second clown is dead?

[jhale]

Last night I noticed one of my two clowns missing.
This morning I saw him/her dead on the bottom.
This is the second clown to die within a couple of months.
The one that's still alive is from the original pair I bought.

Is it possible the clowns are dying from exhaustion?
They have to swim against a strong current all day.
There is anthilia growing on the bottom that they have decided to host in.
The spot they have picked is where my right side CL flow meets my tunze flow. It creates a strong current. At night the CL shuts off so the tank gets some quiet night time currents.

Is this the problem, or am I getting clowns that are sick?
I'm reluctant to put another clown in the tank, and may be looking for a good stress free home for the one I have left, plus all the anthilia you may want.

 

[junglebase]

anthelia

PM'ed you

 

[NYPDFrogman]

sorry to hear about the loss Jon

I've had my clowns for years and I have a tunze pump running 24/7
they've finally hosted a BTA which has been in the tank for 8 months
they used to find refuge in a toad stool ( although I pefer an camel toad myself)

when they seem "exhausted they retreat into the anenome or the toad stool.
do you have an anenome in the tank. every clown I've had did better with an anenome

 

[ctxmonitor]

very sorry to hear that, j. Hope your last one will last longer for you.. He is eating fine and no sign of stress,wear, right?

 

[Deanos]

Sorry to hear Jon. I believe if the clown was dying of exhaustion, it would first show signs of stress. Lack of appetite, fin damage, and weight loss come to mind. By nature, clowns are poor swimmers, but they still do so constantly, even while sleeping.

 

[jawwad2004]

John, sorry to hear about the clown. If you decide to look for a new home, I'll be wililng to take it. I am going to sell the Sebae's in my tank, they have been doin the mating dance and I dont want any babies, lol, so your clown will have a nice home with an anemone (plus the anthelia you gave me from before, its growing like crazy!)

 

[spykes]

might be toxation released from the clove polyp, sometimes it's not heathy when they bite it and eat the slime off the softy, but usually that isnt the case.

john get a bigger clown, the bigger ones might do better in your tank.]


btw you know some ppl dont know and they feed their clowns caulpra and that calupra toxon kills alot of tangs, btw if people dont know about macro toxians

There are papers out there on the effects of caulerpenyne on a variety of organisms.

1)Neuroscience. 2001;107(3):519-26. Mozzachiodi R, et al.

Caulerpenyne, a toxin from the seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia, depresses afterhyperpolarization in invertebrate neurons.

2) J Biochem Toxicol. 1996;11(5):243-50. Galgani I et al.

Effect of caulerpenyne, a toxin extracted from Caulerpa taxifolia on mechanisms regulating intracellular pH in sea urchin eggs and sea bream hepatocytes.

Its a powerful inhibitor of Na/K-ATPase. However, it's prolific growth is the number one concern, because it can smother other organisms

Some general information

The worst in terms of toxicity is caulerpa racemosa.

Fish that continually eat unnatural amounts of caulerpa will die.

Stony Coral growth is inhibited by noxious emissions of caulerpa when in close proximity.

Caulerpa produce toxic metabolites that can be toxic in small concentrations to urchin larvae within 24 hours, some toxic to fish within 1 hour.

50% of conchs died within 6 days feeding on Caulerpa caulerpenyne at very high levels.

Most of the toxins are located in the tips of young growing plants and reproductive structures. So the more you prune it the higher levels of toxins get released due to the pruning.

If you can find them, check these studies

Meinesz, Alexandre and Simberloff, Daniel. 1999. Killer Algae.
University of Chicago Press, Chicago. pp. 295-304.

Littler, Diane Scullion and Littler, Mark Masterson. 2000. Caribbean Reef Plants.
OffShore Graphics Inc, Washington, D.C. pp. 356-380

Hashimoto Y, Fusetani N, Nozawa K.
Screening of the toxic algae on coral reefs. 569-572.

Anjaneyulu ASR, Prakash CVS, Raju KVS, Mallavadhani UV. 1992.
Isolation of new aromatic derivatives from a marine algal species Caulerpa racemosa.
J Natural Products 55(4): 496-499.

 

[Deanos]

btw you know some ppl dont know and they feed their clowns caulpra and that calupra toxon kills alot of tangs, btw if people dont know about macro toxians

There are papers out there on the effects of caulerpenyne on a variety of organisms.

 

[spykes]

hehe, i know alot of ppl who just grow amcros on their rocks and direct prunes =D

 

[jawwad2004]

So basically I should get rid of that grape caulerpa growing in my fuge?

 

[spykes]

you should go cheato, even they have byproducts but alot less deadly then caulpra, run alot of carbon when your prune if your running caulpra and dont feed it to fish.

 

[ulmo]

Jonathan,

Sorry to hear about your clown. Percs are touchy sometimes and I agree with NYPDFireman. They seem to behave more naturally if there's an anemone present.

Spykes, thanks for the post about the caulerpa. I have a hippo tang that loves to eat grape caulerpa, but I think it's a bad idea now. I wonder, what eats caulerpa, besides a nudibranch that feeds exclusively on C. taxifolia?

 

[jhale]

hey all.

I don't have an anemone in the tank. and I don't want to put one in the tank.

The clowns seemed very happy playing in the anthilia, they stay in it all day and only come out to eat. what would the difference be between an anemone and anthilia as far as the clown fish is concerned?

I don't know what to do with the other clown, I could look for a larger one to be it's mate, but I don't want any more clowns to die
I'm still on the fence with regards to yanking all the anthilia from the tank.
It may not fit in with my new biotope philosophy.

 

[SlamaJama]

It may not fit in with my new biotope philosophy.

??...wats that?

 

[jhale]

I want to try and design what's in my tank like what you would find in one spot of a reef. this is the start of my idea, well not my idea, but my idea to do this with my tank,

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5639

 

[House of Laughter]

John,

I have found they usually are predated by some others, perhaps your scopas? I had 2 as well and they just died (from stress I think).

House

 

[jhale]

other than the original clown picking on him for a day no one ever bothered him.
both clowns were left alone on the bottom of the tank by the other fish.

none of the fish in my tank have fought with each other yet.

 

[Dmitry]

If you decide to get rid of this Perc I'll take him. My needs a mate! (And I got an anemone...though he's ignoring it.)

 

[SlamaJama]

john, luv that thread...need to read that abit...very kool

 

[jhale]

thanks, I always liked the idea of using that info to set up a tank.
not too many other people seemed into it though?
I was hoping for some reef photos and stuff like that. I'll just keep adding stuff to it as I find it.