new clown bobbing near top corner of tank

C

cobra1713

New member
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate between 5-10
PH 8.2
calcium (test in the mail)
KH (test in the mail)
Temp 78-80*
SG 1.025

ok well i had my tank running with the filter from my 30g tank for a couple days and i just bought 20 lbs of very established live rock and 25 lbs of live sand also from an established tank. so i kept the conditions as best as i could for transport and didn't notice any die off on the live rock, and the sand looked fine, still had the snails swimming (i guess they swim more like slither idk anyway...)

i added the sand to the tank and i clouded the tank up so i just added the LR and got going by this time the clown had been in the bag for 1 1/2 hours, i waited another 1/2 hours for some of the sand to settle and started acclimating the clown.

i did this by adding a 1/4 cup water ever ten minutes or so (i know it was kinda fast but i wanted to get him out of the bag) after an hour had gone by the tank was still cloudy but not as bad so i added the clown,

an hour later i noticed he was swimming on his side but swimming very strong while he was doing it, so i did a 40% water change to try and get some of the cloudiness down and actually made it worse adding more water so i made him a nice 5 gallon bucket with about 3 gallons of water in it covered it and went to bed at about 11, woke up at 3:30 to the tank having cleared up and checked the bucket and he was still swimming on his side, checked both containers for ammonia, o, so i added him to the tank, went back to bed.

Today he is just sitting in the top corners of the tank on the far side from the water movement and bobbing up and down. if i move my hand towards the top of the tank under the light he will swim down towards the rock until i walk away and then return to his spot.

oh and he is eating great i put in a tiny bit of food and he ate it right up. and i dont have any tests for phosphate or calcium yet they are in the mail.
 
yes but the live rock and sand was established from a tank with no dieoff and the filter that had been running on it for three days was from a established tank, i'm showing no signs of ammonia or nitrite so it cycled very quickly
 
My live rock came from an established tank too but I have been adviced by many members here that my tank will still cycle. It might be a small cycle but there will be one. My tank has been up almost three weeks and I have nothing in it but one hitch hiker snail and a few hitch hiking stars. All the advice I've received is to be patient. I'm going to shop for a clean up crew in a couple weeks. I think you are suppose to start with a clean up crew, then corals, then fish. So please no more fish for awhile. Check your water parameters daily for awhile. I hope your clown survives. Hang out here and ask lots of questions the people here are great.
 
Clowns are very hardy and he should do better. Does he have any ich from all the stress? I would leave him and the tank alone for a coupple of days and just make sure he eats. The more you stress a fish the worse they get. Fish get stressed easily from moving them from tank to tank and from putting your hands in the tank.
 
i know the normal routine, my problem is i needed a home for this clown, and if i put him in my 30 he would have been food for my marine GSP, but the problem is not ammonia or nitrite posioning cus there isnt any in the tank, i just did another test to make sure and sure enough 0's. i mean i am still gonna do water changes until his condition improves but the tank seems to be holding a cycle cus i have a steady reading of nitrates with no amonia and nitrites.

the tank has about 15-20lbs LR
three unknown sand sifting snails that hitchhiked the LR,
a few micro stars
the true perc
two green mushrooms
two monti caps
some kind of zoo coral that was on rock

and nothing other than the clown seems to be showing any kind of strange behavior,

the clown seems strong, still very colorful and can swim fine when it chooses to but doesnt all the time.

i dont notice any ich, it shows same signs as freshwater ich right?
 
Yes there will be little white dots all around him. I would not worry about doing all the water changes if you parameters are fine. The more you do the more you can stress him. If you are scared of the tank water you can drip acclimate him for the other tank and then put him in a container with holes in the other tank to protect him from the other fish until you other tank is safe.
 
i thaught about doing that but i figured the stress of that would be just as bad as being in the tank he is in as long as the parameters are ok.
 
There may be bad parasites or something undetectable with you tests in the tank. I have no clue can't see. I would just recommend if you don't want to kill him and he is not getting any better.
 
ok well i just got a reply from the guy i bought it from and he said thats what the fish had been doing the whole 2 months he had it, so idk if its something to bad or idk if it could have survived this long without showing other signs, and i saw another thread somewere that had the same problem and said his fish just continued to do it but was healthy and grew normally, so im completly lost, could he be hosting to the corner of my tank?
 
mine slept bobbing at the top of the tank for over a year, we would come down stairs and think we had a dead fish the first several months. After a year he hosted some frilly mushrooms and sleeps there.
 
Yeah I think he is using the corner of your tank as a host. Your clown will continue to do this untill it finds some thing better. My female blue stripe clown use to sleep next to my filter intake upsidedown. The first time I saw her do this, it really freaked me out. I realised she was sleeping because she would flip herself over if I stared at her long enough. Then she would swim twards me like she was saying..do you mind? I'm trying to sleep here! She has stopped sleeping next to the filter intake upsidedown after we bought a fake aquascape for the QT.
My avatar is a picture of her.
 
very nice looking fish!

yea im growing a few mushrooms it could host but there still rather small, is there a good chance of them hosting a mushroom? cus i know i cant get an anemone in a 10g and it is really bugging me that it just sits there and bobs all day long. i am buying a koralia nano and gonna put it right were she is bobbing would the extra water flow encourage her to find swim around a little more?
 
Try to make a cave with your live rock or swim throughs. I think its best to let the clown be and let it find its own safe place. If you disturb it when it seems happy, you could really stress it out. My ocellaris clown use to hang out at the corner of my tank when I first got her. She now sleeps behind the live rock bobbing up and down near the sand. It takes some time for clowns to get use to their new home. As long as your clown is still eating I wouldn't worry much.
 
mine would stay up in the corner when It was the only fish in the tank. give him some company and he wont be so shy. :)
 
what other fish could i add to a 10g nano? i thaught one percula was kinda pushing it.

yea im buying 25lbs more LR tomorrow and once i get it im gonna do alot of aquascaping and ill make sure he has a nice swim through cave
 
dude... that's normal. my b/w swims by my return nozzle. bobs up and down all day, all night... 24/7.
 
This sounds just like what my new false percula is doing...i have a lovely hairy green mushroom where she could host if she wants but she stays right at the top left of the tank. She's in a 6gl 3yo nano cube.
Up till today she was eating like a horse...today she was spitting food out...she doesn't have any marks on her at all..in fact she is really perfect/flawless. I am so afraid something might go wrong.
 
yea mine is still doing it, gotten a little better since i added some more coral, live rock and crabs, i say all three cus i added them at the same time and not sure which thing made her a little better but one did.

im just gonna keep making sure she's eating and watch for ich but she seems perfect
 
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