help! Clownfish has white bumps!

[holldoll]

Help! I just brought my clownfish home on Saturday and last night I noticed that one of them has bumps on his head. This morning I noticed that the other one has a long white spot on it's body (I'm assuming that's velvet) and the one with the original bumps has white along it's side and over it's eye.

I don't have any other fish in the tank, only crabs, snails, corals and one anemone. What do I need to do? I don't have a quarantine tank (I could probably find one). thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

I need tank specs. Size, water parameters, etc.

It could be stress.

Do you have a UV sterilizer?

 

[holldoll]

I don't know how to post the link, but in the member's tank you can see them. All my levels are zero except the nitrates which spiked on Friday when I rearranged the rock and made a mess of the tank, they are down to almost zero now. They were 50 on friday and 25 on Saturday.

I have the JBJ 24 G Nano Cube with no add ons beside carbon and phosphate bag (I know that's not what it's called, but I'm not home right now so I can't remember what it is).

No UV sterilizer.
Thanks for your quick reply.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know how to post the link, but in the member's tank you can see them. All my levels are zero except the nitrates which spiked on Friday when I rearranged the rock and made a mess of the tank, they are down to almost zero now. They were 50 on friday and 25 on Saturday.

I have the JBJ 24 G Nano Cube with no add ons beside carbon and phosphate bag (I know that's not what it's called, but I'm not home right now so I can't remember what it is).

No UV sterilizer.
Thanks for your quick reply.

copy & paste

 

[holldoll]

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=100522

Thanks!

 

[JKDMan]

idk about the spots on the fish many factors could contribute to that but in my oppinion your are adding your livestock pretty quickly in a small tank like that you gotta give the system time to balance itself out,which is true of any setup but in a smaller tank its not good to put som much stress on your tanks balance all at once

i would fix the problems your are having now and then not add anything to it for awhile

 

[holldoll]

Thanks! That's my plan.

How do I fix the problem now? Does adding corals and inverts affect the balance also?

 

[JKDMan]

ya corals and inverts count too

as far as little white bumps if it is ich then i would say feed food with garlic like formula 2 or get garlic suplemnt for fish and add it to their food also a cleaner shrimp or wrasse would work well

 

[Anonymous]

Are you testing your water? What are your parameters?

PH
Salinity
Amonia
Nitrite
Nitrate

I need those readings first.

I don't think you let your tank cycle long enough. Just because you let it cycle for a month doesn't mean it's finished cycling.

My advice to you is take out all your livestock. Purchase a test kit and test your water. If your amonia is too high, you will kill things. Snails and hermits are pretty hardy and if you are killing them, then you should never put any other livestock in. You are definatley rushing things. You have to do things slowly with a saltwater setup.

Once all your levels (i.e. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) are at 0, then start stocking lightly. I mean one species per week with the exception of snails and hermits. I wouldn't put corals and anemones in for at least 3/4 months. They need to be in a well established tank. You don't have one of those yet.

Your ph should be around 8.0-8.2 and your salinity should be at least 1.022 for fish and 1.025-1.027 for coral and yes the fish can survive at higher salinity levels.

Have you gone through your algae levels yet?

Let me know some info.

 

[holldoll]

Are you testing your water? yes

What are your parameters? yes

PH 8
Salinity 1.023
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 12.5 (they were zero, but I just rearranged my tank and stirred up Phosphate 1

I need those readings first.

I don't think you let your tank cycle long enough. Just because you let it cycle for a month doesn't mean it's finished cycling.

It had finished cycling after about 2 weeks, so I let it sit for another two before I added anything.

I haven't had any snails and hermits die, except for the ones that end up on their back and can't tip over, since the first week when I added them before it had done any cycling (the LFS told me to add them, but didn't realize my rock wasn't cured).

Once all your levels (i.e. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) are at 0, then start stocking lightly. I mean one species per week with the exception of snails and hermits. I wouldn't put corals and anemones in for at least 3/4 months. They need to be in a well established tank. You don't have one of those yet.

Okay, so I've already added corals and one anemone I can't take them out now. They are all doing well.

Have you gone through your algae levels yet? By algae levels, I'm assuming you mean blooms? Yes, I have had the brown algae bloom and one green algae bloom the first week.

HTH! Thanks for the help!

The clown with the bumps on his head was dead when I came home this afternoon. The other one is sitting on the bottom gasping.

Thanks!

 

[fcmatt]

holldoll,

it seems you need to slow down and not get so.. excited.
there is something wrong in the tank if two clownfish die.

your water parameters looked ok to me.

did you tank have massive heat swings? during the winter
that can happen easily.

did anything chemical wise get into the tank? from your hands?

it is not good to stir up the bottom of your tank and rock when
you have live animals in the tank. yes people do it to some degree
all the time, but it may be asking for trouble if the fish were already
weakened from their long journey (breeder, LFS, then to you).

it sounds like they got an infection and died.

allow your tank to settle for a month before you consider buying
anything else. post here what the current status of your tank is.

good luck