I'm so sad...my clown died after one day

laurajrc

New member
Can someone give me some guidance? I got 2 clowns (percula; not tank raised) on Saturday. I acclimated for a few hours as the instructions stated. They entered the tank and were so happy and swam all over and even though they weren't shipped together, they paired right up. They also seemed to buddy up with my 2 blue Chromis.

I have a Royal Gramma, a Wheeler's Goby, 2 emerald crabs, 2 turbo snails, 4 tonga nassarius, 4 little nassarius, 4 trochus, 4 red little crabs, 7 small corals, 2 peppermint shrimp, various other snails as well for a total of about 20 snails altogether. I have about 50 pounds of live rock and a 50 gallon tank. It cycled for about 2 months before adding anything. The fish have been added last.

I have a sugar sand substrate that always looks poopy and dirty with black sediment on the bottom of it. Under the top, you can see layers of black stuff under the sand through the glass. Don't know what that is? Well, I often stir up the sand to mix it up and did so today with the new little guys. They were fine while I was doing so and seemed fine while the tank was clearing up. Then, I saw one dead on the bottom of the tank in the sand. The other clown seems upset and is now swimming toward the top of the tank and I'm afraid he may go too.

I feed a variety of foods to the fish so they have their needs met. High quality flake / pellet mix, zooplankton, seaweed on a clip, freeze dried brine and frozen shrimp, also freeze dried bloodworms. I give the tiniest pinch in the morn and at night, give them the frozen shrimp and some bloodworms; once again..a very small amount.

The little clowns were eating like mad yesterday but now that the one died, the other won't eat anything. What do you suggest?

Also, is sugar sand the best substrate or should I add some coral shell/sand substrate too? My calcium runs around 380 and I add some each day to bring it up; my corals seem to be sucking it all in and I try to keep it at least around 400. All of my tests run well; no nitrates, ph was down just a bit at 8.0 and so I added a ph buffer which brough it to 8.4 again. Salinity is good too. I just don't know if my daily stirring of the sand freaked him out and he died of shock or what? Help!
 
Maybe you didn't do anything wrong except took a chance on buying wild instead of tanked raised. BTW I always quaritine my fish before adding them to any of my tanks.
 
Its really sad, that your clown died. Hope the other one will survive.

Can I ask about the water parameters of your tank? I am interested about the salinity, kH, and PO4(phosphates).

I don't think the clown died cause they didn't have anemone. Saw myself some occys living over 3 years being hosted by anemone, sarcophyton or anything else.

I use coarse coral gravel and this is quite good for reef type aquarium.
 
my salinity is 1.026 or a bit lower, my nitrates and phosphates are at 0, the calcium is between 390 and 420 so I add a bit each day to keep it in the higher range
 
That are quite good water parameters. Do you change about 10-20% of water every other week(once in 2 weeks)?

The dead clown, did you see any signs, that it could be sick? I mean any kind of disease or did he ate some food day before died?

Are there any signs of fighting on skin or fins of the clowns?

Just trying to find the reason, why the clown died so fast, with the questions.
 
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Oh and I forgot to ask, how long did you have the clown in your tank?

Sometimes happens, that the wild fishes are hunted using cyanide or something like that. Or the companies also use some chemicals, which add to the water, when they ship the fishes across the ocean to your pet store. :-(
 
Can someone give me some guidance?

I have a sugar sand substrate that always looks poopy and dirty with black sediment on the bottom of it. Under the top, you can see layers of black stuff under the sand through the glass. Don't know what that is? Well, I often stir up the sand to mix it up and did so today with the new little guys. They were fine while I was doing so and seemed fine while the tank was clearing up. Then, I saw one dead on the bottom of the tank in the sand. The other clown seems upset and is now swimming toward the top of the tank and I'm afraid he may go too.

any photos of this sandbed? What may have happened is that your sandbed is a giant nutrient sink and when you disturbed it - you caused an ammonia spike in the tank.
 
Sorry about losing your clown. +1 on not stirring up the whole sand bed...When doing my weekly water change, I siphon about 1/4 of top of sand bed each time, so that complete sand bed is cleaned off each month. I also wouldn't add coarser substrate as it tends to trap more detritus. Good luck with other clown.
 
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