I just got my fist fish (occilouris clown). I have had him for three days on the second day his tail was frayed, on the third day a half moon chunk was missing out of his tail. He is the only fish in the tank. I have 2 korilla 5 power heads I think may be to powerful and he may have gotten his tail in one. How do you cover the power heads? Are mine to powerful for 75 gal reef? Will this small fish heal? Should I keep the white lights off and for how long? Should I keep the power heads off?
Help first fish trouble
- Thread starter Reefgo
- Start date
Mike in AZ
New member
Any crabs in the tank?
You may have a mantis shrimp in the tank and not know it. Check around after lights out to see where the fish is sleeping and see if you see any hitch hiker crabs or mantis.
1geo
1geo
Does the clown exhibit other symptoms such as not eating, liturgic, rapidly opening and closing its mouth, swimming erratically, swimming up to the surface and gasping for air, spots on the skin, lesions, slime especially around the head and gills, lost of color, or anything else you notice out of the ordinary?
1geo
1geo
You need to seriously consider if you fish has one of the various forms of Ich or Brooklynella. Symptoms can include, not eating, spots on the body but not always, lesions but not always, slime around the head and gills mainly Brook, lethargic, fading color, erratic swimming, rapidly opening and closing the mouth, gaping at the surface of the water. Not eating is one of the symptoms. Below is a writeup I did for another posting. Sit by your aquarium and carefully determine if your clown has more of the symptoms.
Are you sure your fish have Ich or do they have Brooklynella? The treatment of choice for Ich is copper, I use ionic copper in a QT tank for four weeks. For Brook you have to use Formalin. The procedures for using formalin are as varied as the individuals you talk to. The most effective treatment is Formalin dips. Where you put 1 cc of 37% Formalin (Formaldehyde) in 1 gal of water and dip your fish for 45 minutes. You do this five times once every other day. I personally prefer Formalin in the QT tank. I put 1 cc to 10 gals of water every day for three weeks. Formaldehyde evaporates out of the water within two hours and is not accumulative. It does deplete the oxygen in the water so you need vigorous aeration with air stones. Do not use Formalin on fish that have open wounds, it will kill them. You treat the fish for BOTH conditions at the same time. Start with formalin dips then put them back into a copper tank. After 10 days of Formalin dips, once every other day they are cured of Brook then keep them in the copper tanks for three to four weeks and they are cured of Ich. The tank the fish came out of has to be fallow, fishless, for at least 6 weeks but 8 weeks is recommended by many writers. The eggs of Ich are in the bottom of your tanks and can lay dormant for up to six weeks. When they hatch they have to find a host or they will die. Brook's parasite divides and becomes a free swimmer looking for a host. The swimmer can persist up to four weeks before it dies. So a six to eight week fishless tank can say it is free of Ich and Brook. So you don't go through this in the future, QT all new arrives for at least 4 weeks.
Are you sure your fish have Ich or do they have Brooklynella? The treatment of choice for Ich is copper, I use ionic copper in a QT tank for four weeks. For Brook you have to use Formalin. The procedures for using formalin are as varied as the individuals you talk to. The most effective treatment is Formalin dips. Where you put 1 cc of 37% Formalin (Formaldehyde) in 1 gal of water and dip your fish for 45 minutes. You do this five times once every other day. I personally prefer Formalin in the QT tank. I put 1 cc to 10 gals of water every day for three weeks. Formaldehyde evaporates out of the water within two hours and is not accumulative. It does deplete the oxygen in the water so you need vigorous aeration with air stones. Do not use Formalin on fish that have open wounds, it will kill them. You treat the fish for BOTH conditions at the same time. Start with formalin dips then put them back into a copper tank. After 10 days of Formalin dips, once every other day they are cured of Brook then keep them in the copper tanks for three to four weeks and they are cured of Ich. The tank the fish came out of has to be fallow, fishless, for at least 6 weeks but 8 weeks is recommended by many writers. The eggs of Ich are in the bottom of your tanks and can lay dormant for up to six weeks. When they hatch they have to find a host or they will die. Brook's parasite divides and becomes a free swimmer looking for a host. The swimmer can persist up to four weeks before it dies. So a six to eight week fishless tank can say it is free of Ich and Brook. So you don't go through this in the future, QT all new arrives for at least 4 weeks.
I dont have a QT tank . He does not have any other noticable symptoms other than not eating at all. Im really sad and disappointed cause this is my first fish. Water quality is still looking good. I still have power heads turned off but lights running as uaual. Any tricks to get him to eat? Thanks so much!
1geo
1geo
If your fish is staying in one corner of the tank and only swims around the corner a "little". Then she is not active, not curious, not swimming leisurely; in short, she is stressed out. She is showing all the symptoms of an infection, parasitic or other wise. Try giving her a fresh water dip and see if that improves her condition. If it does, she needs to be treated for parasites. Search google for "fresh water dip Marine" to see how to do it.
