Clown Fish keeps dying....

Hi there everyone, Im fairly new to this hobby, I have had my 16g bowl front running for over 2 months now. I have about 25pounds of live rock, crabs, sand sifting starfish and 4 corals. Water all read fine. My problem is that my clown fish keeps dying. I had bought my 4th clown about 2 weeks ago and just 2 days ago it died. everytime I get a clown it dies. Does anyone know why this happens? I only have 1 other fish which is a small 6 line bressa. Does anyone have any ideas on why this is happening? Any suggestions? Could Clowns die from stress? Would it die from stress of sticking my hand in to organize the corals?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Clowns are generally hardy. But there could be a number of things.

Instead of "water all read fine" can you actually list out your parameters.

Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Phosphates, Ph, SG would all be helpful.


Actually, just fill this out as best you can and we can help better.

Fill out this form

Just copy/paste it into this thread here.

 

you need to take your sand star back, it will starve in a 16 gallon, and eat everything in your sand bed. it should have atleast 75 gallons.

 

And that would need to be a mature 75. A young tank won't have enough food for a sand star.

I agree you're not ready for the star. But you said you'll be setting up a 70gallon after you move (in a different thread)? It should be fine in that tank after it gets established.


Back to your clown - could you tell us how you're acclimating? This is actually what I'm thinking your problem is...

 

Thanks all for your replies. I will test the water tonight (I did a water change last night). Sand sifting is hardly ever out, Ive been told its good when they barely come out because they are eating everything under the sand. It got stuck on the powerhead not to long ago and its missing 2 legs, I dont think they will take it back like that and I dont want to kill it, hopefully it will survive until I set up my 70g.

I will post what my water reads tonight and hopefully get it ready for new clowns. As per acclimating, what do you mean?

Thank you all for your help.

 

Ummm... :-/

How do you get your fish ready to go into your water?

Do you float the bag? Drip? Do you add some of your water to the bag over time? .....or.....do you just pour the fish into your water?

 

I am 90% sure this is your clown problem now.

 

Acclimating is one of the biggest factors in reducing shock into a tank. Acclimating your fish means gradually getting him used to the tank water. Float the bag he is in from the LFS in the tank (still sealed) so the temperature equals out. After 20 mins, open the bag and put 1/4 cup of tank water into the bag and let it sit there for 15mins. Then add another 1/4cup of tank water and rest for 15mins. Repeat this for 2 hours and make sure the lights are off. It lessens the stress on the fish if you do this and increases the chance of survival greatly. Get the water parameters tested and post those here too.
If it makes you feel any better, sometimes we just have bad luck with certain breed of fish. I went through the same thing. I could not keep a Tomato clown alive to save my life. After 3 dead, I decided to stop naming it "Nemo" and went with a Maroon clown and named it "Marlin." I've had that same fish for 5 years now, grown to almost 7" long now, he started out at 1.5".

 

ok I have tested the water levels are at

PH: 8.4
Nitrate: 5.0
Nitrite: 0
Amonia: 0
Salinity: 32
Temperature: 78 degrees

I dont know the names of the corals (really bad at it) but they are all soft corals.

As per how I introduce the fish to the tank, I let the bag sit for atleast 10min and then put them in. I will definetly follow the advice and add my aquarium water with the light off. After the add the fish to my tank do I still leave the light off or do I turn it on?

Once again thank you all for all your help, I really appreciate it.