please help clownfish swimming???

Question

i have two clownfish that are young, and one of them, the smaller one, is swimming funny here lately.
im new to saltwater, so this may be normal and i just dont know it.

for about the last two nights when i came home from work one of my clowns is swimming upsidedown. he can swim fine for a minute, but then goes back to upside down. what is rong with him? if its a swim bladder infection should i just take him out of the tank and euthanize him? or let him die? or is there a cure?


thanks a lot

my other larger clown does not swim like this.

he seems fine now, im just sitting on my bed watching those two. now he seems just like the other clown. maybe its just normal clownfish behavior does anyone ever have them act funny sometimes?

Answer 1

That's not really normaly behavior. Have you done a quick check to make sure all the water parameters are within normal ranges? By that I mean pH 8.2-8.4, temperature 76-80o, specific gravilty 1.020-1.026 (unless you have invertebrates, then 1.024-1.026), ammonia and nitrite ideally = 0, (less than 0.5 if your tank is cycling), nitrate less than 30 (and lower would be even better).

Do a check on the fish itself as well to make sure it's not showing any signs of thickening of the slime on its body or any noticable spots which could indicate a parasite.

It's not typical for saltwater to get swim bladder problems but it could be possible. This is often related to diet or infection. Have you been feeding him dried pellet or flake foods? Try soaking these first in some tank water before you feed him. Clowns need some greens in their diet, so add a little seaweed from time to time as well. You can give them some blanched romaine lettuce on a clip that attaches to the side of the tank, but this isn't the best substitute for ocean vegetation. There's also a frozen food called Emerald Entree you can try with him. A little fiber may bring him around. If not, find a broad-spectrum antibiotic made for saltwater use. I'd suggest setting up a separate treatment tank because an antibiotic will kill bneficial bacteria in the tank as well as anything infectious. Then you will have problems with ammonia and nitrite for a month or more.

Since clowns seem to be susceptible to a number od parasites, I'll include a link to a very goos resource for saltwater disease in fish below:
http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/disease.html

Answer 2

Thats not to good but try this link
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/startinganaquarium/tp/topmistakes.htm