Odd Clownfish Behavior?

[1entra]

After checking my my water params and having my nitrates below 5, I went and bought a clownfish yesterday and added it in my QT tank to join my green chromis.

Ive been watching it today, it seems to have no probs with the green chromis and so seem to be ok with each other, however when I put a few flakes in there, the chromis started eating straight way whereas the Clownfish didnt even bother to look at them, instead it continues to circle over around the top of the tank often with its top fin occasionally out of the water, and just keeps going round and round in circles. There is no rapid gill movement or any other physical sign of disease etc. I can see.

Does anybody know what this might me... just initial stress from being put in the tank?

What can I do to help or should I jus let it be and let it settle itself in?

Ive just done a 20% water change on the tank hoping it might help!

 

[STD]

After checking my my water params and having my nitrates below 5, I went and bought a clownfish yesterday and added it in my QT tank to join my green chromis.

Ive been watching it today, it seems to have no probs with the green chromis and so seem to be ok with each other, however when I put a few flakes in there, the chromis started eating straight way whereas the Clownfish didnt even bother to look at them, instead it continues to circle over around the top of the tank often with its top fin occasionally out of the water, and just keeps going round and round in circles. There is no rapid gill movement or any other physical sign of disease etc. I can see.

Does anybody know what this might me... just initial stress from being put in the tank?

What can I do to help or should I jus let it be and let it settle itself in?

Ive just done a 20% water change on the tank hoping it might help!

Leave it to settle down

 

[1entra]

Yea I thought as much. But just wanted somebody to confirm!

 

[Lynden]

Perhaps oddly none of my clownfish would ever eat flakes, at least not at first. Try mysis shrimp.

 

[Musho3210]

water test results please.

 

[1entra]

Perhaps oddly none of my clownfish would ever eat flakes, at least not at first. Try mysis shrimp.

The first clownfish I bought over a week ago and added to my main tank started eating flake etc the day after being added!

Going to try feeding the one in my QT tank some frozen mysis shrimp now. Hope it eats!

 

[1entra]

Still no luck, I just tried feeding the clownfish, but it just wernt having it. The green chromis however is quite a greedy eater and will actually come to the top of the water and feed directly from the pipette I use to feed them with!

I'm sure the new clownfish had a few of the tiniest pieces of food to eat however as its mouth was moving as if eating when the food was added to the tank but I did not see it eat any of the large® pieces of food! Really hope it starts to eat soon as im starting to get a bit concerned!

I will check all the water params now...

 

[AK77]

My clowns readily eat flake food. The only one that didn't was one I received that had an internal bacterial or parasitic infection. Pay attention to the fishes faeces. If they are a long, thin, cotton-like string hanging from the fish, then there is a good chance that it is suffering with something similar.

The fish will not want to eat and gradually weaken and possibly die if it doesn't have enough stored fat on it. It may be a case of just adjusting to its new surroundings, but if its not eaten by Wednesday, I'd be more inclined to the notion that the fish is unhealthy and it might be prudent to then quarantine the fish in case it infects the chromis too.

 

[1entra]

My clowns readily eat flake food. The only one that didn't was one I received that had an internal bacterial or parasitic infection. Pay attention to the fishes faeces. If they are a long, thin, cotton-like string hanging from the fish, then there is a good chance that it is suffering with something similar.

The fish will not want to eat and gradually weaken and possibly die if it doesn't have enough stored fat on it. It may be a case of just adjusting to its new surroundings, but if its not eaten by Wednesday, I'd be more inclined to the notion that the fish is unhealthy and it might be prudent to then quarantine the fish in case it infects the chromis too.

So if it doesn't eat by wednesday then what actions should I take assuming it may have a internal bacterial or parasitic infection? What treatments can I use? What did you do with yours?

 

[AK77]

Well if its been in the tank for a week and not eaten, then I would say that its more than just a case of being nervous of its new surroundings.

With mine, the one that arrived with the infection died. It infected my other clown too though. Thankfully that recovered on its own, as it had been eating well before it got sick.

If it doesn't eat, then yeah there is a chance it is sick. If there are no visible signs of infection, growths or parasites, then I would treat with medication for internal parasites and bacterial infections in the QT, and keep trying a variety of food stuffs from flake, to freeze dried, to fresh.

 

[1entra]

Well I got the clown 3 days ago on the saturday just gone and its still not eating as I've just tried to feed again!

It still keeps swimming around at quite a fast pace in the upper layer of the tank in circles all around the internal parimmeter! Its swimming in more of a diaganel angle (approx 45degrees) with its mouth occassionally out of the water?!!

Can anybody advice on what I should do? There dont seem to be any external signs of parasites or anything unusual! Should I give it a few more days to see if it settles down or should I get some internal parasite treatment or something that may help it?

 

[1entra]

water test results please.

Params for QT tank are:

• 
  [*]Temp: 27 Degrees C
  
  [*]SG: 1.023
  
  [*]pH: 7.8
  
  [*]Ammonia: 0ppm
  
  [*]Nitrite: 0ppm
  
  [*]Nitrate: Between 5-10ppm

Everything seems to look normal other than the nitrates being a little bit high? Do you think this could be what is causing the clownfish to stress and so not eat?

 

[AK77]

Nope. Marine fish can tolerate very high nitrate levels. Mine were around 30ppm before the algae went in. Nitrate levels of 10ppm are no where near high enough to be causing harm to the fish.

 

[1entra]

Well in that case it must be something else then!

So as I've had the clownfish for 4days today, how long do you believe I should wait for it to start eating before I act and get some internal parasite treatments?

 

[AK77]

Well, preferably before the fish starts to look like its losing weight. If its not eating, its immune system will weaken and it may succomb to the infection/parasite. I'd do it sooner rather than later. If its not eaten by the tomorrow, I'd start the medication and see if the fish starts to respond after 24/48 hours.