Emergency!!!Clown is now just laying near the bottom of tank and breathing very hard!

Take serious note on what 'xmetalfan99' have been saying. It is true for most LFS worldwide, the level of prefessionalism they possess is critical but the cruel facts are mainly on the collection, holding and transportation processes. Aside from the improper chemicals being used, nowadays, especially small scale collectors, the animals have never been properly handeled and quarantine and most lekely shipped the same day after the caught and the main distributors just shipped them out overseas just after taking out the dead ones and may be repacking them to save on air bill. That happen worldwide, some stocks from Hawaii suffered the same about 6 months ago, but the situation has improved since.

You can be more distressed if you know the level of casualty the retailers might encountered from time to time. The infected/stressed animals can look and react normal during the first or second week after they arrived at the retailers or the consumers, they even eat and swim properly. Things then changed and the poor fish eventually died within a couple of days.

So if you are not sure or not keen enough about what you are buying, go for captive breed or simply get one captive instead of 4 to 5 wild caught from a reliable retailer.

Back to your tank, is there a skimmer included in your setup. It is a vital equipment, unless you are very, very experienced. Apart from that, the PROPER use of high quality carbon seems a good and worthwhile addition to your present condition, no more additives from now on. I also noticed that you seem to be using crashed coral in your filtration, you can consider to change them to good quality bio rings, which can more effective and less potential hazards.

 

sheesh, already thinking about a replacement.. and ur fish is still alive!
lol

best thing to do is to QT.
the fish might just spaz if it dies, and wind up where it hard to get.

def dont want any types of spikes.

observe ur tank for a couple week before adding new fish.

 

No skimmer I am running the filter that came with my Eclipse Hood and using the filter pad that goes into it. I also have Seachem Purigen and Phosguard on top of that filter pad for extra filtration. I took out the Bio Wheel recently and put in litttle white poly fiber filter pads that xmetalfan gave me to use and every 7 hours or so they fill up with brown dust/dirt and I have to switch them out with other ones while I clean the ones full of dirt.

What do you mean crashed coral?

Here are some pictures of how this system works. It runs up through the long tube in my tank and then flows over through the purigen, phosguard, and filter pad below(which contains carbon), and then into this black compartment that once held the biowheel but now has two tiny square poly fiber pieces of filter pad that goes over the two out puts of the filter to catch the dirt and debris. Also when this picture was taken there was another filter pad in the middle between the Purigen and the Phosguard.(Link to the pad I used. *Poly Filter)

As you can see it turned very brown, which in my opinion has to be dirt/dust. The smaller thin pads I am using for the exit holes in the system also turn a light brown with what seems to be black little pieces of rock or something.








Not the best system but I've tried to improve it yet the cloudiness is still there. I can't build the sump until January because of money issues, so if we can find out what the cloudiness problem is now maybe my other clown will not get sick!

Thanks.

 

Oh no no, he has passed away. Sorry if that hasn't been clear yet. I tried everything to make him better. Spent money on Seachem Garlic Guard, a small heater for the QT, meds, and several different foods yet in the end he just didn't make it sadly.

 

First fo all, No offen on the vendor or your choice but IMO, overtank free floating filtration system really is not the right choice for marine aquarium. You can check or run a survey here to see how many experienced hobbyists are using such. To be frankly, there is really not much I can suggest to improve this, unless you can do endless water change almost daily.

IMO, Perigen can be a temp measure and you need to chenge them quite frequently ( I also have doubts on its effectiveness ). Heavy dirt/debris is sign of too much undesovled waste and most likely uneven or insufficient in-tank water movement. Besides, the uptake of water to your filter is only dealing with mid water extraction, that has no effect on the surface and I guess, not much ripples. This can leave the dirt and dust from air and residue in tank to reamin on water surface. Secondly, it blocks the air/water contact, hence, low oxygen.
It is already early December, I would suggest to save your efforts on worrying about the present but to plan for things to do in the coming month. With all the tests you have run, the money you have spent on test kits can do a lot other than most of those. IMO, tests on calcium, magnesium and many alike is not essential for most fish and soft coral tanks if one can do sufficient water change regularly.

 

Ha ha thats what I thought. I am switching to a 20 Long Sump come january but for now this is the best I can do. I am running a Koralia 1 and I have a Koralia 3 but not using it. Do you suggest that I do?

Also my remaining healthy fish is swimming near the top of the tank. All day it wish swmming everywhere but after about three hours of lights out it is now sticking with staying at the top. Is this a sign of low oxygen?

 

P.S. carbon has to be changed regularly every 10 to 15 days. Its placement and pass-by flow can play a critical issue on its effectiveness. For most SPS absent tanks, pH, salinity, alkalinity and temp are the primary elements to watch with NH3 /phos being secondary after tank is stable. It is almost meaningless and most likely fake results to check on NH3 if your tank is still new with high amonia , then NH2 readings high.

 

I recently changed it going on about a week ago so we are good there. Also, my ammonia and nitrite are at 0 with Nitrate being around 5 to 10. Do you know the answer to my post above?

 

pH and oxygen level changed to lower when lights are out. For the time being, how about some level of aeriation into the tank with an air pump. Placing of an extra but not to srtong power head near the bottom can help. Change the filtration media more frequentle and to suck out as much debris as possible through more SMALL volumn water changes. On primary positive effects on bio wheels are to increase the air/water contact. Don't forget to include bio rings and SKIMMER in our future setup. More flow is always preferred but try to concentrate on doing so through sump circulation instead of in-tank flow with power heads.

 

Alright thank you very much.

So the fish is fine swimming near the top at night? No problem there?

Also, can a clownfish switch from being female to being male?