Clown Fish Acting Funny Please Help!

[drag]

i have a 30 gal tank w/ 30 lbs of live rock ,4 anemones , 1 peppermint shrimp,1 cbs , 2 false percula tank raised fish,30 blue leg hermits,3 scarlet hermits, 20 cerith snails , 10 narsissus snails, 3 feather dusters,and 2 corals.

lighting with 3, 95 watt vho lights. and a ice cap ballast.

filtration with a penguin emperor 280 .

aqua clear heater for 30 gal.

ammonia 0
nitrates 0
saltinity 1.021
ph 8.4


well. i have a two part question . first my two clown fish breath very fast " for what i think is fast" . but they dont go up to the top for air ever, and look just fine besides the breathing. they have always been breathing like this since day one. they eat flake food a little and pellets a little. but when i put live brine shrimp in there they go nuts devouring all of them as fast as they can. they look healthy. is this fast breathing normal? oh yeah every now and then i turn on an air pump w/ air stone to see if this slows there breathing and it does not. i can leave it on all day and they breath the same.

well part two of my question . one of my clowns is significantly bigger that the other, and the bigger one today started too rub its self on the sand bed. does it freaquently. never didit before. other than that it swims just fine then every now and then kinda bursts into turbo and rubes its self on the sand. is this normal or if not what could it be. i can visually seesomething small on him (only one looks small like 1/16 th of a inch) on him.

 

[Mr Miagi]

i have a 30 gal tank w/ 30 lbs of live rock ,4 anemones , 1 peppermint shrimp,1 cbs , 2 false percula tank raised fish,30 blue leg hermits,3 scarlet hermits, 20 cerith snails , 10 narsissus snails, 3 feather dusters,and 2 corals.

ammonia 0
nitrates 0
saltinity 1.021
ph 8.4

Im concerend with your water parameters. You should be aiming for a pH of around 8.2. 8.4 is very high.
Salinity for a Reef aquarium should be kept around 1.025-1.027.

If your clown is rubbing, he could be agitated. What is the "thing" you see on him? A worm? An infection? A wound?

You sound like youve got too many clean up crew. Is there sufficient algal growth to support that many?

 

[drag]

well i just gave him a 5 min fresh water dip.... any way the THING " on him isent a cut its more like a bump in a rosy color may me a bug hell i dont know . all i know is he didnot have "it" before and is now acting funny with the rubbing. i wish i could describe it better but well its a bumb about 1/16" of a inch. the only one i see. the other clown looks fine. hope the freshwater dip helps?

 

[crazyelece]

I have seen clowns frequently squirming their rear in the sand. If that is what it is doing it is normal clown behavior. Also the larger one is the female and the smaller the male. As far as a bump it could be anything. Can you post a clear picture?

 

[drag]

no it distorts with my camera..... and it is her head its rubbing

 

[fish_keeper2]

first off i agree with mr_maigi32 that your stats are a bit off. i also agree with that your cleaning crew is way maxed out.

can i ask y you gave it a freshwater dip. IMO they stress out the fish more than the dip does good. they have to go through the stress of being caugh, going straight away into FW being caught again and put back in SW. its very stressfull. also i dont think a freshwater did would do anything for the "bump".

the rubbing the head could be gill flukes. not sure though. the bump could possibly be a would inflected by the cbs. without a pick itll be hard to tell.

if you have a quarantine tank then i would catch him and put him in there and give him dual dosses of primafix and melafix. my newest clown has a small wound from others clowns he was being kept with so i did this to make sure it heals right and doesnt get infected before i introduce him to the main tank and now its nearly gone in just a few days.

 

[drag]

yeah fish_keeper2 i think your right might be the gills... any way today she seems to be doing much better , shes atleast swiming around like she likes to do......

by the way i gave it a FW dib because of what i read about what it does to external parasites. says the cant handle the change and the cells rupture.

 

[drag]

i bought the melafix and am quarentining her now.