sick clown knife?

[phreakyfaerie]

A few days ago i bought a small clown knife, about 4 inches. he is in a 55 gallon tank all by himself, the ph is kept at 7.0 the temp at 78, and the tank was set up and running for a week before i bought him. This morning i woke up and he was nose down at the bottom of the tank with his tail folded over to the gravel as well. he is breathing, and if you disturb him he will swim for about a minute and then go nose down again. He also got up for a minute to eat some brine shrimp, but not much. I have only had him a few days,and i don't want him to die. does anyone out there know what is wrong with him and what can be done about it?

 

[stotty]

Poss new tank syndrome. When an aquarium is set up the filter is only capable of circulating and aerating the water and removing larger suspended particles. It cannot breakdown the toxic ammonia. Filters are not capable of removing ammonia without the naturally occurring bacteria that live upon the filtering material.have a look at this
http://www.algone.com/new_tank_syndrome.htm

or go back to the store if they are any good they will do a full water test for you if the fish is dead

 

[Opiate]

raise ur ph up to bout 7.4 to...neutral is to low for a clown knife fish..

 

[rook45]

yeah what he said

 

[kiloindia]

I have a 55 gal up and running with 4 severums and 6 firemouths. All quite small. I'm going to move the occupants to a 75 gal. I'm getting a new clown tomorrow. I want to put the clown and a senegal bichir in the 55. Will the bio hold up with just these two little guys in there? The tank is well established now. I actually might try two clowns. They come in about 3-4 inches at my lfs. They will graduate over the next year to a 240 gallon. The 240 will should be up and running by march 1st. Tank coming 2/18. I might even start these squirts out in a 20 gal long for the first few months depending on growth rate. I'm new to this site so I'm gonna also put this on a new thread. Thanks in advance all!!

Dave