New tank, 3 clownfish dead

[Clivus]

Hi,
I've got a 225 gallon tank first set up on June 30th. It has a 75 g sump with a G5 skimmer.

Tank was cycled with live rock and live sand. It cycled quickly and has been showing zero ammonia, nitrate, nitrite for about 2 weeks. Temp is a little warmer than I'd like 78-82 depending on if the lights are on.

Fish went in last Wednesday. 4 bangaii, 4 pajama, 3 black clowns and 1 ocellaris. On Friday, 2 of the blacks died including the biggest. Saturday, one black was moribund and dead on Sunday. The ocellaris is kinda lethargic, but he was eating today. He doesn't seem to have the economy of motion the other fish do.

The cardinals all seem to be doing fine. Eating and swimming effortlessly.

Today, someone told me they saw whitish yellow stringy poop out of the clown. It was gone when I went to look.

I read about parasites, but I don't know if that could have caused the other fish's deaths as well.

Thanks for your help. I'm not sure what to do or test next or if it was just a bad batch of fish.

 

[GoTRiCe19]

don't think its a bad batch. Maybe stocked too fast with a lot of fish at once and cause ammonia to rise. Test your water and post it here.

 

[GoTRiCe19]

Oh one more thing. Only 2 clown per tank. One larger then the other. Any more they will fight til they die.

 

[killerbubbles]

Too many fish, too fast. 1 pair of clowns per tank, in general.

 

[seamonkey84]

Test parameters again, and also did you quarantine? More than likely if it's your clowns showing issues first or only ones, check out
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ichparasiticdiseases/a/aabrooklynella.htm
Captive bred clowns don't usually have it, but when introduced to wild caught fish that may be carriers of such things they usually have no resistance.

 

[Rapide]

I have 3 pairs: frenatus, ocellaris and percula. All introduced at different times. No problem...
In a 225g tank it should not be the problem, especially when they came together...
As been said, too many fishes too soon

 

[killerbubbles]

I have 3 pairs: frenatus, ocellaris and percula. All introduced at different times. No problem...
In a 225g tank it should not be the problem, especially when they came together...
As been said, too many fishes too soon

That's why it's a 'general' rule. There are exceptions, such as you stated.

 

[hollister]

Could be to many to fast but i guess that oxygen levels to low. Whats used for water flow in there?

 

[Clivus]

Thanks for the help.

To answer the questions, water is still testing at zero for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites.

Flow is provided by a hammerhead with a Oceans Motions 4 way. Return pump is a Super Dart Gold.

I added what my aquarium maintainence guy said. It really doesn't seem like the large of a bio load, and I've been testing every other day. No ammonia for 2 weeks.

I do have a large crop of hair algae. Maybe that's keeping the nitrates locked up.

The last clown looks good today. I'm going to wait a bit before adding more stock.

 

[nycpassat]

sorry to hear, those clowns looked very nice. i agree with the above, its a possibility that you added too many fish at once.

 

[Ostara]

I doubt too many fish was the problem. It was a lot of fish to add at once, but it is also a large tank. Plus, the cardinals seem to be fine.

The picture is dark but it appears that they have some frayed fins and white blotches, symptoms of brooklynella. You said that the other clown has been lethargic; is it also breathing heavily? Do you see fin deterioration or white patches on it? With the other three dying in such quick succession, this would be my first suspicion. Do an image search for "brooklynella" to compare with what you have seen on your own clowns. I would set up a quarantine tank to use on current and future fish to prevent issues like this.

 

[ssgtgonzo]

Not sure it's important but the bottom clown appears to be a perc. Maybe you mixed species and they didn't like it? Sorry for your loss

 

[Mavrk]

May I ask how you acclimated them to the tank? Also what is the salinity of the tank compared to that of the bag water?

Fighting would not kill them this quick (especially in a 90).

Not that it matters, but black clowns are ocellaris (just a different color than the orange ones) so that could not be a perc in the picture. Plus it would be very hard to tell an ocellaris from a percula without seeing the dorsal fin.

 

[ssgtgonzo]

Percs generally have a lot of black between the stripes, and occys generally have dark coloration or black around the pupil. All the percs ive ever had have bright orange around the pupils. Agree that dorsal fin is definitive, but the eyes have never steered me wrong.

That said, percs are more sensitive to water conditions, so if they changed, that could explain the deaths

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[Mavrk]

Percs generally have a lot of black between the stripes, and occys generally have dark coloration or black around the pupil. All the percs ive ever had have bright orange around the pupils. Agree that dorsal fin is definitive, but the eyes have never steered me wrong.

That said, percs are more sensitive to water conditions, so if they changed, that could explain the deaths

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I know what you mean about the eyes and hadn't thought about that in the picture. If the LFS sold them as black clowns, I would think they were tank raised. I guess that is a bad assumption because they could have been sold as wild caught in which case you may be right. Were these tank raised or wild caught? If wild caught, then I would suspect parasite or disease.

 

[ssgtgonzo]

Absolutely...im just throwing whatever against the wall and seeing what sticks. I think you (op) are well served to let things settle down for a while before adding more fish. Good luck!

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[Clownfishfan]

Some fish just come in bad and don't make ...
I think this is one of those moments.

 

[Clivus]

I doubt too many fish was the problem. It was a lot of fish to add at once, but it is also a large tank. Plus, the cardinals seem to be fine.

The picture is dark but it appears that they have some frayed fins and white blotches, symptoms of brooklynella. You said that the other clown has been lethargic; is it also breathing heavily? Do you see fin deterioration or white patches on it? With the other three dying in such quick succession, this would be my first suspicion. Do an image search for "brooklynella" to compare with what you have seen on your own clowns. I would set up a quarantine tank to use on current and future fish to prevent issues like this.

Brooklynella was the guess of the LFS. I guess clowns are more susceptible than other species explaining why the other fish didn't get it.

The last clown disappeared this weekend. All 8 cardinals are still alive and doing well.

The fish were acclimated by my fish guy. He poured their water in a bucket and slowly kept adding cups of DT water to the bucket. Took about 15 minutes I'm guessing, but I didn't time it.

After everything kept testing 0, the LFS said I could add some non clown fish. I added a red striped goby, a spiny urchin, 2 sea hares, and 2 royal grammas. Everything looks good so far.

How long should I wait until I get some more clowns? I'll try to get the QT before they go in the DT this time.