My Poor Clown Fish

[Robbie2013]

Hello,

I am admittedly a bit of a newb.... to reefing and to fourms. I have a 6 month old 90gal reef tank. Things had been going great up until about a month ago. We originally had 3 clown fish, a diamond back goby, a coral beauty, some coral, and our cleanup crew.

About a month ago we introduced some tangs into our tank and they died like in two days. I was worried about this but we replaced the fish and the new tangs are doing very well..... we added a yellow and a regal. After we added our new tangs our one of our clown fish started to look lethargic and was basically sitting on a rock and had stopped eating.

Our LFS gave us some advice that the one may have been sad as the other two had paired up and he was on his own. We figured that we could make him happy again by getting 3 additional clownfish taking our total count to 6. We were careful to get all of them about the same size but smaller than our biggest one and smaller than the biggest one in the tank at the store. (thinking we did not want to get a second female).

Since then 4 of the clownfish have died leaving us with only 4 and they look like they are on deaths doorstep. My thoughts are we have introduced something into our tank with the first sick fish but I don’t know what and I don’t know what to do?

This is what I know:

None of the fish in the tank including the clown fish show anything on their biddies. No spots, no pests, no parasites, none of the moldy looking stuff that you see on the internet.
All other fish in the tank seem perfectly fine.
Our water tests all come back good: ammonia = 0, nitrite = 0, nitrate =less than 2ppm, and I don’t have a phosphate test.
The fish are basically lethargic. The sit on a rock or in a corner avoiding the current. They can swim when they need to if for example I try and clean something they can still put the gas down. They look like they are gasping for breath. They used to attack anything that came into the tank and if the lid was opend they were the first ones up to the top in case food was being added. Now they sit there even when food is added thy may eat it if it floats in front of them but they don’t go after it.


I am sorry to be long winded but I wanted to explain what I was experiencing in case someone out there who has been doing this longer than my 6 months knows what i am experiencing or has any idea what I should do?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Rob

[intarsiabox]

Sounds like low oxygen levels in the tank. Is the tank covered, using a skimmer?

[mike31154]

Lid? You have a lid on your tank? Tell us more. I tend to agree with intarsiabox in that your O2 may be low if the lid you're referring to is keeping things tight. There has to be a good gas/air exchange at the water surface and your lid may be hampering that process. The more fish/livestock you add, the more O2 is required.

Best to keep the clownfish numbers to 1 or 2 if they are paired. Others will eventually be taken out by the dominant pair in a closed system.

[rsisvixen]

Firstly if you don't have a skimmer or adequate water flow your oxygen lvls are probably too low.

Secondly while certain parasites do show up on the body of a fish like ich they can take up residence in the gills as well which will also cause breathing issues.

Lastly a dwarf angel is probably the last fish you add to a tank as they tend to be the most aggressive, and 2 tangs in a 90 gallon isn't really recommended.

[Robbie2013]

ok I do have a lid on the tak. I have a skimmer, a 1500gph return pump, and 4 800gph power heads. I am getting good surface circulation.

I am thinking you are correct about the parasites. can anyone lead me in the best direction for dealing with them? all of the treatments I have read about involve removing fish from the tank so you don't kill the invertebrates and coral. at this point I don't have a hospital tank..... for do I think I could ketch them without ripping down the full tank.

thanks for your help.

[rsisvixen]

Most medications are copper based, which would kill inverts, you do get some that are not copper based but the best is to run your main tank fallow and treat the fish elsewhere as most parasites have multiple life stages such as ich which has 4, and some stages are resistant to medication.

[Robbie2013]

So after 2 weeks of not seeing anything on my fish..... I posted this at my office and when I got home. My regal tang has spots oh it :sad:

I feel like now it is for sure a parasite and I just need to figure out a solution.

its a sad day :(

[rsisvixen]

I would recommend at least doing ttm before new fish additions, specifically tangs as they are prone to ich.

[Craigdillman]

First thought is ich/velvet or another parasite with that many new additions and the tangs and lots of clown fish there is probably incredible amount of stress in the tank , 90g is small to have 6 clowns in . And imo not qt any fish opens your self up to the risk of bringing in pests , the only other thing it could be (not sure how established your tank is or your set up) but double check your ammonia level . The low fish and breathing I have seen in my QT tanks when there is an ammonia spike it affects the fishy gills and the exchange of gas and chemicals and they can't deal with high ammonia but if that is good . I would error on the side of a parasite or ich and take the proper precautions and hospitalized as treat your fish

[Craigdillman]

Google ich and the life cycle there are phases were its not visible

Setting up a treatment tank or tank transfer is actually supper easy
Go on kijiji buy 2 20gallon tanks/used setups 2 hob filter and 2 air stones grab a bunch of PVC pipes from home hardwear and 2 heaters for the water, some prime for ammonia and one of those ammonia alert badges and there you have 2 full tanks for like 100$ tank. Do some research and put them threw the tank transfer method and your laughing then use it as Qt while the main tank is fallow for the time period

[Robbie2013]

Ok,
I have done some research into the tank transfer method..... I am leaning towards getting the stuff and doing that. I have a couple of questions

1. My regal tang is showing signs of ich and my clownfish are doing what I described above. I als have my dwarf angel and goby who look and are acting fine. Should I pull all fish? Or just the tang? Or the tang and clownfish?
2. How big of a tank would I need?
3. Everything I have read on the TTM talked about moving fish over and letting the parasite fall off. Should I combined it with a freshwater bath, or copper, or hypo salinity, or should I just use the salt water and keep moving them?

I am currently trying Hikari’s Ich-X for reef tanks. Its formaldehyde based and it clams it will not harm invertebrates or coral. Has anyone had any experience with this? I only started last night so I don’t know how fast or well it will work, it tells me to continue the treatment 4 days after the signs are all gone.... presumably because of the life cycle of the parasites. The only knock I have agents it so far is that I need to treat the tank everyday and do a 20% water change every day.... probably for 7 or 8 days. In my tank that will work out to 160 gallons of water and about $150 worth of salt.

Thanks for your recommendations!

[Craigdillman]

All fish need to be moved out of main tank,

Then it needs to aky fallow for 8 weeks so ich in main tank dies

I wouldn't treat the main with anything most stuff that actually kills ich will kill corals and if it doesn't kill corals it probably won't kill ich

[soapy]

One pair of clownfish per tank. It is one of oldest common knowledge rules in reef keeping, you break it at your peril. A very few reefers have success with multiple clowns.

[George]

Ok,
I have done some research into the tank transfer method..... I am leaning towards getting the stuff and doing that. I have a couple of questions

1. My regal tang is showing signs of ich and my clownfish are doing what I described above. I als have my dwarf angel and goby who look and are acting fine. Should I pull all fish? Or just the tang? Or the tang and clownfish?

Pull all fish to treat regardless if they have symptoms or not.


2. How big of a tank would I need?

a 29 gallon should be fine for all your fish if your regal tang is still small.


3. Everything I have read on the TTM talked about moving fish over and letting the parasite fall off. Should I combined it with a freshwater bath, or copper, or hypo salinity, or should I just use the salt water and keep moving them?

TTM alone will be fine. No FW bath, no copper, no hypo.


I am currently trying Hikari’s Ich-X for reef tanks. Its formaldehyde based and it clams it will not harm invertebrates or coral. Has anyone had any experience with this? I only started last night so I don’t know how fast or well it will work, it tells me to continue the treatment 4 days after the signs are all gone.... presumably because of the life cycle of the parasites. The only knock I have agents it so far is that I need to treat the tank everyday and do a 20% water change every day.... probably for 7 or 8 days. In my tank that will work out to 160 gallons of water and about $150 worth of salt.

Thanks for your recommendations!
Any in tank treatment will likely 1. fail or 2. kill the other good stuff along with the bad stuff.
Now if you really, really want to try in-tank treatment, try new life spectrum ick shield powder (powder, not the food). Even that one has some side effects and some restrictions. Please read up on it.
So pick your poison and good luck!