Absolute Minimal Salt Water Aquarium

[mrg02d]

Hello,
The problem is, is that the clown just doesnt pay any attention at all to his food. He doesnt go inspect it or anything. So its not that he doesnt like it, he just doesnt even seem to think about eating. He is like a broken toy, totally unresponsive. I fear he will slowly waste away...I just tried again, and he let both mysis and flake food float right past his head. Im guessing he is going to die. Maybe he has brain worms or something? Hes plenty active and poops...Strange.

I guess I will keep trying until he either eats, or dies. Next time, I buy from ebay as sellers have something to lose as well as have Paypal to make **** sure I get what I paid for. Id feel better if it were Ich or parasites or something explanable. The clown feels well enough to explore the tank, but not to eat. Seems the LFS ought to be REQUIRED to QT their stock, especially since I had to pay $18.00 EACH. A seller in my state on ebay charges $12.59 and $15.00 for overnight shipping. I can order all I want for the same shipping charge. I could pick up some snails and maybe some coral along with new clown fish if this one dies too.

Does intestinal worm treatment hurt live rock bacteria or other invertabrates? Maybe I ought to attempt to medicate him in a bucket for worms? I just dont see his strange pooping habits be purely stress related...

BTW-System still working well! All this wasted food still hasnt spiked anything. Nitrates moved a little, but nothing crazy. Also, a closer look at these anemona things: They look alot like a tube, with little stringy tenticles. Looks alot more like an anemona thats living in a worm tube. (A cross between them).
Matt

[thincat]

Next time you buy local ask to them to feed the fish and see if the fish eats.No fee...No buy..., No eat.....No buy!!!

[mrg02d]

Hello,
Rookie mistake? I should have asked for them to be fed! They were so lively in their tiny holding tank. (Just three of them kept together) They were all swimming like they thought we were going to be feeding them, so I figured they were good to go. I asked if they were tank raised, and the dealer assured they were and much better than wild caught. Im really not sure what I make of all this. Maybe I could have done a better acclimation. Maybe they were diseased. Maybe they were truly wild caught? I dont think I had any disease in my tank as I have nothing but crabs and live rock/sand.

Maybe I dont have good oxygenation? I have a Koralia 1 power head pointed to the surface of the tank and it creates a constant flow through the tank. The surface is quite turbulent too with water splashing about.

All water parameters are great...

The guy at the store was hesitant to sell me the fish as he thought I didnt know what I was doing with my water measurements and thought that I had THOUGHT I had ammonia spikes and nitrite spikes...I assured him that while it was hurried and short, it was a cycle by deffinition. He said these are VERY hardy fish and then relented. (Or maybe all that was reverse psychology? )

From now on, its tank bred or nothing. If from a pet store, no eat no buy! If from ebay, I can check their feedback and whatnot.

Thanks guys! Any more ideas for this poor soul would be greatly appreciated!
Matt

[thincat]

Let things be for awhile and maybe look for another fish from a different source after another good PWC.

[gzeiger]

I think you guys are being way too hard on this poor fish store. One fish dying shortly after being moved is well within the realm of bad luck. It's rare to see a store that will explain to you about cycling and try to make you do it before you buy fish, and for that alone it sounds to me like this is a good establishment that probably knows what they're doing and deserves repeat business.

As far as not eating, I think the obvious explanation is probably the right one. I don't keep clown fish myself, so there may be species differences, but every fish I've ever kept has preferred amphipods to pretty much any other kind of food I can offer, including bloodworms and mysis. If your tank is full of free-swimming crustaceans and there's only one fish, he's probably just feeding off the existing ecosystem when you're not watching. It isn't really possible for an organism to continue producing solid waste as you describe for very many days after it stops eating, so I don't think it actually has stopped eating.

[mrg02d]

Good point on bad luck, but if this were a common thing, then the store ought to give refunds. $18.00 is alot of money for a fish that dies the next day when everything is done right. Especially after being sold on the hardiness of the fish. They let you know there are no guarantees of any kind on their fish.

Its nothing personal with them, just business. Seems to be a bad idea to buy again there as they have little to lose. I am a seller on ebay and I know what happens when you begin to get negatives. People just stop buying from you, especially if there is good competition around. This seller on ebay guarantees non DOA, and if I got a fish from him that died the next day, you can bet id start a paypal claim and leave a negative. (If he refused to send another or a refund). Hes got great feedback, most negatives come from one buyer that sounds pretty unreasonable.

Good point on the copepods. There are a good bit in there now.

Matt

[mrg02d]

Hello,
I had a quick question: I have ALOT of nasty sediment stuff in the water. it stays on the bottom, but looks filthy. If it gets stirred up, it looks terrible. Looks like alot of organic matter and decay from the "bio gel" that came with the live sand that I left in. I decided to get an HOB filter to try to clear it up. I found the AquaClear 50 at the pet store, and went with it. Its for 20-50gallon and is rated for up to 200 gph. It has a foam filter, carbon filter, and ceramic filter ( I assume for good bacteria to build on). I figure this ought to suck out this junk from the water. My question is, should I leave the carbon filter stage and ceramic filter stage in? Or, should I just run the foam stage since I just want to remove junk from the water?

BTW-Clown is still alive and is much more lively. He still poops funny, but its not stringy. It just hangs there for 30mins or so. If he IS eating the pods, this would explain the color. I dont see him eating them, but do see him swimming around them acting like he MAY be sucking them in. He STILL AVOIDS my food offerings. He swims right past the flakes and the mysis shrimp?? I watched him move out of the food's path! Im wondering if I will need to now just let him eat pods? I will likely need to get more and somehow culture them, right?

Another question: If I am going to leave this new filter running now, should I point the power head somewhere else in the tank now? (Right now its pointing at the surface creating turbulence.) Maybe point it right at the LR?

Water parameters for today:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 10ppm (Water change will be coming in a few days).
pH:8.2
Water temp: 77F
SG: 1.024 ish
Thanks guys! It seems to be coming along nicely, no?
Matt

Thanks!
Matt

[thincat]

I would leave the filter as is for now. Point the power head at the junk on the surface of the sand, you need to keep the detris moving in the water colume so that the filter will filter it out. Your clown is getting food from somewhere. I would call and ask the LFS what he feeds them. It seems funny to me that a tank raise fish would be so hard to get to eat.
Lastly.....yes you are coming along nicely...Keep up the good work!

[thincat]

Be sure to clean that filter often so that it's most effective at removing what you want it to.

[mrg02d]

Hello,
Thanks for the reply!
Now I have a new problem. My clown fish has lumps on his head!
They are orange where the skin color is orange and white where his skin is white. Some look like small pimples, and others just irregular (wart-like). None look like white specs. (Ich)

Any ideas? They just appeared the morning. I looked over the Ich pictures and it just doesnt look like that. Could this be some kind of fungus? Maybe stirring up all the junk from the sand caused some kind of infection?

As far as treatments go, are the only dangerous meds that require a QT those with copper or other metals? Are there meds that are safe for invertibrates?

The clown seems alright I guess. A little less active. Acts curious when I get close to the glass with my magnifying glass.

I was going to order another fish and some snails...Not anymore...Are all clowns this problematic?

Matt