Maroon Clown Problem (Help needed!)

[lbv]

I just fed my Gold Stripped Maroon clown some Marine flake food about 10 minutes ago, and now he is floating ont eh surface, trying to get down, but can't. He seems a little bloated, could it be he ate too much? or digested a lot of aire since he usually stays on the surface? When he hits the surface he goes on his side. What else could this be? He was fine this morning.

Ammonia: 0ppm
salinity: 1.025
Nitrate / nitrite: 0ppm

Note: This is my 10 gallon that he hasbeen in for about 5 months, I was going to make a 20L reef for him / her

If its that bladder thing, what are the ways to cure that? Right now the only things in the tank are LR, a Cleaner Shrimp, Emerald Crab, and 1 Candy cane, with Scarlet Hermits, and Nassarius snails.

 

[reverendmaynard]

Re: Maroon Clown Problem (Help needed!)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6602312#post6602312 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lbv
I just fed my Gold Stripped Maroon clown some Marine flake food about 10 minutes ago, and now he is floating ont eh surface, trying to get down, but can't. He seems a little bloated, could it be he ate too much? or digested a lot of aire since he usually stays on the surface? When he hits the surface he goes on his side. What else could this be? He was fine this morning.

Ammonia: 0ppm
salinity: 1.025
Nitrate / nitrite: 0ppm

Note: This is my 10 gallon that he hasbeen in for about 5 months, I was going to make a 20L reef for him / her

If its that bladder thing, what are the ways to cure that? Right now the only things in the tank are LR, a Cleaner Shrimp, Emerald Crab, and 1 Candy cane, with Scarlet Hermits, and Nassarius snails.

Sounds like he swallowed too much air. I have heard of feeding boiled, skinned peas for this, but don't know if a clown will eat that. It should clear up on it's own.

I soak my flake in SW for a minute before poring that SW in the tank. This gets all the flake off the surface and into the water column so the fish don't have to eat off the surface. When my selcon gets here, I'll be soaking it in that.

 

[lbv]

Hope it lives, was going to surprise it with a nice new 20L and an anemone =P

 

[reverendmaynard]

I'm no expert. Maybe someone else will chime in, but for the most part, leaving a fish to sort out it's own problems is usually better than stressing out the fish by capturing, handling, and whatever other procedures you might try to help it.

I've seen posts on here before where fish had swallowed air and recovered after a few days. They weren't clowns, and I don't remember any actually being stuck at the surface, but that's what I've gathered in my time here.

 

[lbv]

It can get down about 6 inches (half the height of a 10 gallon), but gets tired and floats to the surface. It is upright at the surface when it chills, but atfe rit does a dive it goes right to teh top on its side.

 

[reverendmaynard]

Poor guy. Clowns look so cute and pethetic as it is, I hate to see them struggling. I don't know that there's anything you can do, though.

Good luck.

 

[Ltrain]

I had a similar problem unrelated to feeding an a 10g, a newly added GSM that wouldn't go below 1-2" beneath the surface - he wouldn't float, just swim in circles at the top - I then discoverd (by feeling the shock) stray current in the tank, when it was grounded he would dive down into the tank - others mentioned it wasn't entirely common and I'm not convinced it was totally the ungrounded voltage, but it could have been. FWIW. (the fish eventually jumped not too long after, so obviously something in the tank was making him want to get out in a hurry).

 

[lbv]

The clown has been in the tank for about 6 months, and this is the first that I saw it do it. Right now its chilling on the surface upright in the corner. Although I did see 1 or 2 bubbles come out of its mouth like 2 min ago. Hopefully he just got too excited about the food and went to teh surface, if he lives through tommorow still doing the same thing, I'll go try the peas [this guy is a pig, i left the food container next to the tank and he was trying to get to it, and whenver something goes by he tries to eat it]

 

[Pandora]

This does not sound like stray voltage... I have seen stray voltage problems, and fish typically react differently (not like they are "floating", but rather as Ltrain described, would swim in a disorganized, confused fashion, usually in one area of the tank such as around the surface).

I think this is as lbv described, just a problem with swallowing air. Give him some time, usually they work it through or balance it out by adjusting their swim bladder. Soaking dry food is a good idea.

 

[RobbyG]

Had a problem like this, and solved it with a mini decompression chamber I had built for catching Black Cap Grammers. If you can get a 2 litre Soda bottle and attach a Car Tire Valve to the cap and make the fitting airtight. You can then slip him in the half filled bottle. Then use a car pump and put in about 15 PSI of air. It will cause his air bubbles to shrink in half, after about 30 minutes in the container slowly let the pressure out over a 20-30 minute period. I know this sounds complicated and weird but it has worked for me on several occasions.

when fishermen use to bring me weird fish from deeper water they would always be floating and suffering from the Bends.
I saved some by putting them in this decompression chamber. If anybody is interested I can upload a photo of the chamber I made from an old Water filter and 2 valves. It could hold fish up to about 5 inches long.

 

[lbv]

Maroon is kind of relaxed and can go a little farther down, but still stays on the surface. Going to let nature run it's course I guess, Still kind of bloated to.

I like the idea robby, but knowing me I'll do something wrong and create a bottle rocket with a maroon clown in it. There this place in NJ where these tropical fish get trapped under the railroad bridge, and they are free for taking (Manasquan [think thats the town its in] actually allows unlicensed harvesters to get them out), because they all die in the winter, maby that tip would come in handy.

 

[RobbyG]

Glad to hear he is doing better, seems like he definetly gulped some air or maybe the food he ate created some gas bubbles in his stomach.