New clown, tail rot on second day?

[Oceansinmybasement]

I’m new to the saltwater tanks but had a question regarding new fish I added. I have a 30g tank that was cycled with a bacteria in a bottle product, had my ammonia spike and drop. Ammonia and nitrite at 0 and nitrates are 5, for a few days. I added 4 hermit crabs who seemed to thrive with no change in the values above. I decided to add two clowns to start, drip acclimated over an hour and seemed to be doing well. I even added a dose of dr Tim’s just prior to adding the fish as an insurance to prevent any spikes. After about 24hrs in the tank one of the clowns tails Looks as though it’s been nipped at or rotting. I have kept close watch and I don’t see the other clown nipping at the tail, so it leads me to believe it’s possibly rot or other disease. Water tests today show presence of ammonia and nitrates. Ammonia at 0.2, and nitrites at 0.2, nitrates still 5, ph is 8.2, alkalinity of 10, and water temp is 78. I am mixing some water to possibly do a water change of about 15% unless someone advises otherwise. I’ve attached pictures below to see if anyone has any ideas as to what this may be. They seem to be swimming together around most of the tank, not hiding and not breathing heavy near to top, and don’t seem stressed.

 

[Big G]

Might be the hermit crabs nipping at its tail while it's trying to sleep. Those things are little terrorists.

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Hmmm I mean it could be I just don’t ever see them that close to each other, and only the one clown is affected. Plus the water parameters changing? I’ve been told about possibly adding water conditioner to neutralize the ammonia and nitrite, any opinions on that?

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Here’s a video, not the best quality, would this be considered normal behaviour? Stressed?

 

[Rjukan]

What did you use to spike the ammonia? And what value did it spike to? From the looks of it the tank wasn't cycled and the clowns have ammonia burn fins.

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

I ended up using a bottled ammonia product, got it up to 1.5. Today there was a slight drop in nitrates to 0.1 but ammonia stayed the same. I just did a 20% water change. Fish are still happily swimming both ate the pellet food I gave them today. Will continue to monitor. Thinking of putting in some sort of ammonia lock product. If the ammonia doesn’t go down by tommorow.

 

[D-Nak]

Try not to rush the process. Even when using bacteria-in-a-bottle products, the numbers tend to bounce around a bit. I wouldn't add any more chemicals. Hopefully the the clownfish will recover.

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Thanks for the input, today nitrites dropped further to 0.05 but ammonia still at 0.2. I have notice the clown with the damaged tail is spitting out the pellet food I am feeding but still goes for them. Picked up a small container of flake food to try for him. Still seem to be happily swimming around the tank.

 

[TheStricklins]

How long has the tank been running?

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Tanks been up for 2 and a half weeks approximately.

 

[Easy Reefing]

I’m new to the saltwater tanks but had a question regarding new fish I added. I have a 30g tank that was cycled with a bacteria in a bottle product, had my ammonia spike and drop. Ammonia and nitrite at 0 and nitrates are 5, for a few days. I added 4 hermit crabs who seemed to thrive with no change in the values above. I decided to add two clowns to start, drip acclimated over an hour and seemed to be doing well. I even added a dose of dr Tim’s just prior to adding the fish as an insurance to prevent any spikes. After about 24hrs in the tank one of the clowns tails Looks as though it’s been nipped at or rotting. I have kept close watch and I don’t see the other clown nipping at the tail, so it leads me to believe it’s possibly rot or other disease. Water tests today show presence of ammonia and nitrates. Ammonia at 0.2, and nitrites at 0.2, nitrates still 5, ph is 8.2, alkalinity of 10, and water temp is 78. I am mixing some water to possibly do a water change of about 15% unless someone advises otherwise. I’ve attached pictures below to see if anyone has any ideas as to what this may be. They seem to be swimming together around most of the tank, not hiding and not breathing heavy near to top, and don’t seem stressed.


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Mine had the same issue when I had my first pair of clownfish. Not sure what was causing it though, could be stress because it’s in a new environment or the other clown is establishing dominance? I was worried at first but noticed the tail getting better after a couple weeks .As long as it’s breathing and eating fine Then you should be okay.

 

[Easy Reefing]

I’m new to the saltwater tanks but had a question regarding new fish I added. I have a 30g tank that was cycled with a bacteria in a bottle product, had my ammonia spike and drop. Ammonia and nitrite at 0 and nitrates are 5, for a few days. I added 4 hermit crabs who seemed to thrive with no change in the values above. I decided to add two clowns to start, drip acclimated over an hour and seemed to be doing well. I even added a dose of dr Tim’s just prior to adding the fish as an insurance to prevent any spikes. After about 24hrs in the tank one of the clowns tails Looks as though it’s been nipped at or rotting. I have kept close watch and I don’t see the other clown nipping at the tail, so it leads me to believe it’s possibly rot or other disease. Water tests today show presence of ammonia and nitrates. Ammonia at 0.2, and nitrites at 0.2, nitrates still 5, ph is 8.2, alkalinity of 10, and water temp is 78. I am mixing some water to possibly do a water change of about 15% unless someone advises otherwise. I’ve attached pictures below to see if anyone has any ideas as to what this may be. They seem to be swimming together around most of the tank, not hiding and not breathing heavy near to top, and don’t seem stressed.

Mine had the same issue when I had my first pair of clownfish. Not sure what was causing it though, could be stress because it’s in a new environment or the other clown is establishing dominance? I was worried at first but noticed the tail getting better after a couple weeks .As long as it’s breathing and eating fine Then you should be okay.

 

[TheStricklins]

Tanks been up for 2 and a half weeks approximately.

It's probably still cycling. I thought mine was done after about 2 weeks too and I ended up with another ammonia spike. The same thing happened to one of my clowns. Keep an eye on the one that wont eat and if he doesn't try brine shrimp to get him going. Mine loved that.