Is there something wrong with my tomatoe clown fish?

Reefer nation · Mar 27, 2017

Hello all,

My tank has been running for about 4 months now. Everything is fine I have done multiple tests. When I did my first water change I took to much but quickly balanced everything back out. After that happened though my tomatoe clown has done a complete 180. She was the dominant one in the tank, always on the move, aggressive. I introduced a hermit crab around the same time she started acting weird. She is now stationary will not come out of her rock for more than a second she eats less, loss of color and always has her dorsal fin flexed. She no longer claims dominance and basically just lays at the bottom of tank. This has been over a month. She's alive and when she does move she seems fine but her whole attitude changed. Could my water change have hurt her that bad? Does she have a parasite? Why has she suddenly lost her dominance? My other percula is 100% okay and acts normal. Any thoughts? (I'll upload a picture when I get home)

jsker · Mar 27, 2017

I am going to through this one out to the #reefsquad for some more feed back. Have you thought about getting an anomone for her to hang out in?

melypr1985 · Mar 27, 2017

Reefer nation said:
When I did my first water change I took to much

Can you give more detail on what you mean by this? It could be important. I also want to ask: Do you have a percula clown and a tomato clown together in the same tank? What size is the tank? What size are the clowns?

Also: have you seen any white spots on the tomato? Anything that looks like skin sloughing off or a film over her body? Heavy breathing?

Reefer nation · Mar 27, 2017

melypr1985 said:
Can you give more detail on what you mean by this? It could be important. I also want to ask: Do you have a percula clown and a tomato clown together in the same tank? What size is the tank? What size are the clowns?

Also: have you seen any white spots on the tomato? Anything that looks like skin sloughing off or a film over her body? Heavy breathing?

It's a 20 gallon tank. I took 20% of the water being 4 gallons. But I disrupted the cycle my nitrates and other levels . I used "microbe lift pl" to supplement. The perc and the tomato are in the same tank together they are both about 3 inches in length. And the last 2 questions no white spots or skin sloughing. Just a lighter pigment . She seems darker in the picture but is much lighter in person.

Reefer nation · Mar 27, 2017

She is like this most of the time!

melypr1985 · Mar 28, 2017

Reefer nation said:
3 inches in length

did I read that right? 3 Inches? Those are very large clowns. I'm thinking this is an aggression issue between the clowns. You may not be seeing it when you look at the tank, or are right in front of it, but I'm betting it's happening and the tomato is- amazingly- losing. Typically you wouldn't want to keep two clowns of a different species together, especially in such a small tank. If both of these clowns are three inches, then it's likely they are both female as well, which ups the aggression factor by a lot.

Reefer nation · Mar 28, 2017

So

melypr1985 said:
did I read that right? 3 Inches? Those are very large clowns. I'm thinking this is an aggression issue between the clowns. You may not be seeing it when you look at the tank, or are right in front of it, but I'm betting it's happening and the tomato is- amazingly- losing. Typically you wouldn't want to keep two clowns of a different species together, especially in such a small tank. If both of these clowns are three inches, then it's likely they are both female as well, which ups the aggression factor by a lot.

So I am moving to a 55 in about a month you think that will help? And of the two I would say the tomatoe is the most aggressive. She definitely was the dominant up until recently does it change that drastically?

melypr1985 · Mar 28, 2017

Reefer nation said:
So

So I am moving to a 55 in about a month you think that will help? And of the two I would say the tomatoe is the most aggressive. She definitely was the dominant up until recently does it change that drastically?

It may help, but not likely. Yes, the dominance can change for a variety of reasons between two female clowns.

SoreninKL · Mar 28, 2017

Reefer nation said:
Hello all,

My tank has been running for about 4 months now. Everything is fine I have done multiple tests. When I did my first water change I took to much but quickly balanced everything back out. After that happened though my tomatoe clown has done a complete 180. She was the dominant one in the tank, always on the move, aggressive. I introduced a hermit crab around the same time she started acting weird. She is now stationary will not come out of her rock for more than a second she eats less, loss of color and always has her dorsal fin flexed. She no longer claims dominance and basically just lays at the bottom of tank. This has been over a month. She's alive and when she does move she seems fine but her whole attitude changed. Could my water change have hurt her that bad? Does she have a parasite? Why has she suddenly lost her dominance? My other percula is 100% okay and acts normal. Any thoughts? (I'll upload a picture when I get home)

I'm not sure about the parasite and I'm not the super expert about clownfish but usually they best kept as pairs from the same species. I always try to obtain a "big" and "small" one from the same species and I was fortunate to see a small maroon to "kiss" the cheek of a big one which is part of their pairing/acceptance behaviour. please keep in mind that they can live for 10+ years in your aquarium......
and certainly there are exceptions like the BRS clownfish tank.

but if I would be you I would take out the tomato as they tend to be very territorial and can take on marrons as well.

perhaps you can post the pics of the tomato at the disease and treatment forum to get more response on the parasite

cheers