep an eye on it while your tank builds it's filter. Keep with the nite out. Its a great strain of bacteria. .
 
DHolbrook said:
My other clown, even smaller than the sick one, was acting a bit lethargic yesterday, but today was very active and hungry. Mainly it was caring for the other though, down in the sand.
Click to expand...

aww..
sounds like you're getting it under control. I agree that bacteria population probably just needed/needs to catch up to the load. Nitrites aren't as much to worry about, and that the piece of live rock idea someone mentioned might be a good idea.

I'd say just keep on top of NH3 and give it time. The badge isn't a bad idea either, but not necessary as long as you test consistently until this is overwith. Normally when that bacteria is 'caught up' and can keep up with the bio-load, you typically don't have to worry about NH3 spikes unless something dies. That may have happened with a few snails to help start this spike.

As far as feeding - you said half a cube 1/week? I'd thaw it out in some tank water, keep it in the fridge and just feed small amounts once or twice each day with a dropper. You have only three things you're feeding currently, so I'd turn off pumps and almost spot feed so the food is right in front of each of them. You don't want a bunch left over to settle and rot or that will definitely produce NH3 (potentially in 'spike' amounts). Half a cube sounds like a lot for two tiny clownfish and a shrimp for one feeding.
 
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