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itsamanda
03/29/2013, 12:28 PM
Hi everyone,

Im a little concerned about whats going on in my tank. I have a 55 gallon fish only with a lot of live rock. 6 line wrasse, 4 clownfish, and just lost a blue baby hippotang. Its been set up for about 7 months now. Just got my my water quality checked, everything looks good except my pH is a little low. I'm buying calcium carbonator for that today.

I just recently bought new lighting. Went from a standard tank hood low lighting from pet store to t5 ho, 320 watt. Its a big jump, and i dont think I realized the affect it would have on the fish. Just a few days after I switched the lighting, my blue hippotang started hiding a lot, but was still eating. And then I wake up one morning and he was dead. He was already developing a little bit of white spots (ick im assuming), so I knew he was already under stress (bc of the pH).

I'm assuming the mistake I made was switching the lighting too rapidly, considering the pH was already an issue?
One of my clownfish is starting to slow also, suddenly hanging out at the bottom of the tank, when he usually doesnt. Should I be worried?

Help!!

MrClam
03/29/2013, 12:36 PM
Although fish dont need alot of lighting to live I have never heard of light causing enough stress alone to kill a fish. My guess is fish compatibility issues. All clownfish are somewhat aggressive when established and some species can become very aggressive and take over almost all of your 55g tank. Also you can not keep 4 clowns in a 55g as they will kill eachother until only 2 remain. The 6line is a notoriously mean fish and could be attacking the tang even if it is larger than the 6-line.

Also could be disease. I assume you did not QT so there could be Ich or other diseases killing your fish.

Id suggest reading the disease and QT stickies at the top of New to the Hobby. Also swing by the "please check your fish compatibility" thread and ask snorvich about fish behavior, as he is very knowledgable and helpful. HTH

nynick
03/29/2013, 12:38 PM
I doubt that the lights have anything to do with it. Did you add anything to try to fix your PH? Ph being a little off is usually fine, trying to fix it often cause problems.

Fish Biscuit
03/29/2013, 12:38 PM
+1 on the clowns & the six line. 2 clowns have to go before you have a blood bath. I don't think it's the lighting either.

nynick
03/29/2013, 01:17 PM
4 clowns can be ok as long as they came in together and are the same type. 1 will go female, 1 male and 2 unsexed. It is how they live in the ocean, in groups, but an aquarium is a lot smaller than an ocean so you need to keep an eye on them. I have seen this work in tanks but also seen tanks where it did not.

jube66
03/29/2013, 01:28 PM
+1 for only keeping 2 of the clownfish. I also wouldn't put any type of wrasse in with a blue tang either. Blue tangs can be hard enough to get acclimated and keep healthy, add in a agressive fish and the fact that its only a 55 gallon tank. With that size tank, you may have some difficulty keeping a blue tang anyways.

Rognin
03/29/2013, 01:40 PM
You can keep as many clownfish as you want in a tank, as long as there is only one female and one male. The others won't get a sex is all and might get nipped at by the dominant female.

itsamanda
03/29/2013, 02:46 PM
Thanks for the help guys. I actually have ahd the clowns together with the wrasse for about 5 months. For some reason they love eachother. I am constantly looking at my tank, they hang around eachother all the time, it's very surprising :) Ive never once seen them show any aggression towards each other. Two black, two orange.
Once I put the blue tang in there I kept a closer eye on their behaviors. For some reason the tang loved the clowns, and would hang near them allll the time too. Again, they never attacked each other, even during feeding time. I guess I snagged perfect tempermant fish.

My wrasse also hasnt touched a fish either from what Ive seen. He is actually the most lively one, swims everywhere.

Also, when it comes to the ich, I spent a few days coming back to the fish store to check on the blue tang to make sure it was healthy, eating, and not forming any kind of ich spots. Everything looked great, until about 4 days after I put him in my tank. He hid for a few days, then hung out with the clowns, ate fine, then suddenly started to develop some spots, but was still eating. Then this happened after I changed the lights.

Maybe I missed something when it comes to my observations :/ Had to be something..

nynick
03/29/2013, 03:41 PM
Clowns and wrasse are petty resistant to Ick and rarely show symptoms, he could have gotten it in your tank.

Sk8r
03/29/2013, 04:12 PM
death of the tang was ich, which is caused by a parasite, not stress. Light only showed it up. You need to treat for the sake of your other fish: go to the Fish Disease forum and start reading the stickies. DO not treat your display tank.

MrTuskfish
03/29/2013, 05:17 PM
4 clowns can be ok as long as they came in together and are the same type. 1 will go female, 1 male and 2 unsexed. It is how they live in the ocean, in groups, but an aquarium is a lot smaller than an ocean so you need to keep an eye on them. I have seen this work in tanks but also seen tanks where it did not.
They will only be OK until they are sexually mature and a pair forms. At that point, the pair will not tolerate any other clowns in the tank. Yeah, there is the rare exception; but the 1st rule of clownfish is never keep more than one pair of clowns in the same tank. Wild, adult clowns do not stay in groups.

MrTuskfish
03/29/2013, 05:20 PM
Clowns and wrasse are petty resistant to Ick and rarely show symptoms, he could have gotten it in your tank.

This is news to me. Do you have a source? Ich on clowns and most wrasse is common.

nynick
03/29/2013, 05:54 PM
Many Clowns do live in groups in the wild, I have seen this with my own eyes. If this applies to an aquarium is uncertain though but I have seen it done. THey might need a bigger space but I guess it all depends on how nasty a female you have.

As for the Ick it is from my own experience. Added a Sailfin Tang from a fellow hobbyist to my tank. The Tang was from a VERY festidious guy and was from an absolutely Ick free tank. I had 2 Clowns, 2 yellow Wrasse and a blenny of which neither had shown any signs of Ick, ever. They had been in my tank for a long time (6 months++) with no new introductions. A few days after adding the Tang he comes down with Ick and dies, neither of the other fish were affected in anyway that was at all noticable, no spots, no itching against rocks, nothing.

MrTuskfish
03/30/2013, 08:52 AM
Many Clowns do live in groups in the wild, I have seen this with my own eyes. If this applies to an aquarium is uncertain though but I have seen it done. THey might need a bigger space but I guess it all depends on how nasty a female you have.

As for the Ick it is from my own experience. Added a Sailfin Tang from a fellow hobbyist to my tank. The Tang was from a VERY festidious guy and was from an absolutely Ick free tank. I had 2 Clowns, 2 yellow Wrasse and a blenny of which neither had shown any signs of Ick, ever. They had been in my tank for a long time (6 months++) with no new introductions. A few days after adding the Tang he comes down with Ick and dies, neither of the other fish were affected in anyway that was at all noticable, no spots, no itching against rocks, nothing.

A group of young clowns and a bonded pair are two different things. A bonded pair will claims territory and not allow any fish near it. Sure, there's an exception here and there ; there always is.

The incidents of wrasses and clowns are just a couple of anecdotal accounts; I'm not doubting what happened; but that's hardly anything more than a single event. Its hardly enough reason to state it as a broad fact, IMO. I've seen and treated several clowns and wrasse with ich and have never read that either group has any resistance to ich. Many fish will sometimes develop a TEMPORARY immunity to some strains of ich, this may help explain your experience.

nynick
03/30/2013, 11:55 AM
I agree with you on the Ich actually. As I reread what I wrote the wording was rather poor. I never intended to imply that they are immune or even close to, just that they are less sensitive to it than Tangs and often do not show symptoms even if they have it.

As for the Clowns and groups take a look at this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oc5PF-Dc_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oc5PF-Dc_Q

This looks very much like what I have seen while diving and snorkling. One large, one medium and planty of small clowns. Of course, how this would work in the smaller space of an aquarium is questionable. It is one of my dreams though IF I ever get my mega tank. :)

MrTuskfish
03/30/2013, 01:56 PM
Nice videos! I think they are probably young fish trying to ge the attention of the big female. When they start spawning, I believe this will change.

nynick
03/30/2013, 02:56 PM
Probably....but if I could just get a big enough tank....lol. It does look amazing!

...and wow, the amount of thread derailing I have done in the last week.