My clown fish are acting up

[swifter]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum but I have a 60 gallon FOWLR tank that has been established for a round a year now. I noticed my Nitrate levels were high recently and I have done 2 water changes since then (about 10 gallons each) I have also added additional filtration (Fluval 305 Cannister filter) I have a Cascade 300 waterfall filter on the back as well. the Nitrate levels have dropped quite a bit since then but one of my clown fish is eating very little (maybe 2 or 3 pellets each feeding and maybe a nip at the formula one frozen food when I use it). She looks healthy other than swimming with her mouth partially open most of the time.

any ideas what is causing this? none of the other fish in the tank are showing any of these symptoms (other fish are: 2 blue green chromis, juvenile koran angel, juvenile orange shoulder tang, and the male clownfish of the pair).

thanks!

 

[user 26995]

Hi Swifter,
1st welcome to RF.
I hope your clown is okay.
Some things that will help is supplying us with more info.
Can you tell us what the parameters are.
Ammonia
Nitrates
Nitrites
pH
Salinity
Do you have any other pumps or powerheads for circulation in the tank.
What do you have in the cascade filter and the canister filter as far as filter media.
Does she show any signs of white or black spots or a white film forming?

Are you feeding any vitamins. They may help. I feed vitamins with every feeding.
If there is any more info you can supply, it might be helpful.

 

[swifter]

I would need to wait until I got home for some of the information. as for ammonia and Nitrites, both were at 0 and Nitrates was around the Middle of the test color when I used it last. lower than 40 ppm (I think that is the measurements) Salinity was at: 1.023 last night PH I don't remember off the top of my head. I do have a power head running as well. as for the filter media, it is the just the standard media that came with the filters. carbon filters and the bio rings in the canister filter and than just a standard foam filter and the standard filter cartridge for the cascade 300.

I have not been feeding vitamins so far but I will do some research on the vitamins and I may start to feed vitamins as well.

as for the fish herself, I don't see any sort of spotting or film on her. and the shortage of eating has been going on for roughly a week and a half.

I'll test the parameters tonight again and update this thread with the results later this evening.

on the vitamin note, what vitamins do you feed the fish?

thanks again for the help

 

[user 26995]

We will help as much as we can. We all hate to see someone loose a fish. Its hard sometimes to figure out what may be the problem though.

I feed once a day a mix of raw white shrimp & scallops from the grocery, mysis shrimp, formula one, oyster eggs if I can get them. The vitamins I add to that and let it soak in are Zoecon or Selcon. Zoecon is my favorite, but kinda hard to find. I also add garlic extreme or garlic guard to every feeding. Supposedly helps boost the immune system.

I would recommend, if you have not been there already, is stopping by Red C Aquarium in shoreline and talk to Rob. He will set you up.

 

[swifter]

I will look into the garlic guard and the vitamins. I go to Red C regularly Rob is a great resource and He has sold me the last 2 fish I have added to my aquarium.

thanks again for the help

 

[swifter]

After working a little over 12 hours yesterday I failed to test the water last night. But it was promising to see the female clown aggressively eating again. she only kept about half of it in her mouth but that is a dramatic improvement from about a week ago. Just thought I would share Thanks for all the advise. hopefully soon I'll be adding a protein skimmer to the tank for some added filtration.

 

[user 26995]

I'm glad she is doing better.
Hope all goes well from here on out.