Ella down ELLA DOWN

[collegemermaid]

My roommate bought me a beautiful Maroon clown for my birthday and she (assuming because of 4/5in size) is having some issues. I named her Ella! She's swimming low and hovering on the sand in a lopsided, tired fashion. Tank mates include a male false clown and a chromis. Tank setup is a 10 gal (getting a 30gal in may !) with normal parameters. My male clown seems not to mind her much as long as she doesn't enter his conch that he's claimed. She was accumulated as normal. Also, I definitely need to mention that she was dropped in her bag yesterday. About two feet off ground. Could Ella be stressed from the new environment and friends? Did I injure her when I dropped her? Is this a swim bladder issue that can be fixed? I'm very worried about my new girl and want to do everything I can to keep her!

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Clowns have some strange behavior sometimes.

This is a very small tank, but it looks like your bioload is low at the least.

Post up your parameters, and some on here can possibly provide more assistance...

Also: Is the fish eating?

 

[Betta132]

You have three fish, including a 4" fish, in a 10g? That's a very small tank only suitable for small fish. Test your water parameters and give us the exact results.
What do you mean by "acclimated as normal"?
How much live rock do you have?
What is your filtration system?
How old is the tank?
Is there any aggression visible at all?
What are you feeding?
Is the new girl eating?

 

[collegemermaid]

Specific g .19
pH 8.1
Nitrite 0
Nitrate < 1
Ammonia .15

I just did a 10% water change to boost the salinity and begin to adjust the ammonia levels

Also, I am noticing her fin is slightly shedding. She's not eating.
Acclimated by slowly adding tank water to her bowl over the course of an hour. No live rock. Filtration I just have a standard hang on back power one. The tank is about a year. She's not aggressive, my other clown is territorial of his shell. Feeding flakes.

Help me fish heads! I'm such a noob to this.

 

[Betta132]

You need live rock in a saltwater aquarium for system stability and bio-filtration. I suggest finding a place that can sell you some, but be absolutely sure it's cured rock.
What kind of flakes?
The ammonia could possibly be the issue... are you using test strips, though? Those are very inaccurate and could be giving the wrong reading.

 

[collegemermaid]

I will do some research and pick some up this weekend, thank you! Tetra saltwater flakes is what im feeding and no I'm using test tubes and liquid drop tests. The ammonia color was in between 0 & .25 so my best judgment was .15.

 

[collegemermaid]

Also! My current filter has a bio-wheel, not sure if this is considered a bio filter o_o

 

[Betta132]

Bio filter means biological filtration, all the useful little bacteria that process ammonia into nitrites and nitrites into nitrates. Live rock is packed full of them, as well as being full of little critters that clean stuff up and just generally do helpful things. It is widely accepted that maintaining a saltwater tank without at least a pound of live rock per gallon of water is quite difficult, especially in small systems.
This site has some great material, I suggest you poke around a bit.
Also, don't add anything else to the tank, it's more than full and the fish need more space anyway. You may want to let your roommate know that the tank is fully stocked, in order to prevent unexpected arrivals.

You may want to get some sort of frozen food and feed that a couple times a week. Not brine shrimp, it has basically no nutritional value. Mysis is good and nutritious, and fish tend to love it.

Can you get a video of the clown? That might help ID the issue.

 

[collegemermaid]

Pics of her lethargic behavior and fins. First pic was a few hours after I added her to the tank Thursday evening, other pics are from 15 mins ago. First pic is difficult to see her back fin, but the change is very noticeable. God she looks so sad, its killing me that I'm killing her Video on the way

 

[collegemermaid]

Positive note: I just measured her and she's about 7cm / 2.5 inches. I'm not very good at assuming measurements haha but this is good news.