Weird clownfish behavior?

[esstwokay]

I have a 29g tank and did a 3 gallon water change yesterday and moved some rocks around so I could make it easier to clean the glass. Since then, one of my clownfish has been acting a little weird. He's been hovering near the tank bottom and kind of wiggling around. I posted a video for reference (the fish in question is the larger of the two). Is this normal in that the fish is reacclimating to the environment or something else I should look for?

Other than that, eating is normal and I don't notice anything else different.

 

[Ron Reefman]

First let me say I'm not a fish expert... not at all.

I'd say the behavior I see there is not normal reaction to moving things in the tank or a water change. She appears to be gasping to breath way more the the smaller (male) clown. Is that still going on?

 

[esstwokay]

It seems to be a bit better - but that could be my wishful thinking.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I don't notice anything on the body of the fish. Would a FW dip make sense?

 

[Mav88]

One of my clowns would swim upside down. I thought swim bladder disease but after a week or so he stopped doing that. Another time early morning he was on his side on the bottom of the tank slowly moving his fins and looked like he was breathing heavily. I went to get a net and coffee and came back to him swimming normally again. No problems since clowns can be weird maybe that's why they are called clownfish. Keep an eye on her, sometimes they are just "clowns". I wouldn't jump into stressing her out more unless it gets worse.

My .02

 

[Ron Reefman]

After reading your original post this morning, this happened at our house:

I posted this to a friend earlier today:
We are dealing with a clown emergency here at home this morning. Our female clown jumped out of the tank! Elaine found it and it looked dead. I put it in a little bowl of tank water and I could see it's gills move a bit even as it was just laying on it's side. Now, a couple of hours later it's in a 16g 'holding tank' I keep set up. It's breathing better, it's upright and moving it fins, but not swimming on it's own yet. I has moved in front of a small powerhead so it has water blowing past it. If I blow water at it with a turkey baster (a good aquarium tool to have) she does swim but comes back to the same rock in front of the pump. At first I gave it a 50/50 chance as we had no idea how badly off she was. Now I'm more optimistic and I give her a 75% chance of recovery.

Now (3 PM EST):
She is swimming, although not moving around, just kind of swimming in place. My concern now is that she is mostly white and now from her back down about half way down her sides she looks darker. Almost as if she had been swimming in carbon dust? Not black, just a mildly dirty white. She will stay in the holding tank for the time being. I offered her a bit of food and she didn't show any interest.

 

[Dbichler]

Hows your flow in the tank thats the only thing I could question doesnt look out of the ordinary besides the gasping.

Ron Reefman
Stress coat or slime coat helps for jumpers they lose a lot when out of water

 

[esstwokay]

Hows your flow in the tank thats the only thing I could question doesnt look out of the ordinary besides the gasping.

Ron Reefman
Stress coat or slime coat helps for jumpers they lose a lot when out of water

Two powerheads on opposite ends. About 1/3 from the top and aimed at the water surface

 

[Dbichler]

I would try to point 1 down or move 1 down to get more flow lower in the tank.

 

[esstwokay]

I would try to point 1 down or move 1 down to get more flow lower in the tank.

Thanks, I appreciate the advice.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@esstwokay, any update this morning?

 

[esstwokay]

@Ron Reefman - Thanks for following up. I think we're trending back to normal, but I'm still keeping an eye on things.

How is your clown doing?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Glad to hear that, and thanks for asking.

She is alive. She seems to be breathing OK and she moves as if she was swimming. But she is really sitting on the bottom and not changing locations. I wonder if her swim bladder has been compromised? When I squirt a bit of water at her with the turkey baster she picks up her pace of swimming motion and actually gets off the bottom and moves. But that only lasts for about 15 seconds then she's back on the bottom.

I'm an optimist and I'll hold out hope and keep her safe. She has a 16g tank all to herself except for some frags on a rack and a few small rocks with corals.

 

[chad vossen]

Watching the video, she's most likely got something on her gills. She looked at the substrate a couple times as if she needed to scratch herself, but she's definitely irritated. The heavy breathing is also a concern, and would support the idea that she's got something on her gills. If you have a quarantine tank, I would move her over and treat with copper to rule out a few parasites.

 

[esstwokay]

Any recommendations on catching or trapping the fish? With the existing rock scape, I'm not sure I can catch her without tearing the tank apart.

 

[esstwokay]

If I can’t catch the fish, what’s my other options? Should I dose prazipro or something else?

 

[Ron Reefman]

@esstwokay, I hope things go better for your clown than they did for mine. She passed last night. Now her very young boy friend is alone in the big tank, so it's time to look for a replacement.

 

[esstwokay]

@Ron Reefman im sorry to hear that.

I'm kind of at a loss on what to do right now. Something still feels a bit "off". The best way to describe it is the fish is off her routine and lost personality in that she mostly hovers in the corner instead of moving around the tank.

I've been unable to catch her the last few days so I could put her in QT.

At this point, I'm just trying to keep an eye on her and the DT and hoping nature finds a way.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'd be inclined to just keep an eye on her and do the best inspection you can without catching her. If things start to look worse, make a new plan and get her caught.

I use a large fish trap that has worked 9 times out of 10. You don't want to know about number ten.

 

[esstwokay]

Thanks. I've rigged a trap out of a water bottle that I used to catch a mean dottyback, but the clown is too big for that.

I have prazipro and general cure on hand should I need it. I also found that the heater for my QT isn't working (temp was 70 with the heater running).

On the plus side, she is eating well, so let's hope that we trend more in the right direction.