SURPRISE--MY CLOWN DIED

[Fran]

I know this subject has been discussed before. I just want to share my disappointment.

Beginning Feb., when we had the blizzard in New England (USA), my tank went down to 70 degrees. I had a battery operated airstone in the entire time. When the power came on a couple days later, the tank temp slowly raised back to the 82 degrees it normally is. All fish survived, clowns looked good. By the following week I noticed clown behavior changed. They hid most of the day only coming out for a feeding--eventually two of them didn't even come out for food. They became very recluse and that is when I noticed the rapid breathing on those same two. I thought to myself, is this the second stage of ich? Never saw spots--I looked. I planned on treating with Ick Guard II by Jungle for scaleless fish. It's been so long that I've used it (highly successfully I may add), but the product is nowhere to be found!! Why I chose to go this route is because of the drastic tank temp changes. Since my clowns and tank were healthy, I attribute the late onset of illness due to their good health prior.

So, in place of the non existent Jungle med, I used the useless Kordon organic stuff and I went on a pilgrimage to find Jungle Medicated food for internal parasites, another product that I used successfully in the past because I observed that the largest of my clowns was thinning. Aha!! More clues to the mystery. The medicated food by Jungle was discontinued. Need I say I was pissed! Frantic, I had to get a food for internal parasites. I am not one to mix meds in the food, so I found a product online by Angels Plus which is a formulated food for thinning fish. It has metronidazole in it. In the meantime, the two recluse clowns had come out of hiding, so perhaps the Kordon's did *something*. I performed water changes of course, and I began feeding the food and things were spectacular! I had normal clowns again, always out and about. Things were great for over a week. The big one was gaining the weight back and all three were as before.

Two hours before I went to bed last night all three were out and about as usual. On my way to bed, I checked out the fish tank and a clown, NOT the big one that was thinning, was floating at the top, dead. It must have been picked on by the others because its skin was pale. What the hell could possibly have happened?? I was and still am distraught over this. I know there is no definitive answer anyone can give me. Does it seem I went wrong somewhere? I have 5 silver dollars, 3 yoyos, one siamensis and cherry barbs in addition to the now two clowns. No others are affected. The tank has been established for well over five years. I don't check water paramaters, I don't feel the need to. I do weekly/bi-weekly water changes. The tank is 55 gallons with an over the back power filter. Things have been great up until the last month. I'm just really disappointed.

Thanks for reading.

Fran

[DainBramage1991]

Very sorry to hear that you lost a clown.

If the tank has been established for 3 years (assuming you haven't added any new fish in that time), it's highly unlikely that your clowns had ich as it has no dormant stage.

If I had to guess, I would say that your clowns were stressed out from the temperature change (realizing full well that you had no control over that), and were likely made susceptible to some kind of secondary infection, be it bacterial, parasitic, or fungal.

I guess I was lucky. A few months back I purchased one of the last containers of Jungle anti-parasitic fish food from Amazon.com. It's no longer available, and Jungle no longer makes anything even remotely like it. Fortunately I scored a 14 oz. can of it, so I should have enough to last.

No matter how well established your tank is, I highly recommend monitoring your water quality frequently. A sudden pH change, an ammonia spike, or any number of other potentially deadly problems can be detected/prevented through regular water quality testing.

[chefkeith]

Sorry to hear it. Ammonia Alert meters are nice things to have when in doubt. They cost about $10 and last over a year if it's kept clean. I usually keep one on every tank.

[NancyD]

I'm sorry your clown died. Lack of power & good filtration, temp drop & then meds may have been enough to cause a problem with your fish. I hope your others will be ok now. I don't miss NE winter & the potential trouble at all.

[Fran]

Thank you everyone. You would think an entire tank would suffer if it were experiencing the things you're all suggesting. Ah well, thank you for comments. Appreciate the feedback.

[DainBramage1991]

Loaches in general, and clowns especially, are more sensitive to water conditions than most other fish.

[chefkeith]

You would think an entire tank would suffer if it were experiencing the things you're all suggesting.

Not necessarily. When problems are at subclinical levels, it usually just picks off the weakest fish 1st. Then when those subclinical problems multiply it becomes ever more taxing. A large tank temp fluctuation followed by an ammonia spike is probably enough to take out the weakest fish.

I recently lost one clown loach (out of about 40) probably from an ammonia spike after a large water change. I completely forgot that my water conditioner/dechlorinator doesn't detoxify ammonia. I usually have an ammonia alert meter on all my tanks, but I removed the one from my main tanks and put it on quarantine tank. The death was my fault because I left my main tank vulnerable to an ammonia spike. I went out and purchased another Ammonia Alert Meter and some Amquel Plus, so that this doesn't happen to my fish again.

[Fran]

Not to beat a dead horse, but the tank was back up and running for a two good weeks, it was only then that I saw the behavior change. Though two loaches showed signs of stress around the second week after the power outage, they had a a good week once they were treated with the flakes and the Kordon. So that is why I'm surprised. If the loach suffered from the ammonia spike, how long could the fish have lasted? Wouldn't it have perished within a few days of the spike? As soon as water was back to normal meaning the temp, it is then I did another water change. I did one the day before the storm and as soon as I thought safe after the storm. I had airstones running the entire time power was off. I guess it is one of those things that can't be explained. I'd like to add a third to the tank, but I will hold off for awhile.