Clownfish acting strangely

[Niko219]

This morning I checked on my 20 gallon reef tank and saw that my clownfish was “biting” the surface of the water as if trying to get air.

I did some reading and saw it may be because of high nitrates in the water and that they may have “ burning gills”. I tested the nitrates and they were at 25 ppm, which was nothing new and wasn’t a drastic change from before. I did a water change anyway to bring the nitrates down.

it has been an hour and she is still doing it. They recently laid eggs but I don’t think that it has anything to do with it. Only one clown is doing it.
I’ll try to get some pictures. THANKS

 

[AnneO]

This morning I checked on my 20 gallon reef tank and saw that my clownfish was “biting” the surface of the water as if trying to get air.

I did some reading and saw it may be because of high nitrates in the water and that they may have “ burning gills”. I tested the nitrates and they were at 25 ppm, which was nothing new and wasn’t a drastic change from before. I did a water change anyway to bring the nitrates down.

it has been an hour and she is still doing it. They recently laid eggs but I don’t think that it has anything to do with it. Only one clown is doing it.
I’ll try to get some pictures. THANKS

Yeah I would test for ammonia too

 

[Niko219]

Yeah I would test for ammonia too

I don’t have ammonia test but I will go to lfs. Do u think it would have gone down?

 

[Niko219]

With the water change (sorry forgot to add)

 

[AnneO]

Well if the tank is quite new and you don't have a lot of livestock yet the addition of the tang (and extra food) could potentially have caused a new mini cycle.. but if your clownfish already laid eggs it sounds like an established reef in which case you shouldnt get ammonia.... But yes it is dissolved in the water so would go down proportionately to your water change

 

[Niko219]

She swims around the tank like normal and then rushes to this on corner and starts gasping for air

 

[Niko219]

Well if the tank is quite new and you don't have a lot of livestock yet the addition of the tang (and extra food) could potentially have caused a new mini cycle.. but if your clownfish already laid eggs it sounds like an established reef in which case you shouldnt get ammonia.... But yes it is dissolved in the water so would go down proportionately to your water change

Ok thanks

 

[AnneO]

If you have an airstone to hand that will help if it is an oxygenation issue.. small chance that she's hungry if she's laid/tending her eggs all day? Sometimes my chromis will pick at the water surface when they think they see some food (creates bubbles, makes them even more crazy picking lol)

 

[Alarmguy66]

Agree with the laying eggs. They don't do that when the conditions arent right, so unless there has been some recent and drastic change, I'd just sit back and not start making changes too rapidly. Do that and you run the risk of altering things even more, which usually doesnt go well. Sometimes clowns just do weird stuff. Mine has been swimming around all morning with lockjaw, while everyone else is just fine.

 

[Niko219]

Alright thanks I’ll wait a couple hours and also study her while I’m feeding. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Alarmguy66]

I'm not saying not to run tests, just dont over-analyze. Its easy to do when you sit there all day and watch them. I'm sure a lot of us are doing that, now that we can.

If the tests show a problem, and you've run the test more than once with the same result, then adjust. Otherwise pump the brakes and observe.

 

[Niko219]

Kk