Dying Clowns?

Dec 14, 2011
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#1
I was gone this weekend, and I returned to find both of my clowns breathing very heavily and their gills appear to be swollen. They also seem slightly jagged at the edges. I didn't do any testing, I just went straight to a water change. I only had two gallons set aside, so that's all that's been done. It's now almost 3 in the morning and I have to be up at 7, so I'm not going to do any tests yet tonight, but I was wondering what could have caused this. They were both fine before I left on Friday.
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#2
Its hard to say without testing. Could have been a few things. If I had to take a stab in the dark I would assume something died and caused an ammonia spike if their gills are showing not to be normal. Did you top off the water level before you left? How much top off would you have to add in three days? I hope you live stock makes it, let us know how the tank and the tests go.
 

Dec 14, 2011
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#3
I woke up and saw this, so I'll just answer right now. My crabs are still alive, and they're the only other things in the tank. Also, the water hadn't evaporated much over the weekend, not enough to cause an issue. The salinity was 1.021 when I tested it. I hadn't cleaned it in awhile, and there was a buildup of what I'm going to say was cyanobacteria on the back of my tank. Could that have caused it? I scraped almost all of it off and tried to siphon it all out last night, but I was working with limited water so there's some that's settled on the bottom. I'm going to get several gallons today.
 

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
Aug 26, 2003
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#4
Cyanobacteria can cause a number of problems, including reducing available oxygen and releasing toxins.

Is it possible your filters or powerheads stopped or the temperatures spiked/dropped while you were gone? If you don't have the heating/air-conditioning on and the temperatures are severe, the heater/chiller might not have kept up.

A couple of water changes will help, I hope. Water tests are a good idea, as soon as you can.
 

Dec 14, 2011
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#5
I got done doing a 50% water change and completely cleaned the tank. I scrubbed all the algae off and removed all of my equipment and cleaned it. I'm waiting for the water to clear up before I test it. I'm going to attach a photo of the gills before I cleaned. The little clown is down and I suspect that it won't make it.
IMAG1135.jpg

I think I left my LEDs on all weekend, although I'm not sure. I don't know if they were on when I came into the bedroom this morning or not. There seems to have been more green algae around the lid than when I left. Could an algae bloom have caused it? Also, the tops of my live rock are still kind of red. Is that okay, or should I do something about it?
 

Dec 14, 2011
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#7
IMAG1138.jpg

My boyfriend noticed these little bumps earlier, and I can't explain what they are. I originally thought that they were pieces of sand, but both of the clowns have them and they're in a pattern. Does anyone know what they are?
 

Dec 14, 2011
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#11
The smaller of the two died in the night, which I suspected it would. I can't really tell if the larger one is doing better or not. It wasn't moving around a lot, but staying upright and moving its fins a lot like Clowns do, but just recently it moved to the corner that houses my power head, and it was idling in place with its tail slightly up. It seemed to be having problems with the suction of the power head, so it must still be very weak. Both of the crabs have still been unaffected. I'm going to do a water test soon, but should I do the reef test, or would a standard test (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) be sufficient?
 

Dec 14, 2011
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#13
Alright, this is what I've got a day after a 50% water change:

Nitrite: 0PPM
Ammonia: I'm going to say between .25PPM and .50PPM (I'm using the internet for the color chart)
Nitrate: 20PPM

Without readings before the initial 25%, I'm assuming the ammonia probably spiked in the tank. The question then is, how much should the next water change be? Another 50%, or a 25%?
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#15
That ammonia is the killer!!! If the color is not off due to the screen. API ammonia liquid kits are yellow with no real noticeable green tint for zero ammonia. If its has green tint there is ammonia. This is for SW, FW is clear yellow period.
Clowns will live in 80PPM of nitrate without issues. Clowns are very hardy but any amount of ammonia is like poison. A 25% water change is only going to take .50PPM ammonia to .375PPM ammonia so its like 25% less of the poison. I would do about two 30-50% changes a day (maybe 2-8 or so hours a part) until the ammonia is zero, between you and the bacteria in the tank this should not be long, maybe a day or two.
 

Dec 14, 2011
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#16
So I just finished another 50% water change, and this is what I've got:

Ammonia: less than .25PPM - the color is really milky, so it makes it hard to tell.
Nitrate: 20PPM

They've barely changed at all, I wonder why. How big of a change should I do tomorrow? I'll have to go to the store and buy more water.
 

Dec 14, 2011
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#18
I'm using the API Freshwater. I asked a few months ago if I should buy the Saltwater master, and someone told me that the freshwater was fine as long as I used the other color chart. It's been milky every time I've used it for the saltwater though.