Sorry for such a long post, but I hope someone can help with some advice on what to do before I lose my fish.
I had 4 clowns in my tank, all who got along just great...last Sunday I had a tiny male wonder off on his own and not hang with the pack anymore, kept to himself hiding in a rock, Monday I went to bed and he was in that spot, the next day still in the same spot, would not move, not even for food, I did notice he was breathing heavy.
Well later that day I moved them all into a 20 gal tub while I changed my sand out for live sand, I noticed in the tub he stayed to himself lying low at the bottom...the next morning I put them all in a 10gal tank while the main tank went through its mini cycle due to the new sand, I watched this little guy in the 10gal, which by the way was new saltwater, I noticed he was swimming upright, breathing hard, would go to the surface very often, and I knew he was dying, sure enough he died minutes later.
The remianing 3 have been perfectly fine....I put the remaining 3 in the main tank as soon as the levels were good, then I noticed that the female who use to be the partner for the one that died, she was fine for a day back in the main tank, then she too went into hiding (same spot as the other clown) just like the last guy, breathing hard, has very light white mucus like substance on her skin, not white dots, but more like white film just very light though, she is not going to the surface like the other clown did, she is in an upright position breathing very hard, wont eat, and I notice when she does come out briefly that on some of the white areas of her body looks as if the white is scratched, so unsure if she may be scratching against the rock or not, this I am not sure of as I havent seen her do it, looks like she is going down the same path as the previous one.....and a male I got in the tank I too now see going into hiding and breathing hard.
NOTE: today I say hundreds of almost microscopic white dots on the glass on the inside of the tank, when I looked closely they were tiny white bugs crawling on the glass, they crawl very fast, they will jump off the glass and back on, but ar very very tiny, like needlepoint tiny.
NOTE: the tiny male clown that died, the female who is now the same, and another male from a ccouple of weeks ago who also began to die even while still in the bag aclimating, all 3 of these came from the same fish store....originally I bought this couple a male and female, the male had the same filmy white substance on his skin, I didnt see until the bag went into my tank to aclimate, I noticed him behahing quite strange while in the bag, breathing hard, and at the surface of the bag, a while later I let them out of the bag, he died within minutes....the female has been doing great for the past 2 weeks, was very active, she is however the one who is now dying, and the little guy that died last week he was the clown the store gave me as a replacement, so he had been in the tank just as long as the female who is now sick, they both got a long very nice....the fish from this store were either sick or something.
I need to figure out what is wrong and what to do before I lose all my clowns.
And now discovering this tiny bugs....this is driving me nuts.
Please help, I need to save these fish.
Thanks,
Jon
I had 4 clowns in my tank, all who got along just great...last Sunday I had a tiny male wonder off on his own and not hang with the pack anymore, kept to himself hiding in a rock, Monday I went to bed and he was in that spot, the next day still in the same spot, would not move, not even for food, I did notice he was breathing heavy.
Well later that day I moved them all into a 20 gal tub while I changed my sand out for live sand, I noticed in the tub he stayed to himself lying low at the bottom...the next morning I put them all in a 10gal tank while the main tank went through its mini cycle due to the new sand, I watched this little guy in the 10gal, which by the way was new saltwater, I noticed he was swimming upright, breathing hard, would go to the surface very often, and I knew he was dying, sure enough he died minutes later.
The remianing 3 have been perfectly fine....I put the remaining 3 in the main tank as soon as the levels were good, then I noticed that the female who use to be the partner for the one that died, she was fine for a day back in the main tank, then she too went into hiding (same spot as the other clown) just like the last guy, breathing hard, has very light white mucus like substance on her skin, not white dots, but more like white film just very light though, she is not going to the surface like the other clown did, she is in an upright position breathing very hard, wont eat, and I notice when she does come out briefly that on some of the white areas of her body looks as if the white is scratched, so unsure if she may be scratching against the rock or not, this I am not sure of as I havent seen her do it, looks like she is going down the same path as the previous one.....and a male I got in the tank I too now see going into hiding and breathing hard.
NOTE: today I say hundreds of almost microscopic white dots on the glass on the inside of the tank, when I looked closely they were tiny white bugs crawling on the glass, they crawl very fast, they will jump off the glass and back on, but ar very very tiny, like needlepoint tiny.
NOTE: the tiny male clown that died, the female who is now the same, and another male from a ccouple of weeks ago who also began to die even while still in the bag aclimating, all 3 of these came from the same fish store....originally I bought this couple a male and female, the male had the same filmy white substance on his skin, I didnt see until the bag went into my tank to aclimate, I noticed him behahing quite strange while in the bag, breathing hard, and at the surface of the bag, a while later I let them out of the bag, he died within minutes....the female has been doing great for the past 2 weeks, was very active, she is however the one who is now dying, and the little guy that died last week he was the clown the store gave me as a replacement, so he had been in the tank just as long as the female who is now sick, they both got a long very nice....the fish from this store were either sick or something.
I need to figure out what is wrong and what to do before I lose all my clowns.
And now discovering this tiny bugs....this is driving me nuts.
Please help, I need to save these fish.
Thanks,
Jon
