Ideas about clownfish death?

[e048]

It may have just been a bad clown I had that happen before just wait a couple weeks and try again but qt this time

 

[shifty51008]

Nitrates do NOT kill fish, sorry to burst everyone's uninformed bubble here. Nitrites are harmful, nitrates are useful, you are barking up the wrong tree, I would ask how long you cycled your tank?

Sorry to burst your bubble also but nitrites are also harmless in sw unless at very high levels that we never get close to in our tanks.

 

[sde1500]

yeah....do that, do exactly that & good luck to you, since you know everything already & are not willing to "hear" what I am saying.

Coming across a little strong there man. Plenty of people have different experiences, no one's tank is the same. Stating everything as you do as the absolute truth is really not the greatest of approaches.

Also some fish do just die. Could be damage due to collection methods, could be just too much stress overwhelming the system. If you think about it, they are living somewhere in the ocean or breeders tank, then suddenly grabbed, stuck in a bag, in the dark, moved somewhere else. Its a lot for a small animal. Many deaths can never really be diagnosed.

 

[A1t2o]

He stated that he cycled for 4 weeks and parameters were at 0 for ammonia and nitrite. What are you arguing about?

I would say that the clown just died on its own and that it is OP's fault. Could be stress, disease, parasite, or just about anything. Keep feeding with the pellets, those are good. With small fish, it can be fun and worth while to hatch baby brine shrimp to feed your fish. My fish go nuts when I add them and it is fun to watch.

If you want to try again with a clown, go ahead since there is nothing that you did that was obviously wrong. Try to feed every day though, just a little bit is enough and they will find it on the bottom. You may want to get a chromis if you are worried about the cost of the clown, since it could die again, not likely but possible. Also, I would get some hermits if I were you. They will eat the leftover food so you don't have to worry as much.

 

[potxoli]

If you want to try again with a clown, go ahead since there is nothing that you did that was obviously wrong. Try to feed every day though, just a little bit is enough and they will find it on the bottom. You may want to get a chromis if you are worried about the cost of the clown, since it could die again, not likely but possible. Also, I would get some hermits if I were you. They will eat the leftover food so you don't have to worry as much.

Thank you! I will try again. Cost is not an issue for me, but rather the trauma of knowing that what I did or did not do caused them to die. Watching that clown swim around as he were drunk, then swimming upside down, then lying on the sand dying is not good.

Thanks to the informative posts on this thread, when I try again I will make the following changes:

1. Change LFS in case the one I used has bad clowns or tanks or something.
2. Better acclimation. I will prepare a QT tank at the same salinity as wherever I get the fish from and then slowly raise the salinity of the QT tank to my tank.
3. QT the fish.
4. Feed the feed daily and a more varied diet than flakes.

I might go Chromis or Yellow-tail damsel before I try the clown again.

 

[Pet Detective]

Sorry to burst your bubble also but nitrites are also harmless in sw unless at very high levels that we never get close to in our tanks.

Ok, that is true, let me rephrase, nitrites are present during the 'harmful" period of the Nitrogen cycle, until they are converted into nitrates, which are consumed or used or "useful" to other marine plant life & fauna & will most certainly NOT kill fish...which is what I was trying to over emphasize.

 

[Sk8r]

Brook is a possibility. Ditto gill-based ich. I would advise not getting the same species from the same source immediately. In fact, if you are ultimately going to do a reef, this might (with an unexplained death) be a good time to concentrate on corals for 72 days, just in case.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Brook is a possibility. Ditto gill-based ich. I would advise not getting the same species from the same source immediately. In fact, if you are ultimately going to do a reef, this might (with an unexplained death) be a good time to concentrate on corals for 72 days, just in case.

X2 I completely agree for the next 72 days just get use to keeping your water parameters stable and don't forget to ghost feed your tank daily. You can start adding corals but I'd wait a month or even two before doing so. Practice above all patience. :thumbsup: