Help! Can the clown be saved?

[Geoff T]

Can the clown fish be saved? I may have done something wrong during my last week's WC One of the clowns is lying on the sand bed most of time and breathing fast, not eating for more than 3 days.

What I did:
1). Attempted to raised PH (was 7.7 before) on 29g biocube by dripping Pickling Limes (1/2 ts) over a period of 8 hrs. I didn't re-test the water.
2). a pinch of pickling limes in 5g new water. sitting 8 hrs and PH was 8.4. then I did the water change.

I also placed a clean cotton cloth (from anundry) to filter out debris. I washed it with fresh water and saltwater before placed in. However after filtering I did notice that the sump has a more bubbles, more like the result of residual detergent. After the WC the bubble looks back to normal.

The rest of items in tank looks ok: frogspawn / candy cane / acan coral, blue tang, coral beauty, Cardinal / one clown.

KH was 10 and after WC 9. Calcium always over 500mg/l.

Can the clown be saved?

 

[Deinonych]

Alkalinity and calcium are pretty high, but I'm not sure if that is affecting the clownfish. Was this fish quarantined?

 

[Geoff T]

It is still sitting in the tank with rest of fish. I got this boicube 3 weeks ago from a friend with everything in it. I never added anything and it was perfectly good before and after the move from friend's house to mine. Did WC every week. Pickling lime is new for this week.

I just added bubble air to the tank and hope it will help.

 

[Deinonych]

I've never added pickling lime to my tank. Usually it's not necessary to chase pH in a marine aquarium. If your alkalinity, calcium and magnesium are within acceptable ranges, pH usually takes care of itself. Do you have enough water movement at the surface to take care of gas exchange? You could have high dissolved CO2 that is causing the pH to go down.

 

[Geoff T]

I have a 3500l/h power head blowing toward the surface and the flow looks fine. Also the water running in sump created bubble which I think should mix air in. How do I check CO2 level? Thanks.

 

[Deinonych]

There's not really a way to check it with test kits. An ORP meter would give you an idea about your redox potential, but I don't think that's the problem if you have a sufficient water movement at the surface. Unfortunately, "fish breathing heavily and not eating" is a symptom with myriad possibilities. I would ask your friend if his fish were ever quarantined and treated for parasites. It's possible that the move caused some stress in the fish and lowered its immune system allowing a parasite to take hold.

 

[Geoff T]

Larry (that is the name of the illed clown) started eating yesterday. It also swims a little away from the sand bed, though still seems weak and sensitive to surroundings. Thanks for help and thanks Lord.

 

[Deinonych]

Good to hear he is doing better. He may have just been stressed by the change in water chemistry.