Clown Breathing

[chrism66A]

Hi All,



I purchased a pair of clowns yesterday and it is breathing v. heavily and isn’t really moving from its hosting coral much it is lead on its side at times seems lethargic any suggestions?



Thanks in advance

[Samper]

What setup are you using?

What are your water parameters?

Did you take the time to properly acclimate the clowns to your setup?

What other livestock is in your aquarium and are they acting strange ie corals, fish, inverts?

[chrism66A]

I have a 40 gallon chromis tank with an aquamedic 2000 P/S, 2 powerheads. Tank is 10 weeks old; I have three shrimps, 10 snails, 10 hermit crabs, 1 lobster, and 35 lbs of live rock. The only fish are the two clowns one seems to be ok other is breathing funny lead on its side. Calcium 460, kh 8.3, nitrite, nitrate & ammonia 0, salinity 1.026 temp 26.5. Only one is acting strange, yes I acclimatised over 45mins - 1hr. O and he didn’t feed on his first night.

[Samper]

Was the clown acting differently at the lfs? Also are they the same size or is one bigger? If one is bigger which one is the one acting odd?

[chrism66A]

The one clown is slightly smaller and that one is thriving. The larger clown seemed ok at the LFS however i am only 10 weeks old as far as Marine FK goes so i didnt take too much notice of his breathing.

[Samper]

How are they acting towards each other. Does the smaller one look like he got beat up a bit?

[chrism66A]

No not at all they are completly seperate, the little clown is bombing around fighting current from Powerhead etc etc where as the larger clown look under the weather?!

[Samper]

I'm stumped. Hopefully someone will be able to help you further.

[Sueet]

Did you purchase them as a "Pair" or did you just buy two clowns? Do you see any visible signs of damage or possible parasites? What kind of clowns did you get? What kind of hosting "coral" are you talking? Did you purchase the coral with the clowns, or has it been in your system, and the female decided to jump in it when you placed her in? How is her color compared to the smaller clown?

[chrism66A]

No Clowns were purchased seperatly (at the same lfs) both are percs one is black one is orange, hosting in a large polyp style coral that im not sure of the name of however i did purchase at the same time as the clowns as my BTA died so i decided to go the easier route, the black clown is orange as of this morning. Sorry i didnt notice any problems with the perc i am quite new on the Marine scene!

[rodsreef]

Normally Clowns are pretty much bullet proof. Some of us even used them to cycle our tanks in the 70's and early 80's. If there was a big difference in salinity or other water parameters from the lfs water to yours it may take longer to acclimate. To keep it simple, it would be like one of us walking from a room with clean air to a room full of cigar smoke. Yea, we'll gag awhile but we'll eventually light our own cigar. Give the little bugger time to get used to his new home.

[Samper]

Just for my own reference......can you have two percs that are the same species one black one orange? I've been told the ones with more black on them than orange are normally not tank bred and are caught in the wild. Is this true?

[rodsreef]

Most of todays are bred for the industry due to economic reasons. I've kept several different types of Clowns with little trouble however they're territorial little critters. Best to add them together IMO.

[Sueet]

Just for my own reference......can you have two percs that are the same species one black one orange? I've been told the ones with more black on them than orange are normally not tank bred and are caught in the wild. Is this true?

Not 100% sure, but from my understanding, True Percula clowns have more black as they get older... I don't think wild-caught/tank raised makes a definitive difference. My true percs are a soft orange with alot of black in-between the stripes, and they are wild-caught (and paired immediately when added to the tank)
I know my female, the larger, older fish of the pair has a great deal more black on her than the male, and her orange is much softer than his, almost as if it is fading into the black as she gets bigger.
I would take a pic, but it would be very difficult to see cuz my camera sucks.. I'm going to try to borrow my moms or something, maybe hers will do a better job of taking pics thru the glass.... or maybe my problem isn't the camera... maybe it's the bowfront glass. Guess I'll find out eventually.

[chrism66A]

Ok peps, phoned the LFS today and the whole batch is under QT (well not in a seperate tank but they are using octozin to treat there tank) the whole batch is breathing funny. I have given him a 7.5 minute freshwater dip! Any more suggestions?

[Samper]

If they were caught in the wild they may have been caught in a way that affects them later. Have read about cyanide being used and fish dying a month or so later but I don't know what the symptoms are.

[Sueet]

Ok peps, phoned the LFS today and the whole batch is under QT (well not in a seperate tank but they are using octozin to treat there tank) the whole batch is breathing funny. I have given him a 7.5 minute freshwater dip! Any more suggestions?

Did the lfs specify which malady they were treating for, or are they just trying the octozin and praying? If they have definitely identified a specific problem, then you should follow suit and treat with the octozin also..... It is supposed to be safe for bacteria and inverts, however no mention is made of corals, so I would recommend a hospital tank if possible, and I would also suggest you treat both clowns, since the one that is not ill has definitely been exposed.

[chrism66A]

The clowns are captive bred! The guy seems really really clued up so i would think that he is sure as to the disease. Apparently the cure he is using is safe for coral. He looks worse since the DIP!?!

[Sueet]

The clowns are captive bred! The guy seems really really clued up so i would think that he is sure as to the disease. Apparently the cure he is using is safe for coral. He looks worse since the DIP!?!

I would advise using the med. that the lfs is using..... There are corals in the tank he is treating? That is unusual, usually they would/should be separated just on general principles. And, speaking of principles, I'm thinking that lfs guy owes you an apology at the very least... or maybe a few free doses of the med, since he sold it to you and infected your tank.

[chrism66A]

Well the little guy looks better this morning still breathing heavy but he seems to be getting on well and is swimming high in the reef, is this likely to be as a result of the Dip and should i continue the course of 1 dip a day for four days?