Is my clownfish okay? Please help!

[anabechara]

Hello all!
We brought our 2 clown fish home yesterday.
I have tested my water and everything is okay. The temp is between 78 and 79.5F.
One of them is swimming at the top today like if she was trying to breathe. She does not seem to be gasping and when she actually goes to the bottom briefly she seems to be swimming okay. She is moving all of her fins and I cannot see any spots or scars (but I have no experience on this) She was not doing that yesterday.
Both fish ate, but the one swimming up top ate less.
The other clown is swimming all over the place.

Is this normal? Is there something else I should do?
Please see attached video.

Thank you!!

 

[FurrierTransform]

I can't see your video, but you haven't described anything concerning, as far as I can tell. Is it feeding?

 

[Jekyl]

Tank cycled properly?

 

[anabechara]

Tank cycled properly?

Yes! Checked by me and my LFS as well.

 

[anabechara]

Tank cycled properly?

Yes! Checked by me and my LFS as well

I can't see your video, but you haven't described anything concerning, as far as I can tell. Is it feeding?

yes! The both ate about 3 pieces of tiny shrimp. The LFS said that was all they needed for the day.
I was reading online and someone said to lower the temperature of the tank, so I did that. I placed a little fan I had bought just in case and the temp came down to 77F and now they are swimming all over the tank! So maybe they were just too hot...

 

[Jekyl]

Yes! Checked by me and my LFS as well

yes! The both ate about 3 pieces of tiny shrimp. The LFS said that was all they needed for the day.
I was reading online and someone said to lower the temperature of the tank, so I did that. I placed a little fan I had bought just in case and the temp came down to 77F and now they are swimming all over the tank! So maybe they were just too hot...

Above 81 or 82 is an issue. I try and keep mine at 77 to 78. Make sure your powerheads are angled slightly upward. This keeps indirect flow and creates surface agitation for gas exchange. Things to watch for with all fish are labored or rapid breathing, lethargy, lack of appetite, and anything wrong with their visual appearance. Things like nipped fins, white spots or anything else out of the ordinary.

 

[FurrierTransform]

Now I'm not telling you to raise the temperature of your tank, to see if the clownfish starts staying only at the top of the tank, but it could also be an acclimation thing. @Jekyl has a good point on oxygenation of the tank.

 

[potatocouch]

Doesn't mean a problem. Clown can sometimes do that behaviour. Mine is approx. 3 years old and sometimes still does that behaviour.

 

[anabechara]

Thank you all for the help!
I ended up testing the water and all parameters were good. The powerhead is angled upwards. The temp finally stabilized at around 77F...
Still my poor fish got worse and worse. By the end I could see her body got suddenly covered with a whitish layer and her eyes just got gray... and she ended up dying at 8pm on Sunday night. It was heartbreaking to watch as I stayed pinned next to the tank without knowing what to do and just talking to my fish and crying. It almost made me want to quit altogether.
But... this morning Wally was still in there and seemed to be doing well. So I went to the LFS and took my dead fish with me. They did not know what killed her.
I am not sure why they wouldn't want to sell me more medications... in any case I asked for something to give Wally the best chance... so they sold me Paraguard. I did the dip today in 1 gallon for 45mins.
After that he seemed happier. But I really don't know what I am looking for.
He has no dots or anything else on his skin And his breathing seems to be fine. I have watched other clownfish online and they look the same... the LFS said not to feed him today but I felt that he was so hungry and I gave a few pellets I got today and he ate them all.
Anyway... I will keep trying my best to keep Wally alive!

 

[Jekyl]

Thank you all for the help!
I ended up testing the water and all parameters were good. The powerhead is angled upwards. The temp finally stabilized at around 77F...
Still my poor fish got worse and worse. By the end I could see her body got suddenly covered with a whitish layer and her eyes just got gray... and she ended up dying at 8pm on Sunday night. It was heartbreaking to watch as I stayed pinned next to the tank without knowing what to do and just talking to my fish and crying. It almost made me want to quit altogether.
But... this morning Wally was still in there and seemed to be doing well. So I went to the LFS and took my dead fish with me. They did not know what killed her.
I am not sure why they wouldn't want to sell me more medications... in any case I asked for something to give Wally the best chance... so they sold me Paraguard. I did the dip today in 1 gallon for 45mins.
After that he seemed happier. But I really don't know what I am looking for.
He has no dots or anything else on his skin And his breathing seems to be fine. I have watched other clownfish online and they look the same... the LFS said not to feed him today but I felt that he was so hungry and I gave a few pellets I got today and he ate them all.
Anyway... I will keep trying my best to keep Wally alive!

Sounds like brook.

 

[anabechara]

Sounds like brook.

I thought that too. But the LFS said they couldn't know... should I give Wally some copper too??? Also why did she get sick? My tank is new and they were the only fish in there... all the fish in the tank at the LFS looked fine today...

 

[potatocouch]

how new is your tank? i suspect your tank may not have cycled properly.

 

[anabechara]

how new is your tank? i suspect your tank may not have cycled properly.

My tank is new. I set it up at the end of June. And I brought the fish on July 30th. I tested the water while it was cycling and once it was done my LFS tested the water for me as well to confirm.
I have been testing the water daily since the fish came and so far it looks like the water is good (pH 8 Amm 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0-5 Salinity 31/1.025 temp76.5-78).
Should I test for something else??

 

[Jekyl]

#fishmedic

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you all for the help!
I ended up testing the water and all parameters were good. The powerhead is angled upwards. The temp finally stabilized at around 77F...
Still my poor fish got worse and worse. By the end I could see her body got suddenly covered with a whitish layer and her eyes just got gray... and she ended up dying at 8pm on Sunday night. It was heartbreaking to watch as I stayed pinned next to the tank without knowing what to do and just talking to my fish and crying. It almost made me want to quit altogether.
But... this morning Wally was still in there and seemed to be doing well. So I went to the LFS and took my dead fish with me. They did not know what killed her.
I am not sure why they wouldn't want to sell me more medications... in any case I asked for something to give Wally the best chance... so they sold me Paraguard. I did the dip today in 1 gallon for 45mins.
After that he seemed happier. But I really don't know what I am looking for.
He has no dots or anything else on his skin And his breathing seems to be fine. I have watched other clownfish online and they look the same... the LFS said not to feed him today but I felt that he was so hungry and I gave a few pellets I got today and he ate them all.
Anyway... I will keep trying my best to keep Wally alive!

Sorry to hear. One thing - ask the LFS what the specific gravity/salinity of their tank was. Sometimes, LFS keep their salinity low, but then acclimating from that to full salinity like you have is stressful to the fish and can sometimes kill them outright.

Jay

 

[potatocouch]

Should I test for something else??

nothing really, you got all important elements covered

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Thank you all for the help!
I ended up testing the water and all parameters were good. The powerhead is angled upwards. The temp finally stabilized at around 77F...
Still my poor fish got worse and worse. By the end I could see her body got suddenly covered with a whitish layer and her eyes just got gray... and she ended up dying at 8pm on Sunday night. It was heartbreaking to watch as I stayed pinned next to the tank without knowing what to do and just talking to my fish and crying. It almost made me want to quit altogether.
But... this morning Wally was still in there and seemed to be doing well. So I went to the LFS and took my dead fish with me. They did not know what killed her.
I am not sure why they wouldn't want to sell me more medications... in any case I asked for something to give Wally the best chance... so they sold me Paraguard. I did the dip today in 1 gallon for 45mins.
After that he seemed happier. But I really don't know what I am looking for.
He has no dots or anything else on his skin And his breathing seems to be fine. I have watched other clownfish online and they look the same... the LFS said not to feed him today but I felt that he was so hungry and I gave a few pellets I got today and he ate them all.
Anyway... I will keep trying my best to keep Wally alive!

Do you have anything in. Your aquarium providing oxgen/ aeration except power head,

 

[anabechara]

Sorry to hear. One thing - ask the LFS what the specific gravity/salinity of their tank was. Sometimes, LFS keep their salinity low, but then acclimating from that to full salinity like you have is stressful to the fish and can sometimes kill them outright.

Jay

Well... I do buy the water from my LFS and they have assured me it is the same water they use in their system. So I think that should not be an issue. The salinity is a tad lower than what I have read would be ideal at 30ppm/1.024 specific gravity. But at this time I do not have the budget to buy a RODI filter and make my own water yet and since my tank is so small it is cheaper this way for now.
I did the process of acclimation for about 1 hour as well when I brought our fish...

 

[anabechara]

Do you have anything in. Your aquarium providing oxgen/ aeration except power head,

I have a hang on the back filter that is suppose to be for a 35 gallon tank and the powerhead.

 

[anabechara]

Update:
Wally is doing well so far. I am dipping him in Paraguard daily and he seems to tolerate it well. Tomorrow will be his third and last day of treatment.
he is eating well and swims happily all around the tank.
I am testing the water daily and so far is good.

Is there anything else I can do to help him? I hear that if Rosa died from Brook he is pretty much doomed as well... specially in inexperienced hands. Should I get the formalin anyway and give it to Wally? Anything else I can do? (TBH I feel my LFS has not been very helpful in giving me more advise/tools to help Wally)

Thank you again to all of you who took the time to comment and try to help us!