I think my clown is sick

[ckwatson]

I did some aquascaping last night (moved some stuff around and added some base rock) and when i got up this morning one of my clowns was dead and the other has been hiding most of the day and its mouth has been open all day like is it stuck open. Any idea what may cause this or is it something i should not be worried about. it has just started swimming around the tank again.

 

[linda lee]

Did you stir up a lot of debris in the sand/rocks when you were moving things around? You may have had a spike of some kind. Did you check parameters?

 

[victor626nj]

sorry for your lost that sucks when all you were trying to do was make a nicer home for them

 

[wbholwell]

Yep, chances are you disturbed your sand bed and/or added to much bioload with the base rock. I would do a water change asap.

 

[ckwatson]

the only thing that seem to be high was ammonia but it was between .25 and .5 ppm so it was alittle high but i did not think that would be enough to kill. and would it cause the other ones mouth to stay open?

 

[victor626nj]

you should so a water change you must have stird thing up pretty well to hit an ammonia spike

 

[ckwatson]

I have a 45 gallon and did about a 5 gallon. I dont have any more salt water if i need to do a bigger one i can but it will be a few days be for i can get more water. I also used some prime to bring the ammonia down

 

[victor626nj]

if you want to come to my house i will ive you 10 gals of water just bring containers and ill give you enough salt to dao a 10 gal water change

 

[ckwatson]

thanks Victor626 but i could get to the store before i could make it out to lawrenceville. Does any one have an idea on the mouth open thing?

 

[victor626nj]

it can be anything it can be him gasping for air he got hurt your best bet is to post pics

 

[dannybradley]

His mouth is porbably open because he's gasping for fresh saltwater. The NH3 burns the gill plates, making it hard to obtain oxygen from the water.

 

[victor626nj]

would a air stone help him out

 

[dannybradley]

Maybe. Better circulation would help more. NH3 is heavier than water, so it sits on the bottom of the tank, and that's exactly where a stressed fish usually goes. My guess is before too long the fish will be gasping at the surface.

The air stone will slightly increase water transfer from the bottom of the tank to the top. NH3 can leave the tank via the surface. The Prime will go a long way to controlling the NH3 for about 48 hours. I just hope he did a triple dose. Prime is a hydrosulfide salt (I think that's right), which causes NH3 to pick up a hydrogen ion, forming NH4+(an iminium salt[again, correct me if I'm wrong]), which isn't really toxic. But the bond only last for about 48 hours.

 

[ckwatson]

its mouth just stays open not like it is gasping but maybe, he is starting to swim around more he came out or his cave. so maybe it was just the spike in the ammonia. I feed him some but he did not eat so it seems like if it is not one thing it is the other.

 

[dannybradley]

His not eating is related to the stress the tank is going through. Give him a day or to and watch your NH3 and NO2. Prime will detoxify both in a pinch, but don't do more than a 3X dose every 48 hours. You'll risk lowering your O2 levels if you do.

 

[victor626nj]

can it also be broke if his moth is open like that and he is not eating

 

[dannybradley]

Crushed by the new live rock! That's a stretch, but I won't rule it out.

 

[victor626nj]

that too but i mean brokenella i think thats how you spell it

 

[dannybradley]

Brookynella. You'd know right away if your clown had that. It would be covered with a white slime. And death usually occurs after a few days, not overnight. But the overnight only holds true if his clowns didn't already had it and he didn't notice it.

 

[blind1993]

are your clowns colors or appearence chaning?