My Marine Adventure

[Chris7]

Thanks Greg, I get my water ready mixed from my lfs, Always have.

I could take out the rowaphos. Will that help the cheato grow.

Thanks Donya, I am not sure how it died but it didnt look ill or anything wrong with it when i went to work 6 hours before. The only change i made to the tank that day was the pump i put in, And i believe its far too strong for the tank i have. Maybe because it was creating a mass amount of waves im just guessing it bashed the clown against a rock or something. I am not sure just guessing. I dont know what the chances of that happening are.

It was quite new, Had them for 3 weeks or so i think. There is a funny white spot of something on the fin of the other clown if i look closely.

 

[gregswimm]

Chris, check the LFS water before you add it to the tank. If the nitrate levels of the water are high, then I would tell the LFS where to go/ where they can stick it.

If your rowaphos is lowering your phosphates below .02ppm then removing it should help your chaeto grow.

Tell me about this white spot on the clown. Is it fuzzy, what is it's diameter, is it sunken or poke out, are the fish's fins clamped, and anything else you can tell about it that I may have skipped over?

 

[Chris7]

Well, Clown fish number two is now dead.

This time i got more of a idea and it seems maybe there was a problem with them.

This white spot i believe had something to do with it. It was fuzzy like a little bit of cotton wool.

Last night when i fed the fish i noticed he was not eating 1 or 2 bits of food i put in and normally he eats it all. His tail was white colour (not spots or fuzzy like the white bit on his top fin) but a white looking colour. This morning my son woke me at 8am and said the clown has lost his tail and cant swim. With a closer inspection his tail looked like it hat rotted there was little bits of it missing and there was cuts on it and looked like the skin had broken all around it. It was still trying to swim in the bottom of the tank

I took it out and killed it. I didn't want to leave it in the state it was to just die, It wasn't fair.

So i believe there is a problem or the clown fish got something from when i added that other pump.

When i added the other pump and turned it on it threw a lot of what looked like bubbles out of the pump they soon disappeared but it pretty much filled the tank with them.

I hope my blenny is going to be alright.

 

[Chris7]

My friend tells me i have white spot.

He has not seen my tank but from what i have told him.

he told me to get some stuff from my lfs store for it.

Is this what you think might be the problem.

 

[Chris7]

So many people with different answers confuses me lol.

My dad said he thinks its the blenny killing the clowns. Is this possible. I have never seen them attack each other but i don't know what goes on in the tank at night.

 

[Chris7]

Here is a picture of the second clown. As you can see his tail is damaged or rotten.

There was nothing wrong that i could see with clown number one that died.

I am taking the fish to my lfs store too to ask them.

 

[Chris7]

Well after a trip to the lfs store and speaking to a lady for about a hour i think or she thinks i didn't acclimate the clowns properly.

I have made a few errors along the way. All will be explained and then i will see if you people agree or disagree.

I have two fish shops near me one about 4 miles up the road that is part of a garden center and one that is about 11 miles away that is just a aquarium shop. I have and always have got my ready mixed salt water from the 11 miles shop as i didnt want to mix different waters at any time. But for some bizarre reason i have got the fish from the 4 miles shop. So i have been mixing fish with different water. I was told by the guy at the 4 mile shop to pierce the bag several times and leave the bag in the tank for around 2 hours. I did this with the blenny and then the clowns. Then after the two hours i tipped the fish into my tank.

This is the reason the lady in the 11 mile fish shop thinks my clowns died, That and the mixture of not sterilizing the pump.

She told me i need to have the fish in the bag open in a bucket and need a drip feed dripping the water from my tank into the bag slow and steady for around 2 hours. Then add the whole lot to my tank.

Is the information she gave me correct, And could me not acclimatizing them kill the fish 3 or 4 weeks later.....

I also noticed i haven't been doing my water changes the correct way. I was just taking water out and tipping the salt water mix in. I have been told to drip feed the water mix so the temperature is right and it will not shock the fish.

Is this correct. As i believe i have been doing it the wrong way.

The lady said she didn't believe it was white spot as from my water tests all is ok, And there wasnt any spots on the clown fish.

 

[gregswimm]

That is one skinny fish.

 

[gregswimm]

you shouldn't have to 'sterilize' the pump. If anything run the new pump in a bowl of vinegar water for an hour then in fresh water before use.

Never add the water from the fish bag to the tank, this is a good way it introduce 'fish aids'. I normally only drip inverts, leaving the fish in the bag for too long will cause it lots of stress from the ammonia buildup. Instead add half a cup of tank water to the bag ever 5 min or so for 30 min to an hour. The sooner you can get the fish in the tank the better. I then put a net over the sink and pour the contents of the bag (plus the fish) into the net then add the fish to the tank.

If you acclimated the fish too fast you would notice immediately. The fish would be darting about, possibly gasping at the surface and rubbing on things and generally not acting normal. 2-3 weeks of time the fish should have recovered from quick acclimation and adjusted to your tank salinity.

You also cannot test the water for white spot. If it is in your tank it is in your tank. If it was white spot (I see no spots on the fish) your blenny would become afflicted as well.

Judging by the tail, soft dorsal fin and stomach of the fish I would say it was stress that killed him. Although the gills look a bit red (although not 100% sure it if is red, I am color blind). This could be attributed to several things one of which is ammonia. Despite the gills, I feel strongly that it was stress related, possibly from your blenny or maybe even lack of adequate hiding spots.




Did the fish ever sit in the top corners of the tank? I assume the fish was eating?

 

[Chris7]

thanks Greg, The fish did sit in the top right had corner of the tank for a while (they always swim into the pump) im guessing they like to swim into the current. They were always doing this and i never see them resting anywhere. I even said to my wife they will tire themself out.

I am not sure what they did at night, If they slept or rest or continued to swim about. He was eating well, Untill last night he didnt touch a thing. Then this morning he was ill.

 

[gregswimm]

Fish normally swim into the current to prevent themselves from being swept away.

 

[Chris7]

hmm, Well it could have been a number of things i didn't do properly.

Hopefully the blenny will be fine. I am not going to buy a few fish for a while see what happens.

Will update soon.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Chris7]

OK after my clown fish drama everything seems like its back to normal. No more problems touch wood.

So i must have acclimatised them wrong or done something wrong myself.

I have researched into this more and hope im more aware of how to do it for the next time i buys something.

I am now at a stage where i want a bigger tank, Someone told me not to put too much money into this tank as i will soon want a bigger one. So rather than waste more money on this tank i have been looking for one i will keep for some time and will never want to upgrade. Do you guys think this is a good idea.

I really want a sump and have my old tank ready to be built into a sump and my main tank needs to be drilled but i really dont fancy doing any of that. So i want to buy a tank pre drilled and having a sump already with it.

That or i just stick with what i have and build one of these:

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZJBm89MuzU&list=PLC9A3D200D43C7B17

Or like this:

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrI-mPFSb5c&list=PL2FC3AC312624D439

Any help please.

Thanks...

 

[gregswimm]

Just keep your tank how it is. Don't expand until you master your current setup. Your tank is still very young.

I still think your fish died from stress. Your powerhead being one of the major sources of the stress from the less than ideal type of flow.

Spend your money on red sea test kits. A bigger tank will be exponentially more expensive. For a 55g expect to spend $70 on sand alone.

If you add another fish, make sure it stays under 10cm and check your ammonia every 12h for the first wk.

 

[Chris7]

thanks.