Strange behavior of Tomato Clown

Noah_Count

New member
I have recently moved my tank, in the process I lost the one fish I had. After moving the tank and adding a bit more live rock, it seemed to go through a mini cycle. I monitored my levels and when everything got back to normal I decided to get a Tomato Clown. it sseemed fine and alert at the LFS but since bringing it home yesterday it has done nothing but sit very still on the bottom of the tank. It sometimes swims in small circles burrowing a small place in the sand that it settles into. Doesn't seem to want to eat either.
This morning the fish was very still and seemed to be laying to one side a bit. I thought he was a goner but when I reached in with a net to get him out, he swam away.
The only thing I can think of is that this morning I did water test and found my nitrate levels to be 40ppm. I don't know if I messed up the test before or what, but I thought it was fine. Ammonia and nitrite are at 0ppm and Ph is at 8.2 SG is at 1.021... Also the fish doesn't seem to want to eat. He hides sometimes and is very lethargic as mentoined above.
I'm going to do a major water change to try and get the nitrate down but is there anything else I should do or not do? I hate to lose this guy if I can avoid it.
 
I just got some wild caught A. akindynos about a week ago, and they started doing the same thing a few days ago! They were very stong and feeding well. I had the akindynos in a quarentine system that also had a few a. ocellaris that died a few days later. From what I can tell it looks as if they are infested with Amyloodinium. I don't know what group of fish introduced it to the system, but the ocellaris died first. I am now treating my system with Cupramine in hopes of saving the fish that are still alive. They look horrible, and I can only hope this stuff will work in time. I wish you the best of luck with your clown!!! You must identify the problem very soon and treat it. There is alot of very good info in this forum.
 
To bad I do not have a microscope. It is very hard in some cases to get a true I.D. on alot of these pathogens and parasites just looking at the fish!
 
I did the water change anf got my nitrate down some. Still about 20 ppm. I don't think its the problem with the clown but I do want to knock it down as much as possible before I try any other fish.
The clown has come out of hiding tonight now that the light is out. He seems to be pretty actively swimming but is still staying right at the bottom. it almost looks as if he's struggling a bit. I'm starting to wonder if there is some problem with his swim bladder.
 
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