HELP ME PLEASe

[kgb]

hey guys ok 4 days ago my clowns sorta started looking like they were getting beat up. they keep getting worse and i have no clue what is doing it to them.yesterday the smaller one died. ok i have had them for like a month and a half and they never really fought. i dont know what is doing it . i had my water check yesterday and every thing is ok.. please help

[kgb]

It looks like my fish have burns on them, does anyone have any advice, because I already lost one, and my other isn't looking too good...HELP PLEASE
IMMEDIATELY, ASAP

[EmilyB]

Well, it sounds like something is REALLY wrong.

You had your water checked where and what were all the measurements?

Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, SG, etc for starters?

What else is in the tank ? Are you adding anything to the tank?

Provide as many details about your setup as possible.

[Aquattro]

Sorry, normally I would say burns indicate ammonia. If your water checks out OK, I'm not sure. A big water change wouldn't hurt.

[Delphinus]

Maybe even take a water sample to a LFS (Big Al's or Pisces come to mind) and ask if they would do a battery of water tests.

When something's wrong, but everything tests OK, one possibility is bad test kits.

There are basically three possibilities here. 1) the water chemistry is off. The ones I would check first are pH, ammonia, nitrite. 2) there is a predator in the tank, or tankmates are not getting along and beating each other up. 3) disease or parasites.

You have to systematically go through the variables, and eliminate them one by one. As Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains (however improbable), must be the truth.

Good luck. And yes, a big water change couldn't hurt.

PS. What is your temperature in the tank, BTW? Is there a difference between daytime and nighttime temperature?

[kgb]

ok i went to pisces and the did and amonia and a nitrate test and both were below the safe level or what ever (this means a ok if yah know what i mean).i havent added any thing new for about amonth before this started. add aragonite oolitic sand yesterday (present from GF) my temp is between 75 and 79 at all times even at night. doesnt vary much just i dont have a heater in the tank but my house usually is the same temp all the time. the only predator i can think of is the other now dead clown . but they seemed to get along pretty good. um i dont know what else to ad but i am going to do a big water change today

[Aquattro]

I'm not a fish, so this is only speculation....but I would think a daily swing from 75 to 79 degrees would cause some stress. Not sure if it would create burn type marks though....
Maybe instead of sand your GF should have got you a heater :P

[EmilyB]

:shock:

[kgb]

no no no hehe guess i said that wrong. no it stays pretty much the same dpends on whats going on . ok like for the past 4 days it has been 78 steadily. so it doesnt flux widly but VERY slowly over time
so any other ideas

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

This is going to sound really stupid, but what kind of replacement water have you been using ?

Also, do you have pictures of the fish and describe your setup

- Victor.

[Bob I]

Your problems sound just like what I went through in my early days of SW fish keeping. I too put fish in a tank that I thought had cycled, and was safe. I lost about $500.00 worth of fish. Lately I have come to the conclusion that a tank should have no fish for six months. That may seem overcautious, but in the end it will save you big money and heartache. :)

[kgb]

hey rcipema
um hould that also good for peppermint shrimp because i think i am going to buy one due to the out break of apitasia in my tank ?
ehy also unrelated question: does frog spawn need lots of light like pc or will vho be enough

[AJ_77]

EmilyB and Victor asked for more information so they could take a better shot at some informed advice. Can you do that (answer their questions?)

Thanks. Also, why do you ask about a frogspawn? Do you already have one? If the clowns were using it as host, they might have rubbed themselves on the skeleton while it was contracted. My clown did just that, and had abrasions on its sides. They might have looked like burns if they got much worse.

Can you describe what your "burns" look like?

Alan :D

[Bob I]

Alan is right. you seem to be asking unrelated questions. You need to tell us much more ie. size of tank, how long set up, how much LR, DSB or not, tank inhabitants etc.
Bob

[kgb]

sorry i thought i had anwsered there question .my temp doesn't jump it stay pretty much constant. if it does change a degree it take likea day or 2 and that is celcius point. as for emily sorry hehe i had the amonia and the nitrate done and they are perfect. they didnt do any other tests. um i have a 20 gal tank with 20 PLB of LR, 7 PLB od CC and just added 20 PLB of sand it hass been up for bout 4 months

[EmilyB]

It would be plausible to me that you have a few problems. I cannot really comprehend a SW tank without a heater in Calgary, AB. ( Seeing as I keep coldwater crayfish in a tank at room temperature). My house is certainly not kept at 80 degrees, but with evaporation, my room temp tank is about 68 degrees in the AM. 2 degrees C is a major fluctuation.

I believe you said the last clown died the same day you added the sand? If this is the case, it is also possible you suffocated the life in the existing bed, thereby causing a spike. Although it sounds like the clowns were in stress before that.

Alan made a good point about the frogspawn, and what were your thoughts on that?

You haven't commented on SG or pH, or provided any specific values for the paratmeters you did comment on. Some peoples idea of "perfect" is indeed NOT.

Good luck.

[kgb]

hehe sorry i dont answer very good i am in the middle of painting my house and my GF will go crazy if she realizes that i am on the computer :)
ow yeah i have 2 astera, 1 turbo, 1 mexican grazer, 1 nas, and 1 conch dont know the dif between queen and fighting (mine the shell is normal color but the under belie and the breathing tub are nice purple and the mouth is light blue). i have 9 hermits 5 left handed and 4 blue leg
thats about it

[kgb]

well i have to go to another aquarium store tomorrow to get the water tested. um it on flux 1 celcius in like 2 days . the apartment were in has the wateer heating so it is on constant and the rooms over all temp stays pretty much the same . buy the nitrate and the ammonia i mean fine buy the color grading on the compair chart that comes with the bottle.
by burning i mean my fish flesh starts to (hrmm you know when you get a burn and the skin siorta change texture and color after a day it is sorta smooth and shinny) well thats what happens and with the small fish the skin looked like it was starting to bubble.as for the sand it was put in after the fish died. for sufficating the already existing sand bed i dont think this happened because i moved all the CC to one side of the tank and put the new sand on the other just so all the criters i have would go over to the sand side (i want to get ride of some of the CC)

[Troy F]

Do you guys really think 2"C is a big deal? FWIW, I don't but am interested in others reasons.

[EmilyB]

No Troy, I just don't buy a tank maintaining temp that closely without a heater. I suspect inaccuracy, and I could most definitely be wrong.

[Troy F]

I hear you there, running a tank without a heater is an odd choice. I just caught a few comments on the thread concerning temp swings and was curious what y'all think. I guess if you're house is constantly at 80*C you could maintain the temp in your tank but I'd hate to see the electric or gas bill.

[canadawest]

Temp swings of 2C is chasing up the wrong tree I think. My temp regularly (aka daily) swings by 3C from 79 at night to 82 during the later parts of the day. My fish, corals, inverts and other flora and fauna seem perfectly adapted to the environment.

I suspect there are water chemistry issues at play (ammonia, nitrites, pH) or physical causes (agression from another animal, irritation from corals, etc) that are the root cause of the markings here.

I've never heard of temperature swings causing burn-like markings in a fish. Perhaps encouraging parasitic or bacterial infections, but not burn like scaring.

Just my $0.02 worth. :?

[TANGOMAN]

I sense a bit of "urgency" to add, alter, and adjust...I know, I've been there ! I kinda' agree with Bob in terms of tank cycling time. A "bit" long but that's not going to hurt provided the tank/filter is "biologically" fed. "Loss of money and heartache..."??? What would this hobby be without that ? :roll: My belief is a tank takes at least 12 months to establish itself. Any change during that time effects the entire system as it needs to accomadate that change. Changes must be made slowly as the tank will only accomadate it slowly. Ironically, "bad changes" happen really fast.
Ya' gotta' get a heater ! You're trusting your entire systems "well-being" to an external source that could fail at any time...usually on the coldest day. I don't trust running with a single heater on my tanks.

Oh ya', who cares if you're supposed to be painting.Isn't it better you're here "amongst friends" trying to solve an urgent problem. If ya' get any "flack", have Tony call her and explain... :wink:

[Delphinus]

Huh? What? Me? Who? What? Where? Eh?? :shock:

[kgb]

tony you got pm

[TANGOMAN]

O.K. I better rid Tony from bearing the responsibility of "domestic disputes..."
kgb, never take me too seriously. Not regarding your girlfriend anyway.
p.s. Tony, when I got home last night, I got the, "how much did this cost and can we afford it ?" question. :shock: Uuuuh, can you spare some change...?

[Canadian Man]

Doug,
Funny once Katie(my wife) and I got home I got asked the same question :lol:
She didnt mind the mailorder price of shrimp once I told her they were $30 to $40 each locally :shock: