health of my clown fish

Question
QUESTION: hey im jd, iv'e had a clown fish for 4 months now,i just moved his tank to my dorm room and he isn't doing to good. he is leaning on the glass swimming sideways.I really need help. i love my nemo, if u want me to cam him so u can see i can do that. i hope u can help me.

ANSWER: hello jd,

sorry to hear about your clownfish problems...

can you please tell me a lttle more about your move... did you change to a new tank??? did you add or subtract any rock or sand?  do you have any filtration and circulation on the new tank???

did you use new water, old water, and did you acclimate the fish to the new water???

and any test results you might have.

as you might know/understand now, moving fish is not easy... lots and lots can go wrong...

I do hope and wish the best for yor uclownfish and hope he pulls through..

for now, maybe just make sure he is eating healthy food...

good luck


bill

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ok sorry, I took the fish and water out of the tank, put them in bags and we put the water and fish back in the tank when we got there. i also have a star fish and a anemone thingy (its orange with purple tenticals). the water in my tank evaporates fast and i think that was my problem with him, the water i put in there made him triply. im really new at this and i need help.. the person at the pet store didn't tell me that is it strongly not recommended to get a 5 gallon salt water tank, and after selling me all the fish i couldn't return them, so im stuck. i think he just wanted my money because he said i needed a crap load of stuff, total of about 200$,i really like these fish and i want them to live as long as they can. the temp of the water is 80ish, i have this crushed coral rock stuff on the bottom of the tank, i also have 2 fake live rocks, i thought about getting 1 small live rock but i don't know. I started to google my clown fish's behaver and it said he is lonely, and something about him getting a ick sickness from the stress of not finding anyone. i don't know if u can help me but ill take any advice. thank you soo muchh

Answer
JD,

PLEASE log onto my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com

It is much easier to communicate/discuss things there.. Plus there are other members there that are also knowledgable and helpful and some newbies kinda like yourself...

But for now... lets take a breathe and kinda start with some basics...

when your tank water evaporates, you need to replace it with FRESH water... this will keep the salinity stable..

You will need to replace SALT water every 1-2 weeks...  about 1 gallon.. so, get a five gallon jug, and fill it up with salt water from your lfs, and keep it handy.. also keep another 5 gallon jug of filtered fresh water... I suggest getting it from the lfs if htey have it, or just from most bottled water machines in front of hte food stores most everywhere now...

label the jugs so you dont mix them up...

test the salinity of your tank... and adjust it so the salinity is about 1.025+/-

then fill up the tank to where you think it is at the top.. and make a mark... on the tank.. on the side somewhere, with permanent marker.. small mark will do..

now, when the water evaporates, you just fill it up to that mark... and the salinity wont change...

make sure you top off the water BEFORE you do saltwater changes.. and just take out a gallon and replce with a gallon of salt water.. and again, the salinity shouldnt change...

also, not sure what test kits you have.. but you need to make sure your tank is fully cycled... so, you need to test for NITRITES and AMMONIA...

you dont want ammonia, and it is normal to have nitrites at the beginning, although you shouldnt have fish and stuff until after all the nitrites are gone...  so, hopefully your tank has cycled, although i am not sure because of the 'fake' rocks...

saltwater tanks do not need mechanical filtration... they dont need sponges, and pads and all that junk that lfs would like to sell you..

the filter is actually organisms.. they grow in the rock and sand, and aroudn the tank, on the glass and on the tubing/pipes/etc...

I strongly urge you to get as much live rock as you can stand to look at and decorate/aquascape your tank...

anything else will just give the algae places to grow and nto be able to filter the tank...


as for your clown, you still didnt really detail all the info i requested.. what water did you use, etc...

it is important to know that, as when you do make moves like this, it stirs up the sand and the organisms, and whatever dead/decaying stuff... and the organisms will think that dead/decaying stuff is food, and actually think things are 'better' then they are. and start to multiply, and when the junk settles down the organisms will be too plentiful and then end up starving, and dieing and then decomposing, and end up feeding/tricking new organisms to repeat the process...

this process, is normal and now mayb you can understand why they refer to it as cycle...  cause it swings from bad to good to bad to good and each time it gets closer to becomeing STABLE...

but for now, lets let you digest this info, and PLEASE log onto the www.thelittleocean.com  and introduce yourself... Im sure you will like it... if you contribute enuf, which isnt a lot, I will setup a personal forum for you to keep your info all together... but for now, just post whereever you want...


good luck and hope to hear from you soon


bill