Is my Clown ok or is This Normal

My 30 gal hexagon tank is about a month and a half old. I have had 2 Damsels in it since the first week of operation as well as 15 ponds of live rock. They have survived the cycle I had brown algae growth so i vacuumed the bed and did a 10% water change and they are hardy as ever and are very active and healthy. My water parameters are totally fine as well. So we decided to add a clown yesterday. He is a true perc clownish and looked very happy and healthy in the store. We got him home and I acclimated him for 45 minutes by adding 1 cup of our tank water to the bag after about 20 min. His movements have Become sparatic and he is swimming weirdly like swimming in one place vertically he is just kinda hovering but based on the research I have done on the fish i have gathered that they have Weird behaviors thus being named a clown fish. can any one identify that this is normal behavior or if i have something to worry about. I use a Fluval 204 canister filtration system and have a big piece of artificial coral with a large air stone for my fish to play and hide in. I also fed him Spirulina gut loaded brine shrimp. His mouth is open as well and he is a little pale.... I think... Please help

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Your clown sounds fine but an image always helps.

Hovering can be described as one of a clowns modes of operation.

The most concerning part of your post is the part about the mouth being open.

As always responders are going to want to know specific water parameter values especially in a new tank.

 

Eh he already went belly up he totally died already he didn't even last a day and he was 30 bucks! My other fish are fine though. I think he came from the store messed up his mouth was open when he was still in the bag. I think the stress of the move may have done it....

 

Well that sucks.

Try to avoid getting a fish from the same tank if you go back to get another. By and large clown fish are pretty hardy. Sometimes the easiest fish to catch at the fish store is the sick one.

If your local fish store is checking your water chemistry you should probably buy your own test kit.

 

yea I am pretty bummed about it. I did a test and my Ph is at 8 and my nitrates are less than 10.... salinity is a 1.021 temp a 75. My water is clear and I have no abnormality's in the the tank. In theory he should have been totally fine for at the very least a few day's but he didn't even last a full 24 hours. I hope my store will offer some kind of warranty for him because he was struggling as soon as i got him in the tank for acclimation but was so lively in the store i really think it was the stress of the tank change or the ride home...

 

Depending on the store they may give you a refund, but they will want you to bring a water sample so they can check the parameters and the dead fish.

 

good thing i saved the fish

 

Yeah call then and see what they say.
They may say they don't guarantee live stock (I try to avoid places like that) or they may say bring in the fish and a sample of the water and well take a look at it.
Hey worse thing is your out the $30.
Which is no worse then if you didn't call them at all.

 

To me this sounds like an acclimation issue. You said you added one cup of water to the bag after 20 minutes? Was this your entire acclimation process?

I use the drip method now, but used the bag method until very recently. What I did with the bag was float it for 20 minutes. Add a couple dips of tank water. Let it float for 10 more minutes. Add a couple more dips. Repeat. I would do the dip thing for about 30 minutes. Then release.

matt

 

thanks for the advice i will try it next time. It just kinda trips me out that clowns are apparently a hearty fish and I have 2 other thriving fish in the tank and the clown didn't even last a day... The store I bough from had excellent reviews too. Is it possible that i just got a bum fish or is the acclimation process that crucial that i killed by adding a cup of my water to the bag. Since its a newer tank would getting a larger more mature clown have any differance than getting a baby cuz the guy i bought was a little one