clownfish confusion

[chris66]

I recently purchased a clown fish. It swam fine the first 12 hours and when I returned home he was laying at the bottom of the tank. its still breathing and swims for food, but eventually returns to the same spot in the tank. I thought it was dying, but it swims fine when I attempt to take it out of the tank. Is it still acclimating?

I also have two blue capons damsels in the tank, which are aggressive and territorial, can they be the reason why my new clown fish is struggling?

[Dav3]

Tank size and age?

[MarinaClown]

How is it breathing? Heavy? Rapid? Normal?

[chris66]

Originally Posted by Dav3

Tank size and age?

55 gal, only 2 months. The breathing seems rapid but it's hard to tell since I am new at this. It swims fine for a while then lays down. I have read about fish getting ick because it seems to have white dots on it's face. Do I need to take it out of the tank? or is there a natural way to remove ick?

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by chris66

It swims fine for a while then lays down.

That's not good. If you can, quarantine him. My black onyx clowns weren't doing good at all. I was tired of losing fish and invested $ into a quarantine tank. They still have white spots but at least are acting normal.

[aquandrew]

if its ich, you are going to need to treat every fish in the tank and let the tank sit with only coral/inverts for two months. this is why quarantine is a must for saltwater. you put all this money into your tank and everything can be destroyed at the snap of a finger. eventually you will get a sick fish and it will be nothing but hurt.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/
thats a good article on qt. for you i would suggest buying a qt large enough to house all of your fish, and treat with hyposalinity