Tl;dr - watch the attached video and let me know if you think this fish looks ill. 
Apologies in advance for the length. A little over 4 months ago, some friends who were moving gave us this FO 40g tall tank. It came with four clownfish - one cinnamon, two orange ocellaris, and one black & white (I think?). Knowing what I know now, this is less than an ideal combo, but they generally get along. I don't know how old they are or where they came from. The only other tank inhabitants are a coral banded shrimp and assorted hermit crabs and snails.
I'm religious about water changes and I check my parameters at least once a week. Currently, they are:
Temp - 78°
Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 20
Phosphates - 0
Calcium 380
dKH - 14
pH - 8
I just added a little crushed coral to get the calcium and pH up a titch, and I've been working to solve the dKH issue (it was 22 the first time I measured it, before I got RO/DI) but otherwise, this tank has been stable for months.
Then:
Now:
This little guy (Pickles) was initially a bit of a bully to the smallest fish, but the pecking order seems to have shifted recently. I can't tell if his behavior has changed because of stress, or if he has some other issue. He seems a little pale to me, and he spends a lot of time hiding in low-flow corners - behind HOB equipment and a canister filter. I don't see anything obvious that looks like fungus, and his breathing doesn't seem rapid to me. He still eats well.
Anything that suggests an illness?
I'm in the process of setting up a 120g reef tank and plan to put water in it before Xmas. My plan was to cycle the tank and move these clowns into it, hoping some more space could alleviate whatever tension they're causing each other. I'd like to use their current tank as the QT for new additions, but not if there's a chance of sharing disease with newcomers.
Any cause for concern? Much appreciated.
Apologies in advance for the length. A little over 4 months ago, some friends who were moving gave us this FO 40g tall tank. It came with four clownfish - one cinnamon, two orange ocellaris, and one black & white (I think?). Knowing what I know now, this is less than an ideal combo, but they generally get along. I don't know how old they are or where they came from. The only other tank inhabitants are a coral banded shrimp and assorted hermit crabs and snails.
I'm religious about water changes and I check my parameters at least once a week. Currently, they are:
Temp - 78°
Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 20
Phosphates - 0
Calcium 380
dKH - 14
pH - 8
I just added a little crushed coral to get the calcium and pH up a titch, and I've been working to solve the dKH issue (it was 22 the first time I measured it, before I got RO/DI) but otherwise, this tank has been stable for months.
Then:
Now:
This little guy (Pickles) was initially a bit of a bully to the smallest fish, but the pecking order seems to have shifted recently. I can't tell if his behavior has changed because of stress, or if he has some other issue. He seems a little pale to me, and he spends a lot of time hiding in low-flow corners - behind HOB equipment and a canister filter. I don't see anything obvious that looks like fungus, and his breathing doesn't seem rapid to me. He still eats well.
Anything that suggests an illness?
I'm in the process of setting up a 120g reef tank and plan to put water in it before Xmas. My plan was to cycle the tank and move these clowns into it, hoping some more space could alleviate whatever tension they're causing each other. I'd like to use their current tank as the QT for new additions, but not if there's a chance of sharing disease with newcomers.
Any cause for concern? Much appreciated.
