Clownfish is acting and breathing odd

[Hilltop Reeferton]

Hello all, we have two new clownfish set up in our new quarantine tank. It’s been five days and one is acting strange today. He or she is still eating but not swimming around like he or she has been. His breathing seems a bit labored. Is this normal or should we treat him just in case?

 

[fishguy242]

hi, @Jay Hemdal ?

 

[Hilltop Reeferton]

Hello everyone. We retested the parameters and the numbers were not good. We think we put them in the new QT too early so we moved them into our main tank. He or she is looking much better now. He or she is still getting bullied by the bigger clownfish but we are hoping they can work it out. It seems a little better with them being in a larger tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I could not get your video to play, the file would open, but no video. Can you try posting it to YouTube and then linking that here?

The clowns are in your quarantine tank, so that's good - have you treated them with anything yet?

Jay

 

[Hilltop Reeferton]

Hey there, we had to move them out of the qt tank already because apparently it wasn’t ready. The parameters were bad when we retested. Our bad.

The bigger clown is still being a bully. The smaller one is still not very active or eating. We haven’t treated them yet but probably should. Any recommendations? We only have the one tank and it has three other fish, an anemone, and a couple of corals.

Pic of clown that is worrying us.

 

[attiland]

Hey there, we had to move them out of the qt tank already because apparently it wasn’t ready. The parameters were bad when we retested. Our bad.

The bigger clown is still being a bully. The smaller one is still not very active or eating. We haven’t treated them yet but probably should. Any recommendations? We only have the one tank and it has three other fish, an anemone, and a couple of corals.

Pic of clown that is worrying us.

They are working out who is the boss. Let them be. This phase will pass. The bully’s usually the female ones and they keep the males in one corner. These are rarely harmful fights in my experience.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey there, we had to move them out of the qt tank already because apparently it wasn’t ready. The parameters were bad when we retested. Our bad.

The bigger clown is still being a bully. The smaller one is still not very active or eating. We haven’t treated them yet but probably should. Any recommendations? We only have the one tank and it has three other fish, an anemone, and a couple of corals.

Pic of clown that is worrying us.

welcome to Reef2Reef!

Is the small one not eating at all? That is very serious. Do you see rapid breathing? Without a quarantine tank, you aren’t going to be able to treat them though, are you working to get that running?
Jay

 

[Hilltop Reeferton]

Thanks so much for trying to help. He was eating the first few days and then just stopped eating. He passed away last night. We failed him.

We do have a qt tank we are trying to get ready for next time.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks so much for trying to help. He was eating the first few days and then just stopped eating. He passed away last night. We failed him.

We do have a qt tank we are trying to get ready for next time.

You should consider quarantining all new fish, it won’t totally eliminate problems, but it does help.
Sorry about the fish!
Jay

 

[Hilltop Reeferton]

Yeah we thought our qt tank was ready but it wasn’t. We put them in it for 4 days and checked the parameters again and they were pretty bad.

 

[attiland]

Thanks so much for trying to help. He was eating the first few days and then just stopped eating. He passed away last night. We failed him.

We do have a qt tank we are trying to get ready for next time.

Sorry to hear this. Get your qt ready and try again. You’ll newer know for sue but you may not have had a chance in the first place. Moving fish is always a risk