Clown goin Down!

I had one clown die last night and now my other clown is on the edge so here's the numbers:

Ammonia: .25-.5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Somewhere in the red 40-80 ppm
Temp: 78
Ph: 8.4

The tank is 5 months old, and yes I did add the pair of clowns at the same time which could have been my mistake. I do feel like I over feed sometimes but I have a few big hermits and I like to make sure enough gets down to them. Water changes I do about every 4 weeks, and filter changes every 3 or 4 weeks just like they say to do.


My clown is swimming around all topsy turvy but not bottoms up so I don't believe it's her swim bladder but I could be mistaken. I don't think she's been eating well. Please help...

 

i would do water changes more often, some people don't do water changes and have a healthy tanks, however heavy feeders like you and i need to do them weekly to keep the parameters in the proper range. don't worry about your hermits they are scavengers they will be fine with what they find, or if you must feed them target feed them by puting the food right in front of them

also i would do a water change right now to lower the ammonia and nitrate

 

I've got no backup water, and we just did a change Saturday. Should I just put her out of her misery? She looks pretty pitiful...

 

Swim Bladder Problems

this article is for discus fish but you probably can take some info from it.

 

Thank you so much. At least I've got someone helping me. I feel pretty lost here...

 

from what ive read swim bladder problems arent common in saltwaterfish, and the problem may be fixed by allowing the fish to heal in clean water

if you have some type of water cleaner like prime you can use that

 

OK, I see you're posting the same question in a second thread.

Here's what I put in your other thread.




I'm sure more details will be asked but this starts to help. If by topsy turvy you mean in a vertical sort of way - my clowns do that at night for hours. Until about a week ago, then they both found a rock hole they now 'sleep' in. It's pretty neat.

But that's a side note. Your Nitrate reading is pretty high. I bet if you test for it, your phosphate reading will be high too. Most likely due to overfeeding. Crabs will find enough to eat, don't worry about them. They're point is to clean waste of sorts, not to be fed, ya dig?

Your salinity is very important to know too. If it's too high or too low it can easily kill fishies. Or if it's inconsistent.

Is that Ammonia reading a spike and has been 0 for several weeks or has it kind of hovered up there? If it's hovering, you're probably adding things before the cycle is done and keep kicking off mini-cycles. I say this because you've lost several fish in a row now, while still not too old of a tank.

Your schedule of filter/water changes sounds good with one caveat. You shouldn't even start to count those weeks until after your cycle. If you have been, it may be another reason your cycle won't finish.

I'm sure others will respond too. Go ahead and post some pics!

 

also in the other thread i see you did a 50% water change, im not sure if you just did that much because your fish were sick but i wouldn't do that much at one time, i would do a 20% change weekly

 

Hi, it seems from your readings that something has died in the tank. It is probably in the rock. You need to address the Ammonia problem. Water changes may not be all that effective depending on what is decaying in the tank. Get some media that absorbs Ammonia and run it ASAP! If it is possible, start turning over rocks and look for anything that possibly looks to be decaying.

 

There are a couple theories on water changes:
1. Do a gradual (i.e. 20%) change so the shock isn't big.
2. Do a big (even 90-100%) water change to remove all the toxins in the tank so yoru fish aren't further exposed to them.

Think about it this way. If you are in a room filled with carbon monoxide, would you want someone to just remove 20% of that smog at a time, or would you want to be put in a room that has pure clean air? Personally, I would go with the latter; get me out of that stuff ASAP.
What you really want to do is remove the rock and put them in a separate container where you can cure them independantly of your display tank. The die off is what's causing your problem. It sounds like they were not properly cured before placing into your tank. Don't euphanize the clown just yet, moving her into clean water may get her back on track.