Clown trouble

[deuce]

I'm new to salt. Clowns won't survive in my tank. I started the tank in mid Oct. 100 lbs of live rock came from a good established tank. Another 40 lbs was dead. 135 gallon tank. I bought a couple PJs and a firefish in early Dec. Water was 'perfect' per the store if a bit hard. Water is always testing well. 2 clowns purchased in late Dec. Both died in a dozen days. Bought another. He is ok. Bought a 4th this weekend. He died in 1.5 days. I do about 10% water changes every 1- 1.5 weeks. I clean the filter materiel and skimmer bi-weekly with tank water. I use RO water but started the tank with Lasalle water.

Other fish are fine. All fish from the same store. I won't reveal the name.

Any ideas on what could be the problem? Thanks for any help.

[seggsy]

If water parameters seem good and other fish seem good, it is often the fish coming from the store. May not be the store's fault, but if something new dies in the first couple of weeks, I assume that it is either the acclimation process (do you drip acclimate?) or the fish was damaged and destined to fail.

Tough to diagnose - I have a friend whose tank look great, water tests great, coral does great, but he tends to lose most fish he adds...very frustrating (and sad)

[deuce]

Thanks. I was told not to drip acclimate by the store as I used a different tank salt. I'll have to try a different store with a different supplier. Maybe during the holidays the fish were extra stressed as the turnover from supplier to store to me was probably fast?

[pinaki1816]

I have seen a frnd of mine who constantly lost fishes brought from a particular lfs ,,,,, later close examination of dead fishes revealed brown patches in gill n gill cover ,,,he told me it might b due to cyanide fishing,,,,,, most of the marine fishes r wild caught ,,,,,,, and many of them use this mal practice which is harmful for fishes ,,,,,, urs might b same case ,, thought of sharing the story

[dsmdan]

Try aqua ive got a few fish from there and they do great. Prob best prices to how and for how long are you acclimatizing them for? Whats the tank temp at?

[deuce]

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

My temp was 78 lights off and got to 81/82 at lights off. Probably should get a fan with lights on. There seemed to be varying opinions on temperature consistency. From it being bad to even beneficial since the temperature fluctuates in the wild during the day. Not sure what to believe.

The one clown that survives is doing great. He was a bit larger than the 3 that died.

[dsmdan]

Mabe just acclimatized them to fast if they were real small i have 8 dif designer clowns and spend over a hour on acclimatizing them cuz thd first clownfish i got i only waited 20 min and it dident make it just learn from my mestake dont put to many clowns in your tank unless you have a lid

[Deleted]

Which filter do you have and how many clown fishes you have in the fish tank? The reason of your dying fishes are the fighting each other. When feeding the clown fish, it is important to spread the food evenly within the tank so that these clowns won’t have too much close interaction with each other whilst feeding. By maintaining optimum temperature levels and pH levels, you can reduce stress on the fish and avoid aggressiveness and fighting.

[deuce]

Mar 20, 2017 1:00:05 GMT -5 @fishlover said:

Which filter do you have and how many clown fishes you have in the fish tank? The reason of your dying fishes are the fighting each other. When feeding the clown fish, it is important to spread the food evenly within the tank so that these clowns won’t have too much close interaction with each other whilst feeding. By maintaining optimum temperature levels and pH levels, you can reduce stress on the fish and avoid aggressiveness and fighting.

I suppose I can provide an update from a couple years ago.  The clowns never fought that I saw. No damage to fins after death. I eventually heard that there was a problem with the supplier. I do not know if that is accurate. I waited a few months to buy again from a different store and bought a bit of an older pair. They have lived for over 1.5 years.