Need help my clown died and don't know why

[LostClown]

It’s unusual for the test to give a 0 reading after adding Prime so maybe you got a bad batch. The fact you had nitrites shows that the cycle isn’t complete.

Most test kits will give you a false positive now that you added prime so I wouldn’t bother getting a different test kit. Do water changes and Re-dose prime. Perhaps get some biospira or bacteria in a bottle to speed up the cycle.

The nitrite only went up for a few days last week but is now reading 0 on the test kit, I put a bottle of bacteria in the tank before I put the clowns in. I have not done a water change yet because I was told to wait until the cycle completes. You say I should to a water change add more bacteria and prime? if the nitrites are not showing up anymore and nitrates or going down to min level doesn't that mean the cycle is almost done?

 

[glb]

Sorry about your fishie. Sounds like ammonia to me too. The tank won’t be fully cycled until the nitrites are 0 and you only have nitrates. Could you have someone hold the other fish until the tank is ready? The Prime will neutralize the ammonia, so it’s good that you added it. How’s the other one look?

 

[LostClown]

Sorry about your fishie. Sounds like ammonia to me too. The tank won’t be fully cycled until the nitrites are 0 and you only have nitrates. Could you have someone hold the other fish until the tank is ready? The Prime will neutralize the ammonia, so it’s good that you added it. How’s the other one look?

The other clown seems fine, but the other one did too. He has been in the tank for 11 days now. The ammonia went up then down, the nitrite went up and now is down to 0 the nitrate went up and now is also coming down

 

[glb]

The other clown seems fine, but the other one did too. He has been in the tank for 11 days now. The ammonia went up then down, the nitrite went up and now is down to 0 the nitrate went up and now is also coming down

This happens to all of us at some point. Hang in there and if you replace the clown make sure the new one is smaller so they don’t fight.

 

[rkpetersen]

Welcome to the forum; sorry it's under sad circumstances.

I don't think your fish died of ammonia poisoning, based on the info you've provided. And if it was velvet, the other one would probably being showing signs as well. Not injuries so probably not aggression from the other clown. I'm not sure what killed your sweet fish. I do know that I've had the exact same thing happen where there doesn't seem to be any reasonable explanation. It's frustrating but sometimes you just have to move on.

 

[LostClown]

Update for anyone who cares. Thanks for all the help everyone. My poor clowns ended up having Brook, I did not have a light on the tank at the time of the first one dying then I got a Kessil tuna blue light and I saw all of the skin signs of brook I took pictures and took them to one of my local fish experts (not where I bought the clowns) and he said it looks like brook. So now the tank is fallow adn will stay that way for a few weeks. Thanks again all for the help.

 

[rkpetersen]

We absolutely care, and thanks for the followup.

Not a surprising diagnosis, I guess. When I bought a bunch of juvenile clowns last year, I went to considerable effort to make sure they were incoming with no disease, particularly brook which is so common in clowns, and although I bought them through a local store, the fish never touched the store's water.

Recommended fallow period to starve out brook is 6 weeks.