ItzJustinN
Nano-Reefin' Newbie
as some of you may already know, ive been having an issue with one of my clowns. yesterday, the same clown looked like he wasnt gonna make it. ill say he because it is the smaller clown in my pair and allways displaying submissive behavior. i immediately ran water tests for salinity, ph, ammonia, and checked temp. salinity was .026 (within acceptable paramaters, but a little high for me. i keep dt and qt at .025) so i made up a little rodi water and topped off. ph came back 8.1 and temp was spot on. my tests revealed about .5ppm ammonia but i use seachem prime to netralize in between water changes, and thus far have had NO ammonia related problems. so with my water conditions being fine i started to worry
anyways it started when i noticed my clown being rather lethargic and not paying much attention to the other clown. the only interaction they would have is when the larger female would charge at him and he would do his seizure dance. he would spend the rest of his time hiding in between the glass on the tank bottom and the pvc pipe resting on top of it and he wouldnt move at all. if he wasnt there he would be at bottom or top corner by the air stone. the thing that worried me the most was that he was losing colors in the fins and just looked very sickly overall in comparison to the other clown. i was very worried about him making it through the night. a few days ago i had removed a metal lid from the top of my qt tank(i didnt really think about the rust issue when i was settin it up.) and replaced it with more of a plastic jump screen, however the clownfish didnt seem to be improving. last night, on a whim, i switched out the air pump from my qt tank (it was a weak pump, but i was certain it produced enough air for my clowns) and switched it out with the one i use to aerate my salt water mix.
i went to bed and woke up this morning to a much healthier looking clown. colors are starting to return to his fins and he is swimming around the tank actively with the other clown and i have not seen him in either of the two spots he was hiding out in before either. i will continue to monitor his progress and post any updates :fish1:
THE MORAL OF THIS STORY:
DONT OVERLOOK THE LITTLE STUFF WHEN TRYING TO HELP A SICK FISH.
water params are usually the first thing we check when a problem arises and its a very sound practice. im not saying that u should stop checking ur water first when u have problems. but dont forget to investigate your equipment, and other possible causes to your problem (such as a metal qt lid :debi
and most of all dont go buy random stuff and start dosing when ur not 100% sure of the problem. thanks for reading, hope this helps a newbie like me in the future.
btw these are still juveniles and pretty sure they are still sexless. but pretty obvious whos gonna be who.
anyways it started when i noticed my clown being rather lethargic and not paying much attention to the other clown. the only interaction they would have is when the larger female would charge at him and he would do his seizure dance. he would spend the rest of his time hiding in between the glass on the tank bottom and the pvc pipe resting on top of it and he wouldnt move at all. if he wasnt there he would be at bottom or top corner by the air stone. the thing that worried me the most was that he was losing colors in the fins and just looked very sickly overall in comparison to the other clown. i was very worried about him making it through the night. a few days ago i had removed a metal lid from the top of my qt tank(i didnt really think about the rust issue when i was settin it up.) and replaced it with more of a plastic jump screen, however the clownfish didnt seem to be improving. last night, on a whim, i switched out the air pump from my qt tank (it was a weak pump, but i was certain it produced enough air for my clowns) and switched it out with the one i use to aerate my salt water mix.
i went to bed and woke up this morning to a much healthier looking clown. colors are starting to return to his fins and he is swimming around the tank actively with the other clown and i have not seen him in either of the two spots he was hiding out in before either. i will continue to monitor his progress and post any updates :fish1:
THE MORAL OF THIS STORY:
DONT OVERLOOK THE LITTLE STUFF WHEN TRYING TO HELP A SICK FISH.
water params are usually the first thing we check when a problem arises and its a very sound practice. im not saying that u should stop checking ur water first when u have problems. but dont forget to investigate your equipment, and other possible causes to your problem (such as a metal qt lid :debi
and most of all dont go buy random stuff and start dosing when ur not 100% sure of the problem. thanks for reading, hope this helps a newbie like me in the future.btw these are still juveniles and pretty sure they are still sexless. but pretty obvious whos gonna be who.
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