Clown not eating - please help

[klkelly]

This isn't an active forum but I hope someone helps me. I've received no replies yet on nanoreef either.

Ph 8.3
alkalinity 161.1
ammonia 0 (tested after I added amquel+, i use this for my freshwater tanks)
nitrite 0
nitrate 2.5-5.0
salinity 1.021 - normally keep it at 1.023.
Temp though is on the low side at 75.6 so I'm upping this. Not sure why the temperature is low. Its normally 77-78F.
15G - just some soft corals. He's the only fish. We have red scarlets and some burrowing snails that were original to the tank when we set it up two years ago. Still dealing with diatom issues.
AC110 empty on the back for extra water and volume flow.
17lbs of live rock. Live sand.
Change 25%-30% weekly. Use Culligan store bought RO water only.

My husband did it again. An overzealous cleaning of the tank 2 days ago. There was sediment all through the water and he puts filter floss in the back of the AC110 to catch this. Now the clown isn't eating.

I don't know whats wrong with him but I'm 100% sure it related to how my husband did this big tank cleanup (dusting the rocks with a turkey baster).

I've read online that it could be brookynella (spelling) and it talks to formalin dips and qt at 1.010 salt. I can set up a 10G QT tank today.

I don't want to kill him though - especially because I'm not sure what exactly is wrong.

He's not eating. And when we turn off the pumps to feed him he swims back and forth to maintain a hovering position.

Please help. I really want him to recover.

Karrie

[Blakes]

How old is the set-up?
How long have you had the clown & what type is she?

I would recommend slowly (over a few weeks) increasing the specific gravity to 1.025ppm and raise the water temperature (slowly) to 78 degrees.

What are you feeding her?

Have you designed lots of hidding spots for the clown within your rock work?

The turkey baster cleaning is fine (releases food for your corals and cleans the rock surface.

What do you mean by a major clean? This could start a new cycle.

[liv]

clowns are quite strong, and I think he probebly had his share of junk in the last few days with the murky water ( he might have ate some of it ) so he could be just full and of course stressed. if he's swimming normally, he should pull through.

[klkelly]

Thanks guys. Tank has been set up for two years. He's been in the tank about 1.5 years. He gets fed a mix of oceanic flakes and mysis shrimp. We did buy cyclopeeze but its too small for him. Pellets are too big. I will check ammonia today but he didn't scrub the rocks so I don't know if it was enough to cause a blip. I put amquel in last night just in case.

He is flashing in the sand bed today.

By a major cleaning I mean all the stuff he blew off the rocks suspended in the water. Then he turned all the pumps on and put floss in the AC110. So the little guy had to swim in all that sediment.

I will slowly increase the salinity. But I've read in cases like this lower salinity for him might be better if we've set off some parasite like clown fish disease? Should I try a freshwater or formalin dip - I've never done either ever before.

He has lots of hiding spaces. Two caves are formed by our rocks. He loves to hang out under both of them.

[klkelly]

I kept the lights off all day today and just turned them on - he is out and swimming. But the flashing is new.

[klkelly]

He ate tonight!

[Blakes]

Keep an eye on her. The flashing in he sand sounds like a possible issue. Do you have any cleaner shrimp in your set-up? These guys are worth every penny, I will not have a tank without one.