Clownfish Rapid Breathing..

[xxmurrxx]

Main Problem: Small clownfish "breathing" rapidly from mouth, hiding most of the time. See below for more detailed description of problem and my specs.


Tank: Nano 15 Gal, Protein Skimmer, HOB Filter (Carbon, Sponge, Bio Media), aprox 20 LB of Live rock. Tank has been up and solid for a good 5 months.

Water Test: Salinity 1.24-1.26, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0, Ammonia - 0, PH steady around 8.4.

Additives: Calcium (Seachem, no more than 5ml a day - 10ml max week)

Water Changes: Weekly 1.5-2 Gallon, Hob filter media rinsed weekly.

Problem: I had one really healthy clownfish pretty big (not huge) and solid colour. A couple weeks ago I added a really small clownfish. He seemed to be doing fine, eating and what not. Now I notice he is hiding a lot near the bottom and gasping from his mouth. Fish has not shown any signs of disease.

The only thing I changed from when I noticed this was removing acrylic tank cover from my tank (used to slow down evaporation).

What i'm thinking is either...

A) The salinity change variance is too much for the little fish (must be pretty young by the looks of it), I put the acrylic back on to slow down the evaporation again. I don't have any ATO, and with a 15 gal the variance swings are a little much with no cover I think?

B) The big moma clown is pushing him around too much? (I have not witnessed them trying to pair, they swam near each other usually, but slept in different spots)

C) Im Totally wrong and something else might be wrong?

Pretty long post but I figure all the details might help with any suggestions.

*My water is reading good from my tests, but should I do say x2 of my normal water changes a week for a while to insure nothing is off?

Cheers.

 

[Blob-79]

Hes probally just getting picked on my the larger clown.

You mentioned you dose calcium, what are your calcium levels at?

 

[crazybizzle]

Could be the other fish picking on him or could be that ur salinity is off wgen i first started my meter was reading 1.024 but in fact is wasnt calubrated rigjt and it was actually like 29 so i switched to a digital refractometer more money but always dead on. U using ine of those coralife ones??  I have a extra refractomer somewhere ill try and look for it. U can borrow it to see if its in line with urs

 

[xxmurrxx]

You mentioned you dose calcium, what are your calcium levels at?

Highest I have had it is around 450.

Crazybizzle, thanks but I actually have two of those cheapies and they are usually both different lol.
I should look into a good one, what unit do you use?

 

[crazybizzle]

[quote author=Blob-79 link=topic=596.msg3534#msg3534 date=1299692252]
You mentioned you dose calcium, what are your calcium levels at?

Highest I have had it is around 450.

Crazybizzle, thanks but I actually have two of those cheapies and they are usually both different lol.
I should look into a good one, what unit do you use?


[/quote]
i forgot the brand but u know its the one that u drop a dab of water on and u look thru the eyeglass 100 percent accurate.

 

[pulpfiction1]

a refractometer?  i have one here fo $20 if you want it

 

[Krazykarl]

Sign of stress. When I intro both clowns to my 55 months ago one was fine the other was breathing from mouth fast. Days later didn't make it... Qt him if u can

 

[reeffreak]

Im thinking he is definetly being picked on by the larger clown , do you have a pic of them both ? If there is a big difference in size the bigger clown will definetly be pushing the little guy around , you may not being seeing this happen but if you've had this clown for a couple weeks my opinion you would have seen these signs well before now ? I may be way off but I just think as soon as you added him you woulda seen that breathing that day .

 

[xxmurrxx]

Im thinking he is definetly being picked on by the larger clown , do you have a pic of them both ? If there is a big difference in size the bigger clown will definetly be pushing the little guy around , you may not being seeing this happen but if you've had this clown for a couple weeks my opinion you would have seen these signs well before now ? I may be way off but I just think as soon as you added him you woulda seen that breathing that day .

Yeah pretty big difference in the sizes.

I also lowered the salinity to 1.023-1.025 (Two different cheap testers, two different readings  :-\ )

 

[Cal_stir]

ca levels don't mean much to fish, salinity would have be changing quickly, high alk would cause stress and high ph, what is your alk?
also, is the small clown tank bread?
imo it is getting picked on

 

[jmonker]

I got the same problem i switched everything into a new tank, which was a bunch of corals and one clown, he started acting weird, i bought 2 more clowns n they all started doing the same thing, gasping for air,, hiding in weird spots. let me know what i can do to get this problem????????????

 

[xxmurrxx]

My problem seemed to be my salinity too high.
Too early to tell if that was exactly the problem, but i lowered it and he seems to be breathing steadier now and comes out from hiding to eat.

I do think the bigger fish is pushing him around witnessed it a couple times now.

 

[jmonker]

ya i have no idea what my problem can be, all my shit is pretty much bang on

 

[reeffreak]

imo having more then 2 clowns in a tank smaller then 50 gal shuodnt be allowed , also having 112 adult clown and a juvinile shouldnt be in a small tank it will jjst get picked on .

 

[Dr BlueThumb]

15G is a small tank.

 

[xxmurrxx]

15G is a small tank.

Sure is, I'm bumping it up to a 90 once i find a deal on used lights and skimmer.  8)

 

[Dr BlueThumb]

90G is a perfect size, less room for mistakes.

Adding some more rock's for now might help a little and feeding more. If your going to keep the 2 clown's?

You'll need to up your water changes thou.

 

[xxmurrxx]

Well I lost the little guy last night  :-\  He lasted a couple weeks longer than I thought showing signs of improvement then out of nowhere bang..

I witnessed the bigger one pushing him around so i'm assuming that was the main stressor...

I'm going to wait a little while before getting another, Any suggestions on picking a new one? Obviously this one was too small for the bigger one. I think maybe search the LFS until I find a healthy "bigger" pair and ask to buy the male of the group.

 

[Blob-79]

Personally if I were you, when you find that "pair" take both of them and ask the LFS if they will take the one you have. Its best to buy clowns as pairs. or buy them separate but both small. trying to pair an older clown can (as youve seen) be risky.

 

[Vee787]

I got a clownfish two days ago. It was with another fish, a black one with three white spots one on each side and one on the face. The Black "Dotfish" died the next day. I also have a small hermic crab thing. My clownfish was "bobbing" up and down for the first day and a half, now it swims normally.  I got another fish that's perfectly fine, and i got a shrimp that is twice the size of the clownfish. I'm getting rid of the shrimp tomorrow, but my clownfish has been breathing really fast (mostly out of its mouth), I turned up the filter so they'd get more oxygen, and I'm going to replace some of the water.
Is there anything else I should do???? Please help!!
Is there anything I should NOT do????

(looking at the comments above) My clownfish had a buddy at the store, but I only got him, he has been stressed, but is getting better.  (sorry to make this so long, but my newer fish and clownfish are swimming together, so I hope that will be my clownfishes new buddy) Can they be "buddies" when they are different species of fish?
I'm going to get them one of the things they can hide in tomorrow too, if that will help.

Please don't say anything discouraging this is my favorite fish.