My clownfish is acting strange?! Please help!

[UncleSalty]

I purchased a new clown today. I acclimated him for 45 minutes. I released him into the tank, and he's down nothing but swim on his side for the past 8 hours. He always stays near the top, and rarely swims down. Occasionally he'll swim vertically but that's it.

The water params appear to be good..

Temp = 78.6
pH = 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0


At the fish store he swam fine and had great markings, so I had to have him.....now he can't seem to act normal and I am not sure what to do. Please help!

 

[UncleSalty]

Also, he's the only fish in the tank, and the first fish i've ever bought.

 

[jedi6]

Is it eating? Is it breathing heavy/quickly?
Does it have any tiny white spots on its body or edges of fins?

 

[UncleSalty]

Is it eating? Is it breathing heavy/quickly?
Does it have any tiny white spots on its body or edges of fins?

Not eating. I dropped a few myseis shrimp in there earlier thinking maybe he'd eat a couple. He appears to be breathing normally.

No noticeable spots for ich.

 

[jedi6]

It may just be stressed since you just got it today, but one thing to look for over the next few days is heavy breathing and a stringy white thing hanging out of where it poops. If this happens you will probably need to set up a quarantine tank and treat it with prazipro. Do a search for more threads on this if you notice it.
Otherwise I would give it a few days and see if it doesn't start eating. Try a very small amount of food a few times a day so as not to add any ammonia to your system.

 

[Dalmatia]

I purchased a new clown today. I acclimated him for 45 minutes. I released him into the tank, and he's down nothing but swim on his side for the past 8 hours. He always stays near the top, and rarely swims down. Occasionally he'll swim vertically but that's it.

The water params appear to be good..

Temp = 78.6
pH = 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0


At the fish store he swam fine and had great markings, so I had to have him.....now he can't seem to act normal and I am not sure what to do. Please help!

What's your salinity at? Bet you it's way more than your LFS! It's harder to get the back up to 1.025 than it is to drop their salinity. The LFS will house their live stock at 1.019 sometimes and will thank more than the regular 45min acclimation! Maybe 3-4hrs with an air stone would do better

 

[UncleSalty]

My salinity is at 1.026

 

[tyler1503]

What's your salinity at? Bet you it's way more than your LFS! It's harder to get the back up to 1.025 than it is to drop their salinity. The LFS will house their live stock at 1.019 sometimes and will thank more than the regular 45min acclimation! Maybe 3-4hrs with an air stone would do better

+1 if there's no signs of disease this sounds pretty likely. Keep an eye on him and try to keep him well fed.
Maybe call the LFS and ask them what salinity their tanks are kept at.

 

[UncleSalty]

+1 if there's no signs of disease this sounds pretty likely. Keep an eye on him and try to keep him well fed.
Maybe call the LFS and ask them what salinity their tanks are kept at.

I will do this. He is still swimming sideways, but he is eating - some. He had one pellet and one myesis shrimp. He had a moment of 10 seconds earlier where he was swimming normally and towards the bottom, adn then WHOOP right back up! I poked him once to see if he was 'aware'...and he moved very fast, so I think he's just being dumb......I named him "Hodor" :bigsmile: