Clown Fish Acting Wierd

[zombrie]

Hi all!
I wanted to get some other opinions on the behavior of my clown fish. I currently have a 29 gallon aquarium that has been running for around 4 years. I've had a clown fish for about a year and a half and it started acting strange a couple weeks ago. It's been swimming sideways at the top of the tank or swimming vertically in the corners. I'm not sure what's going on... I went and had my water tested... no issues there. I recently adjusted the salt level and the temperature as I thought that may be the problem. Unfortunately, it hasn't helped. I did a water change recently and cleaned the filter. I also have a purple lobster which isn't showing any abnormalities. I've been treating the tank for algae, but I've been following the instructions very closely, so I don't think it has anything to do with that. Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks.

[leebca]

I'm concerned about the statement, 'treating the system for algae.' Just what are you doing/adding or ? What does this mean. Please provide details.

The behavior of the fish is similar to a fish that is trying to find a better place to live. I mean, there is something wrong with the water quality or the environment, or the feeding, or any combination of these. We test for the things we have test kits for, but there are dozens of other things that can and do adversely affect water quality that we don't test for. Be the private eye and investigate possible problems.

Check things like source water quality, possible sources of poisons, foods and feedings (are they the proper nutrition for this fish; is the fish being fed enough; etc.?), equipment/maintenance issues.

Let us know more about the algae -- what is it; how long has it been there; what exactly are you doing?

[zombrie]

I've been adding 3 mL of algaefix per week to treat purple algae and keep it under control. I've had an issue with it for around a year, despite the fact that I constantly have at least 3 turbo snails in the tank and numerous hermit crabs to help with the problem. The purple algae has been cleared up for a few months, but as I've seen it come back numerous times, I have been treating the water once a week to nip the problem in the butt. I have been taking the water in to a local fish store to have it tested, but I'm going to get an at home test kit tomorrow and will post with the different levels. The clown fish is the only fish in the tank, so it isn't being bullied. As far as the water source goes, I'm using distilled water or tap water, but I always add a drop of tap water conditioner per 1/2 gallon. I've been feeding either a pinch of flakes or a small amount of frozen food usually once or twice a day. The clown fish has never acted like this. The problem seems to have happened overnight, so I'm not sure what I can do about it. At first, I thought it was the end of it's life span, but I decided to have the water checked anyway. Since then, I've done some research and found that clown fish can live for an exceptionally long time. From there, I thought my lobster might have died and was polluting the water, but upon removing the live rock, I found that it was alive and well. Again, I'll be getting a test kit tomorrow and will post with the water levels, but any suggestions would be more than welcome!!

[leebca]

Thanks for the additional information. Things are becoming a bit better to understand.

The algae problem is something to get rid of, not treat. By this I mean you want to get rid of the cause rather than to keep trying to kill it with chemicals. The chemicals you are adding are not helping matters. Stop doing that now. If you want to control the algae, you have to take steps to make is 'uncomforatable.' You want to make it not want to grow.

This algae doesn't like water circulation and it likes high protein content. As your tank has aged, the protein content may be getting steadily higher. One source is the food and I'll get to that in a min. For now, increase water circulation to annoy it. Make sure you have water movement EVERYWHERE around the substrate and decorations/rocks. You want no dead spots. The clean up crew will manage only small amounts of it but not an outbreak. Do you use carbon or some other chemical filter? Do you have a skimmer? Both of these are needed to best control proteins, but in a small system like yours, you could get by with just using activated carbon.

Next is the food. Flake and pellet foods contain wheat products that fish can't and don't digest. This just pollutes the water. It also robs the fish of getting better nutrition. Anemonefishes are omnivores. They need vegetables in their diet. Start feeding better foods and the right kinds.

Next is the source water. Never use tap water. The additive you put in the tap water doesn't take care of everything that is polluting it. For instance, normal human tap water has been found to contain antibiotics, illicit drugs, fertilizers, etc. in small quantities. This may be okay for humans but not for fish. Stop using it. Use distilled or RO/DI water only from now on.

Lastly, make up a lot of new salt water using distilled water. I want you to do a 85% water change. That's right. A huge one. Follow the guidelines on how to do this in the sticky, How to Make a Safe Water Change. Wait until you get your own test kits and a proper means of measuring pH before attempting to do this. Get those kits real quick. Look at getting an inexpensive field pH meter, too. pH kits aren't very good for this kind of hobby.

Sorry I was not able to respond sooner. I just returned from Argentina. It was a 30-hour trip and now, I just want to sleep.

[zombrie]

I really appreciate all the help you've been giving me! I went and got my very own water test kit!! (yay!) Upon testing, I've found the problem. The nitrate level in the tank is craaaazy high. Like 160ppm. Everything else is just fine though. Both the nitrite and ammonia are at 0ppm and the pH is right at 8.2. Back to the nitrate... I went and bought AmQuel plus ammonia detoxifier by kordon. On the bottle it says to add 5 mL per 10 gallons, so I put in 15 mL about an hour ago. I'll continue this treatment and test the levels again until they come down. I currently have an eheim filter, so I don't think it uses activated carbon, but I'm going to look in to that soon. I'll stop adding the algaefix, but I haven't had issues with the algae recently anyway. To help with that problem, I moved the input and output tubes to separate corners of the tank to get better circulation. I'll planning on doing the water change tomorrow when I have more time to devote to such a big project! On a last note, I got some different food for the fishy!! Unfortunately the specialty fish store was closed today, so I had to get something from Petsmart. It's called Hikari Marine S-- apparently it's designed for small marine fish. I'm not sure if it's a good product, but I'm sure you'll let me know!! Anyway, I hope you had safe travels and again, thanks for the information.

[leebca]

That is rather high. But fish can usually deal with that level. I'm more concerned about how it got to that level. You are approaching the elevated nitrates the same way you did with the algae. Treatment instead of taking corrective action. You really don't want to keep adding chemicals to your tank. The right way to control nitrates is to setup and get going the carbon filter and if you can a skimmer. Then you want to do larger and more frequent water changes. Then, presto, no more high nitrates. You want to try and put your effort and monies toward taking corrective action rather than just covering up a problem. Are you kind of getting what I'm trying to get across to you?

It's hard in this medium of just writing trying to get some concepts across. Part of the problem is that I'm not that good of a writer, I think. I'm not upset or trying to come across as angry. Just trying to put you on a better path. Long before those chemicals and gimmicks existed, all these things were more than easily controlled through basic equipment and methods. Get back to them and you'll be fine.

The food seems better. Once you get the carbon up and running, you'll want to arrange it so that you can replace half the carbon every two weeks. First half on week two, second half on week 4, then back to first half. Only change half the carbon every two weeks. Then, when you got the carbon right, start feeding more frequently.

You are more than welcome to whatever help I can provide. Good luck!

[chrisfont23]

Nooooooooo. All amquel will do is lock it a a certain level. It is a gimmick and will never solve the problem entirely. You need to do water changes. They are the most proven and natural way to get nitrates down.

[chrisfont23]

One question. How will the Kordon Amquel Ammonia Detoxifier cure your nitrate problem?

[leebca]

Chrisfont,

Your contributions are welcome, but I'd like to see less emotion and the kind of posts that might elicit arguments or defensive responses. Just be factual and informative as often as you can. Thanks.

[chrisfont23]

Lee, I am so sorry. I apologize for any issue I may have caused.

[leebca]

You're fine Chris. Just gettiing close to the edge. Glad you are good with this. We want to make people feel like this is a good place, a safe place to get help rather than criticism for mistakes. We have all made mistakes in this hobby and I for one will continue to do so. Hang in there.