clowns acting strange

veselym · Apr 4, 2015

I bought 2 bullet hole clowns on Thursday and they looked really good in the store, however, when I got them home and acclimated I noticed one had some flared out gills.

Ever since they have been in the tank they both have been swimming frantically back and forth. The one with flared gills sometimes twitches his head and never really raises his top fins.

The other clown has stared swimming vertically in the top left corner sometimes but then goes back to swimming all over.

Is it a parasite? getting used to the tank maybe?

There are no visible signs of parasites, colors are good other than the ones gills...they both have also eaten food

veselym · Apr 4, 2015

Anyone have any ideas? They do have white stringy poop so I am guessing some intestinal parasites...maybe flukes?

veselym · Apr 5, 2015

So I did a 2 min freshwater dip on the clown with flared gills...he is still shaking his head afterward

RavenSF · Apr 5, 2015

Use Praziquantel it's reef safe so it can be used in your display tank

glb · Apr 5, 2015

Sometimes they swim vertically just because they dig it. As long as he can right himself that alone isn't a problem. I'd be much more worried about the gills.

veselym · Apr 5, 2015

I have had prazipro in the system for 2 days now...no change in habits or gills

veselym · Apr 6, 2015

Is this not flukes maybe, I would think Prazi and a FW dip would give him relief but he is still frantically twitching his head to the side. They both do this now, still no visible signs and they both eat.

am I going crazy

veselym · Apr 6, 2015

Anyone? Do I need to do a longer fw dip

saltyphish · Apr 6, 2015

If it were flukes on the gills the fw dip would provide some relief (temporarily) and you should see some left in the container you dipped them in. Humblefish is pretty knowledgeable with disease and parasites maybe he will chime in with his thoughts

veselym · Apr 6, 2015

I just don't know what else it could be...they don't shake their heads but twitch them to one side or the other...not the submitting shake

Its like if you moved your head right towards the shoulder 3-4 times fast and never the other way

Humblefish · Apr 6, 2015

White stringy poop is a symptom of intestinal parasites. Sometimes praziquantel (Prazipro) takes care of this; sometimes metronidazole is needed. I would switch over to API General Cure, which contains both ingredients.

The flared gills ... does that mean there is redness around the gill area? Did you drip acclimate? If so, how long? Redness around the gills usually indicates ammonia burn.

gar732 · Apr 6, 2015

Clowns can get flared gills due to poor water conditions when the fry are going through meta. It's a deformity in their gill plates and will not go away. It's possible that a parasite or infection can cause it but if you've treated it without improvement then I would lean towards it being a deformity. Posting a pic might help to figure it out one way or the other.

veselym · Apr 6, 2015

I cannot see any redness around the gills and the fish does not breath rapidly at all...I did see another clown from the same distributor that had these same looking gills so maybe a deformity?

It does scratch at it's gills from time to time but not constantly

There are no frayed fins, discoloration in the body...only symptom is the twitching

I dipped the other clown who is also twitching for4 minutes and did not see anything in the water, only some small black looking dandruff

RavenSF · Apr 7, 2015

My Red Lined Wrasse had flukes and after 2 rounds of Prazi, she was still twitching. I opted to wait and see at that point and she quit after a week or so. I think it just took her time to recover from the fluke damage and she's fully recovered since then. The FW dips can be stressful, so unless you know your fish has something that can be relieved by the FW dip, then I would not do them. If your fish does have flukes, then you should see them in the bottom of the container after the FW dip.

veselym · Apr 7, 2015

K thanks...I will do another round of prazi just to be safe

veselym · Apr 9, 2015

Did another round of Prazi today...here is the picture of the clown who has flared gill plates, he looks healthy to me but need other eyes

note that they significantly reduced their twitching and I have not seen either rub on the sand...everyone in the tank eats

Humblefish · Apr 9, 2015

Sometimes fish will display "phantom symptoms" even after a disease has been eradicated. Parasites/worms feed upon their skin or inside their gills; it can take a few weeks for that damage to completely heal. Also, once new tissue starts to grow back it creates an itching sensation... similar to how we feel after a sunburn.

veselym · Apr 9, 2015

thanks humblefish...I might even do a 3rd round of prazi but they are doing much better, I might have just freaked out and assumed they had something. Could have been some behavior from being acclimated/new surroundings

veselym · Apr 11, 2015

Well now both clowns seem to have so.e white streaks on their bodies...the one that I didn't dip is twitching and scratching again, no other fish is twitching or scratching

Not sure if I need to do a 3rd round of prazi or not