Siguun
Community Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2018
- Messages
- 39
- Reaction score
- 24
- What state or country do you live in
- California
TLDR; at the bottom
Back Story - The SO's tank is 2 months old and used to be the resident of a domino damsel. The SO wanted two clowns but didn't want to get rid of the damsel. Damsel was moved to my tank while we went to the LFS and picked up two clowns. (One big one and another small one. For the story sake we will call them Big clown and Small clown #1) Was told get different sizes so they don't fight out to see which will end up dominant. Also was told by the LFS to do a freshwater dip with some Seachem Prime for about 5 min just to cautious of disease etc. Get home, did fresh water dip. Big clown one swam around in the fresh water dip while the small clown #1 was just laying there on its side. After seeing various youtube videos we saw this can be normal and that freshwater dips are just not fun for any saltwater fish. 5 min mark we removed both clowns and put them in the tank. The big clown was fine but the small clown #1 was dragging along the floor and kept sinking. Something was wrong. We let it go for a couple more minutes in order to not stress it out any more but eventually the hermits starting nipping at him and he died. Ended up contacting the LFS they apologized about the fish (Even though I don't think it is their fault?) and asked us to come in to get a new one. We went back got a new clown. This is small clown #2. This time it was advised of us not to freshwater dip and just acclimate him like we would any other fish. So we did. (Btw this was Sunday of last week.) Put him in the tank he seemed happy. We tried to feed them but neither was would eat at all. We thought this would be normal because we read sometimes they are picky and/or they are getting used to the tank and won't eat. Next day (Monday) approx 1630 small clown #2 has several small white bumps on him and is clearly not doing well. (picture at the end) We of course being beginners, are at a lost for what to do and contact LFS. They tell us to keep an eye on the little one and see if his situation gets any worse and to report back if it does. Well about 3 min later that situation gets really bad. Small clown #2 starts showing the same signs as small clown #1 and dies in a span of aprox 5 min. Okay now at this point the SO is devastated. We contact LFS they tell us wait a week to see how Big clown does. Big clown has no spots on him and just acts, what we assume like any clown (kinda weird compared to the domino damsel...). Big clown still won't eat. Fast forward (Wednesday) LFS contacts me lets me know they got a new batch of clowns in and they have set aside clown #3 for us (already fresh water dipped). We pick it up Thursday afternoon acclimate him and add him to the tank. Big clown and clown #3 seem some what happy swimming around together but neither will eat still. Friday, we see a white spot has formed on small clown #3. Other than not eating small clown #3 shows NO sign of being in distress. He swims around normally and isn't dragging around or breathing heavy. LFS tells us to keep an eye on him and make sure he eats. They still both won't eat at this point. Now come yesterday. Small clown #3 white spots are spreading through out his body. Still doesn't look distressed but also still will not eat, but big clown has started to eat now! Yay! (and alot). Late last night we get contact from LFS to do a fresh water dip on clown #3 with the seachem prime due to the white spots. I was hesitant at first because he was not acting unusual just had the white spots. Seeing how I have really no experience in this kind of stuff I followed what LFS said to do and do a freshwater dip on the small clown #3 for 3 min. We did that and oddly enough small clown #3 didn't seem distressed. Swam in the fresh water dip perfectly fine. We reintroduced him to the tank and watched him for a couple hours to make sure he was okay. He seemed like nothing ever even happened. Now about 20 min ago this morning. Small clown #3 is missing and can't seem to find him. Found him being stuck up against the filter. Shut off the filter and he was spasm swimming. He would swim really fast then sink to the bottom of the tank in awkward angles. He was showing the same death signed that the first two were. He died this morning in less than 30 seconds. This has been a nightmare.
Water parameters - PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate 10. 1.023 Salinity(Checked water parameters every time a fish died and this has been around what it was)
TLDR; Every new small clown we add keeps dying. 2 of them died with white spots but the bigger clown we have in the tank is fine.
Question - So not really sure what is going on. Is the tank infected with something that we need to fix? If so why is big clown okay? Is it because he is bigger and his immune system is better? or is it big clown that is infecting the small clowns? Would like to figure what may be going on before we do any more adding of anything.
Let me know if you guys have any questions and I will do my best to give you what ever you may need.
Clown #2
Clown #3
Back Story - The SO's tank is 2 months old and used to be the resident of a domino damsel. The SO wanted two clowns but didn't want to get rid of the damsel. Damsel was moved to my tank while we went to the LFS and picked up two clowns. (One big one and another small one. For the story sake we will call them Big clown and Small clown #1) Was told get different sizes so they don't fight out to see which will end up dominant. Also was told by the LFS to do a freshwater dip with some Seachem Prime for about 5 min just to cautious of disease etc. Get home, did fresh water dip. Big clown one swam around in the fresh water dip while the small clown #1 was just laying there on its side. After seeing various youtube videos we saw this can be normal and that freshwater dips are just not fun for any saltwater fish. 5 min mark we removed both clowns and put them in the tank. The big clown was fine but the small clown #1 was dragging along the floor and kept sinking. Something was wrong. We let it go for a couple more minutes in order to not stress it out any more but eventually the hermits starting nipping at him and he died. Ended up contacting the LFS they apologized about the fish (Even though I don't think it is their fault?) and asked us to come in to get a new one. We went back got a new clown. This is small clown #2. This time it was advised of us not to freshwater dip and just acclimate him like we would any other fish. So we did. (Btw this was Sunday of last week.) Put him in the tank he seemed happy. We tried to feed them but neither was would eat at all. We thought this would be normal because we read sometimes they are picky and/or they are getting used to the tank and won't eat. Next day (Monday) approx 1630 small clown #2 has several small white bumps on him and is clearly not doing well. (picture at the end) We of course being beginners, are at a lost for what to do and contact LFS. They tell us to keep an eye on the little one and see if his situation gets any worse and to report back if it does. Well about 3 min later that situation gets really bad. Small clown #2 starts showing the same signs as small clown #1 and dies in a span of aprox 5 min. Okay now at this point the SO is devastated. We contact LFS they tell us wait a week to see how Big clown does. Big clown has no spots on him and just acts, what we assume like any clown (kinda weird compared to the domino damsel...). Big clown still won't eat. Fast forward (Wednesday) LFS contacts me lets me know they got a new batch of clowns in and they have set aside clown #3 for us (already fresh water dipped). We pick it up Thursday afternoon acclimate him and add him to the tank. Big clown and clown #3 seem some what happy swimming around together but neither will eat still. Friday, we see a white spot has formed on small clown #3. Other than not eating small clown #3 shows NO sign of being in distress. He swims around normally and isn't dragging around or breathing heavy. LFS tells us to keep an eye on him and make sure he eats. They still both won't eat at this point. Now come yesterday. Small clown #3 white spots are spreading through out his body. Still doesn't look distressed but also still will not eat, but big clown has started to eat now! Yay! (and alot). Late last night we get contact from LFS to do a fresh water dip on clown #3 with the seachem prime due to the white spots. I was hesitant at first because he was not acting unusual just had the white spots. Seeing how I have really no experience in this kind of stuff I followed what LFS said to do and do a freshwater dip on the small clown #3 for 3 min. We did that and oddly enough small clown #3 didn't seem distressed. Swam in the fresh water dip perfectly fine. We reintroduced him to the tank and watched him for a couple hours to make sure he was okay. He seemed like nothing ever even happened. Now about 20 min ago this morning. Small clown #3 is missing and can't seem to find him. Found him being stuck up against the filter. Shut off the filter and he was spasm swimming. He would swim really fast then sink to the bottom of the tank in awkward angles. He was showing the same death signed that the first two were. He died this morning in less than 30 seconds. This has been a nightmare.
Water parameters - PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate 10. 1.023 Salinity(Checked water parameters every time a fish died and this has been around what it was)
TLDR; Every new small clown we add keeps dying. 2 of them died with white spots but the bigger clown we have in the tank is fine.
Question - So not really sure what is going on. Is the tank infected with something that we need to fix? If so why is big clown okay? Is it because he is bigger and his immune system is better? or is it big clown that is infecting the small clowns? Would like to figure what may be going on before we do any more adding of anything.
Let me know if you guys have any questions and I will do my best to give you what ever you may need.
Clown #2
Clown #3
