sick clown? worried, please help

dasteve003 · Oct 10, 2014

I have a very small clown that came with another very small clown from the same tank at a LFS. Both are in my 10 gallon QT tank for 11 days now and are totally cool with each other, swim by each other and everything.

Just last night I noticed the one sleeping in the white pvc pipe thats on its side (about 3" long) today it's in the elbow joint of the other piece of pvc and doesn't look good, it's hanging at the bottom resting like its tired and ate very little if anything today and these two love feeding time.

It does have a little poop hanging from it but I'm not sure if that's anything or not. The other one kinda hangs out at the end like its standing guard for a sick (or possibly pregnant, not sure which is female and male) friend. Although the sick one does come out a little but goes back in pvc.

I have not treated the QT tank with any meds as I heard it can be harmful to treat fish that aren't sick and I have been good about my water changes and levels are fine. Anyone have any thoughts I'm worried about my little clown, please help! Doens't show any signs of ich or bumps that I can see and is new behavior within last day or 2.

gemini9 · Oct 10, 2014

Sorry to hear about your clownies. How old is your qt tank? Are you new to the hobby? These your first fish?

dasteve003 · Oct 10, 2014

I'm not sure but they're still pretty small maybe an inch long, the one is doing fine. QT tank only ran for 2 days before I put the fish in but all the water I put in it came from my 50 Gal DT which has been running for at least 3 months and did have fish in it at one point. I am still pretty new to the hobby but do know about water changes and testing the water and levels are good in the QT and were good when in the DT when I got the water from there for the QT.

gemini9 · Oct 11, 2014

I'm surprised no one else has pitched in here yet. I'm still pretty new myself, but if your tank has been up for 3 months, it should have cycled by now. What did you do to your tank to start the cycle? You have some sort of flow in your qt right? If your clown only does this at nighttime, I wouldn't be too concerned. They tend to be a little inactive at night while they "sleep" and can be a bit scary at first. How did he look at LFS? Before buying fish at lfs, watch them for about 2 weeks and make sure they are alive and well.

finallysalty · Oct 11, 2014

If they are eating you should be good. Try and vary their food or use garlic to entice them.

Keep a close eye on them for signs of infection. Clowns are odd when in a new environment. They can do a lot of wierd swimming etc. I have had several over the years. None have really like QT it seems. Most tend to get comfortable and swim more with current.

gemini9 · Oct 11, 2014

dasteve003 said:
... did have fish in it at one point.

Can you elablorate? What do you mean "at one point"?

dasteve003 · Oct 11, 2014

I had my temp at 77 and the place i got it from set thats too clod and to crank it to 80 - 82 so I did but it doesn't seem to help. its barely moving at all today, it happened kinda suddenly within a day and it's just layng on its side breathing. I don't know what to do for it and am fearful its in pain and dying but if its could get better i dont wanna just pull it from tank and kill it or anything I did have a clown and a coral beauty in my DT but the coral got ich and the ich killed the clown and I took the coral bauty back to the lfs i got it from. (wont buy formthere again) Clowns are from a more trusted store and the other one still seems ok. There is flow and DT did sit empty of fish while running for 10 weeks with 1 water change in that time before I pulled the water from it for the QT.

gemini9 · Oct 11, 2014

hmm... well you said you had a breakout of ich in your DT and you say you took water from your DT to put into your QT. Is it possible the water from your DT was bad? Maybe your clown has ich? I'm sorry I can't be of any help I'm new to the hobby too. I don't know why no one has responded here to help you. You may try to open another post in the Clownfish and Anemone thread asap and hopefully you'll get some help there.