I got these two clown a few days ago and they have not really eaten and breath rapidly all the time. They are fine for the rest, they do act aggressively every now and then toward each other. yesterday morning one had very small abrasion on the head. It's fine now. One has no poop and the other has a little bit of white poop. Are they sick, should I do anything. My only other fish is fine (spotted wrasse). Water Parameters are fine, Nitrate at 20ppm.
Two clowns (perc) not eating, rapid breathing
- Thread starter tashari
- Start date
Ok so you have a 20 gal tank...how much live rock to you have in it and what are your water parameters fisrt off? Secondly, did you get your clowns at an LFS or online? Normally if you order a pair of clowns online they'll be sure to send you a male-female pair, however at most LFS' they stock large ammounts of ocelaris clowns (false percs) in the same tank. When they're in large numbers together they tend not to be aggessive but if you bought two males for example, and placed them into the confines of a smaller tank such as yours, they may become aggresive towards eachother. This tension can cause stress which may be the reason the fish are not eating. Check your water parameters though...clowns, especially tank raised ocelaris tend to be a very hardy fish and can handle quick changes in PH, salinity so on and so forth. But if something is way off...like a high NO2 or NO3 level or high ammounts of ammonia, though I doubt the ammonia level is high in your case, that can very easily stress out the fish as well. Stressed out fish are more vulnerable to catching disease. For now I would venture to say that no, they are not sick...I strongly suggest checking your water parameters and if possible find the parameters of the place where you bought the two percs from. If something is way off that may explain your problem. Also consider you may have placed two aggresive fish in a smaller tank, which in turn can be causing the stress which is causing them not to eat at the moment resulting in the low ammounts of produced waste....let us know
OK, water is fine. I think they are just not getting along. They are both small, about 2'- 2.5". I was under the impression that one would turn into a female and that's that. Is that going to happen or not soon enough. This morning the slightly larger one has couple of nicks on his head and other one has his head in the rocks, like it's hiding is face. Both still breathing rapidly. Should I take one back to the LFS and get a much larger one? Can I get another type or should I stick to the same kind?
dantodd
New member
White stringy poop means internal parasites. Read through the sticky threads in the disease forum and look for help there to treat them.
What does 'fine' water parameters mean?
It does sound like the tank is pretty good, size seems acceptable, not too crowded and 3 months should have been long enough for the tank to be fully cycled.
There is the possiblity that adding 2 fish at once could have caused a slight spike in ammonia while the biological filter got used to the new load.
The most likely explanation is that the fish simply came to you sick. This is most common in wild caught (WC) fish. This is very rare in Captive Bred (CB) fish. In the future always buy CB fish when they are available. There is really very little reason to buy WC clownfish today and the quality of CB is superior. They have less chance of carrying disease, they are universally accepting food, they are usually stronger, they are used to living in a confined space, They have usually experienced much less stress in shipping because they are often raised in the U.S.
edit: This is almost certainly not an aggression problem. There is a great FAQ at the top of this thread on Pairing clownfish. Juvenile clownfish change sex if and when needed. From juvenile your clownfish will both become male (maybe not at the same time) and then the dominant fish will become female. Once female she cannot change back.
What does 'fine' water parameters mean?
It does sound like the tank is pretty good, size seems acceptable, not too crowded and 3 months should have been long enough for the tank to be fully cycled.
There is the possiblity that adding 2 fish at once could have caused a slight spike in ammonia while the biological filter got used to the new load.
The most likely explanation is that the fish simply came to you sick. This is most common in wild caught (WC) fish. This is very rare in Captive Bred (CB) fish. In the future always buy CB fish when they are available. There is really very little reason to buy WC clownfish today and the quality of CB is superior. They have less chance of carrying disease, they are universally accepting food, they are usually stronger, they are used to living in a confined space, They have usually experienced much less stress in shipping because they are often raised in the U.S.
edit: This is almost certainly not an aggression problem. There is a great FAQ at the top of this thread on Pairing clownfish. Juvenile clownfish change sex if and when needed. From juvenile your clownfish will both become male (maybe not at the same time) and then the dominant fish will become female. Once female she cannot change back.
My water has zero ammonia, nitrite. 20ppm nitrate max, before WC. I WC every week 5G. Calepera have not gotten big enough yet. So should I bring them back for 40% store credit and get CB's. or try to treat these guys? Or wait it out. I've read about garlic, does not seem to be that good. They are swiming around today, but still breathing hard and fins held in. Not sure if they have eaten.
Thanx for the advise guys.
Thanx for the advise guys.
dantodd
New member
I would definately post to the diseases forum. Sounds like the fish are not likely to make it, the clamping of the fins is a bad thing. You should start setting up your hospital tank immediately and try to get started medicating as soon as you get a better diagnosis sounds like it could be brook to me.
Evyllchyld
Trying again
Am I the only one who thinks that 2" - 2.5" for percs isn't small?? Small to me is .5". They both *may* be female already and will just keep fighting. One won't turn male. Anyone elses Idea on this???
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