Getting frustrated with my clowns

[jraker]

clownfish just never seem to work out for me. my latest one went through a full 30 day QT. he went into the main tank eating mysis and NS pellets 1-2 times per day. he was in there for about a month or two. just a few days ago he started to not eat. he would pick at some of the food, and then spit it out. fast forward one or two days, he is swimming at the bottom of the tank, not eating anything i give him. today i found him dead. this has happened with a few other clownfish.

tank: 36 gallon all in one tank. i run gfo in a reactor.

other livestock is some snails, an urchin, and a randalls goby.

params:

ph 8.4
ammonia 0
nirtite 0
nitrate close to 0
salinity 1.025
phosphates 0.03
calcium 400
magnesium 1440
alk 9

i will probably not get any clowns in the future due to my low success rate with them. it is a shame because there are so many cool types of clowns

 

[3dees]

clowns are one of the easiest to acclimate. are you buying wild or tank raised? maybe try buying from a different lfs. how are you acclimating? are you treating it while in qt or just observing?

 

[Bogue Chitto]

You could be feeding them too much.

 

[ThRoewer]

This sounds like velvet.
If all clowns you tried died the same way your goby may have it but have enough immunity not to get sick or show symptoms. But it still can infect others.
You may need to give that goby a series of formalin baths while letting the tank go fallow for at least 6 weeks.
Another treatment option would be Chloroquine Phosphate (in a HT of course).