3reef Forums - View Single Post - new aquarium, one clown fish died :(, other not eating

morty · 04-04-2008, 04:01 AM

hello all, im new to these forums. Ive recently setup a 80 litre (20 gallon) ORCA cube aquarium, with bout 6 kilos of live rock with bioballs and activated carbon as filtration media, heater, and sand. i left the tank running for about 2 weeks, with water i purchased at the fish shop, and the live rock had coralinealgea growth and there were worms and other organisms living within the live rock. The water quality was good constantly in the second week so i decided to get my first 2 clown fish.(3-3.5cm long fish) being new to fish and aquariums, i bought them from a crouded tank (not good ive heard). anyway i took them home and acclimatized them to the water for 10mins and then released them. they both were not swimming much at all, and were swimming vertically alot. i performed a small water change to be safe, and added some stability. i tried to feed them but they wouldnt eat. the little one eventually went to the bottom not swimming .in the morning, my tank was all cloudy (bacterial bloom from too much stability?) and one of my clownys had died

(the smaller one). i did another water change, and tried feeding my other clown but he still wouldnt eat. he wouldnt swim much, and sometimes swam vertically but not often. over the last couple of days he has perked up more (water is clear and good), he seems to swim around alot more when i turn the filter off, but when the filters on he doesnt swim much at all, and he still wont eat, but sometimes goes to the top and almost takes the food, but then he wont. tried brine shrimp and granualted food pellets, but no go. its only been 3 days since i got them, but how do i get my other clown to eat? is he still settling in or is he getting over some sort of bladder problem etc?

my water quality is as follows (last i tested it)

ammonia = 0
nitrate = 0
nitrite = 0
ph = 8.3
temp = 25c
salinity, or specific gravity = 1.023

advise would be appreciated since im new to salt water aquariums, cheers.

04-04-2008, 04:01 AM	#1 (permalink)
morty Plankton Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 Karma: 1	new aquarium, one clown fish died :(, other not eating hello all, im new to these forums. Ive recently setup a 80 litre (20 gallon) ORCA cube aquarium, with bout 6 kilos of live rock with bioballs and activated carbon as filtration media, heater, and sand. i left the tank running for about 2 weeks, with water i purchased at the fish shop, and the live rock had coralinealgea growth and there were worms and other organisms living within the live rock. The water quality was good constantly in the second week so i decided to get my first 2 clown fish.(3-3.5cm long fish) being new to fish and aquariums, i bought them from a crouded tank (not good ive heard). anyway i took them home and acclimatized them to the water for 10mins and then released them. they both were not swimming much at all, and were swimming vertically alot. i performed a small water change to be safe, and added some stability. i tried to feed them but they wouldnt eat. the little one eventually went to the bottom not swimming .in the morning, my tank was all cloudy (bacterial bloom from too much stability?) and one of my clownys had died (the smaller one). i did another water change, and tried feeding my other clown but he still wouldnt eat. he wouldnt swim much, and sometimes swam vertically but not often. over the last couple of days he has perked up more (water is clear and good), he seems to swim around alot more when i turn the filter off, but when the filters on he doesnt swim much at all, and he still wont eat, but sometimes goes to the top and almost takes the food, but then he wont. tried brine shrimp and granualted food pellets, but no go. its only been 3 days since i got them, but how do i get my other clown to eat? is he still settling in or is he getting over some sort of bladder problem etc? my water quality is as follows (last i tested it) ammonia = 0 nitrate = 0 nitrite = 0 ph = 8.3 temp = 25c salinity, or specific gravity = 1.023 advise would be appreciated since im new to salt water aquariums, cheers.