New Clownfish on side grasping!!

Drew1600 · Nov 17, 2020

Please help, just got this pair a few hours ago, bucket acclima

ted until sg matched. Can anyone help???
Parameters:
ph: 7.8
Salinty: 33
Temp: 78.5
Nitrate: 5-10
Nitrite/Ammonia: 0
Thank you so much for your time, so scared of losing him

Jay Hemdal · Nov 17, 2020

Oh wow, they are both in a very bad way - did you get them at a store or have them shipped in? The one on its side is breathing at 150 beats per minutes, about 3x what it should be.

What was the salinity they arrived in? I wonder if you took them up to much at one time.

Jay

Drew1600 · Nov 17, 2020

Purchased at LFS, hour and a half drive and then about an hour and a half to get Salinity from 32 to 33-34. It is possible but the sg matched so I'm not sure?? Thank you so much for the reply!

One Reefing Boi · Nov 17, 2020

I am not sure exactly, but I assume they looked fine in the store when you bought them/shipping? How did you acclimate them? Anything else in the tank? How long has it been running?

Drew1600 · Nov 17, 2020

I acclimated in a bucket until bag salinity water matched tank water. Just coral, emerald crab, Turbos, Astrea, and a Sand Sifting Sea Star. Running fot a couple of months.

Jay Hemdal · Nov 18, 2020

O.K., so the salinity differential wouldn't be a problem. I've been seeing a lot of issues where stores run their fish systems at around 24 ppt and then people buy the fish and try to acclimate them to 35 - and that needs to be done in stages, even drip acclimation could be an issue.

So - back to the problem at hand - 1.5 hour bag time, did the dealer use oxygen? I try to keep fish bag time to around 30 minutes without oxygen. I presume you aerated the drip container during the process. Low oxygen/high CO2 will cause rapid breathing, but that should resolve once the fish's water has been returned to normal levels. If they haven't recovered by this morning (or worse!) and the invertebrates in the tank are fine, then I have to conclude that there was an issue with them when you bought them, and you should check with your dealer....

Jay