Help! Maroon Clown dying!

[Wolf]

Please help. My gsm is lying on a curve on the sandbed. I just tested my water last Wednesday.

Ph-8.2
Alkalinity-5
Calium- 410
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0

I just put in more of seachems De*Nitrate and matrix carbon last wednesday, too. I have not yet tested for ammonia and will do so after this post.
He was fine yesterday, eating live brine shrimp like a pig. I just now did a 6 gallon water change, that's when I noticed he was acting sick. It's not a knew fish, been in my tank for over a year maybe. Is there anything I can do to help him pull through? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hackteck]

did you let the replacement sw age in a bucket or tub for 24 hours to allow the salt to mix?

 

[melosu58]

How often do you do PWC

 

[Wolf]

It's been mixed since around 2 this afternoon. He was already sick before the w/c.

Usually 12 gallons every 2 weeks. I did a w/c last tuesday and decided to do a 10% a week later.

Now that I think about it, he might just being dying of old age. He was an adult when I bought him.

 

[WarEagleNR88]

How large is it and how large was it when you bought it? Are any other fish acting strange? Does it have any strange coloration, spots, or stripes? Was anything new added to the tank? Have you noticed anything strange from it in the last days/weeks? More details will help diagnose the problem.

I fear if the lights turn off, something is going to get your gsm. Especially if it's not moving and just lying on the sandbed. Most likely one of the stars, depending on how large they are. If you have a bucket that can be set up fairly quickly, pull out a few pieces of your live rock (with nothing on it) and put it in a bucket with a powerhead (with a good prefilter) and a heater and put him in there.

Hope for the best is about all I can come up with if nothing else seems the matter.

 

[Wolf]

Yeah I think I'll do that. There's no treally much I can do. He's black with incomplete gold bars on his back. He's a little lighter aroung his neck right now.

A firefish, yellow watchman goby and 5 chromises were added Friday and Saturday. The firefish died today( I don't think it was eating good in the first place). 2 of the chromises just disappeared since friday. Another 1 I found dead being eatern by crabs yesterday. I think somethings been eating them or they've been jumping out.)

I haven't noticed anything different about him.
He's on his side now breathing a little heavy.

 

[Brenden]

A firefish, yellow watchman goby and 5 chromises were added Friday and Saturday

That is a lot of fish to add at once to a 55. You sure you do not have a NH3 or NO2 reading? Why are you adding de-nitrator if you have a "0" NO3 reading?

 

[WarEagleNR88]

The additions may very well be the problem. Ammonia or Nitrite and your bacteria has yet to catch up. Are any polyps unusually closed? Do any of the other fish have any visible signs of distress? Discoloration, etc?

If you've another bucket or two with some extra PHs and heaters, start up new batches of saltwater immediately. Match them exact and let them sit for at least 24 hrs. Aerate them too if you can. You'll want to replace water both in your favored GSM's tank and your reef. Then start again.

You might also aerate your GSM's "tank" tonight if he's having problems breathing. I don't think excess O2 can't hurt--it doesn't hurt me when I do it. Oh and if you're running out of air moving devices, moving the water with the powerheads should aerate it.

Keep it up, but don't do too much with your established system. Keep all of your animals there. Your GSM is the immediate priority. Corals and Inverts are typically pretty tough animals--fish are not (unless you have a "bulletproof" adult blue velvet damsel like I had).

 

[WarEagleNR88]

2 of the chromises just disappeared since friday. Another 1 I found dead being eaten by crabs yesterday. I think somethings been eating them or they've been jumping out.

And FYI, when fish dies/disappears and you have brittle or serpent stars in the tank, it's an almost 100% guarantee you should know where they went. Some star just got it's belly full. I once watched a hungry ~4" wide body green brittle star eat a LIVE 5" mantis shrimp. Don't put any "food" past clean-up stars.

 

[Wolf]

Thanks for all your help, guys. I checked on the clown again and it had died.

Yeah, sorry guys. I wrote all my parameters down, but I lost the sheet. The earlier parameters were from memory and I'm positive all are accurate except I just realized I got 0.2 for nitrate last time. Retested it just now and got 0 nitrite but .2 nitrate. I actually switched out the old de*nitrate instead of adding more. I've had a hard time battling cyano and the stuff has helped me keep it down. That's the only reason why I have it.

I guess that is a lot of fish at once. There was only the clown and a royal gramma in there. I don't think I had a ammoniua spike, though. Tested that too and it was 0. Corals are doing fine.

War EagleNR88-That is a definate possible, it's probably what's happening. I keep my eyes open and look into the tank at night with a light. If that's what causing their disappearance, I'll trap and get rid of the little buggers.

Thanks for all your fast replies.

 

[Lagger]

OT - But WarEagleNR88, I was born in Enid, OK! Small world, eh? We later moved to Weatherford like the year after, where my dad coached the high school wrestling team to a state championship. Although we moved to California a few years later. I've never been back since, but I do remember a few things about the 4 years I was there