Percula clownfish is dying!

[slitherbomb]

My percula clownfish has been acting sickly for the past few days. It stays near the surface and is breathing rapidly. From the day I got it, it looked skinnier than other clowns, but ate a lot. Now it's not eating anything. I have another clown with it, and she has been acting normal, can anyone help?

 

[carey]

What are your water parameters? Is the ph good and salinity?

Hopefully it will be fine.

 

[slitherbomb]

It turns out I have .25 nitrite! This has never happened before! Is my cycle reversing or something?

 

[slitherbomb]

Would having carbon affect this?

 

[carey]

Carbon wouldnt give you nitrites. i would recommend a water change asap. Could you have something decaying there? How long have you been cycled?

 

[slitherbomb]

About 3 and a half weeks. Since the 4th. I don't think there is any decaying things here and I will do a water change immediately. Should I do 50%?

 

[carey]

I would. you need to get the nitrite down. You have any ammonia or nitrates?

 

[slitherbomb]

0 ammonia and about 20 nitrates. Don't know about ph because I don't have that tester.

 

[carey]

Hmm thats odd, no ammonia. But still do a water change. Nitrite can be even more deadly than ammonia. Your trates are kinda ok, little high for sw but a water change will also fix that.

Are you using a liquid test kit or strips?

 

[slitherbomb]

API liquid test kit. I didn't get the master kit, but rather got them separate and I never found a pH tester for sw

 

[Chireaux]

When you say do a water change immediately... What if u don't have access to saltwater. What is the minimum time you could add saltwater after mixing?

 

[slitherbomb]

If it's only a bucketful, you mix it continuously for a few minutes then test salinity. If it's a lot, ten you leave it with a strong Powerhead overnight.

 

[melosu58]

It could be anything. Could be parasites, attack from other tankmates or less than perfect water parameters. Usually in an emergency frequent PWC`s and GAC are good things to start off with.

 

[slitherbomb]

I didn't want to take a chance and exchanged him for another perc clown. The guy tested my water so that if something was wrong, he wouldn't have to take him lol and everything was perfect. The clown kept gasping at the surface and get caught by the filter. He also stopped eating. I hated to do it, but had to.

 

[David S]

When you say do a water change immediately... What if u don't have access to saltwater. What is the minimum time you could add saltwater after mixing?

If you have a saltwater tank you should always have spare saltwater in case of emergencies and you should do frequent water changes anyway.

 

[David S]

If it's only a bucketful, you mix it continuously for a few minutes then test salinity. If it's a lot, ten you leave it with a strong Powerhead overnight.

I would never use water which has only been mixed for a couple of minutes, mix for a minimum of 24 hours and heated aswell

 

[slitherbomb]

If its only a bucketful then it should mix pretty quickly. And by a few minutes, I mean like 20-30.