Midnight clownfish swimming out of control!

[Kactai]

Hi All,

I have a small black ocellaris clownfish. He’s in quarantine following 30 days of copper during which time his mate has died.

He is currently being fed metro and focus laced brine shrimp and mysis shrimp.

I did a 5 min freshwater dip to check for flukes and nothing.

He’s swimming like a lunatic when being fed and sometimes when the lights come on.

Here is a quick video.


What do you think? Has he gonna banannas? Is something else wrong or is it just stress?

I have a replacement mate for him waiting at te LFS.

Let me know what you think. I wasn’t able to find much advice or info through my searches.

 

[Humblefish]

That is definitely NOT normal. Does he go right back to eating after spazzing like that??

 

[infinite0180]

Wow thats crazzy. I feel bad for the guy. Following along to see what comes of this...

 

[Kactai]

Yeah he usually goes right back to eating and swimming in his pvc pipe.

He’s got a huge appetite but unless I’m feeding he just lies on his belly in his pvc pipe. He’s not super lively but he still gets out.

Could it be copper poisionning? Maybe issues from ammonia burns to his gills from my previous qt mistakes?

I’m on day 9-10 of feeding with the metro and focus. With a few of no food here and there due to travel.

I want to get this fish a mate but I’m hesitant to put him in the display which I will need to do to free up the QT space for his new partner.

 

[Big G]

When did this behavior first start?

 

[Kactai]

When did this behavior first start?

About a week and a half after his partner died and about a week after copper treatment ended.

 

[Robert McCreary]

if he dies; get a tox screen done on him. I'm sorry, this is happening. I'm tagging along

 

[Robert McCreary]

its copper overdose!!!! do water change
maybe.;Bookworm hmmm.... idk. ill research some more. i found erratic swimming as a possible symptom in the handy notebook i bought at barns and noble.
https://www.vin.com/apputil/content...ic&catId=28922&id=3979892&ind=23&objTypeID=17
more details on copper poisoning
so it must be something else idk why the book will tell me something that is definitelynot accurate

 

[Robert McCreary]

can you post water parameters

 

[Bill_Moorman]

It almost looks as if he’s being electrocuted. That’s crazy to see.

I hope he gets better!

 

[Kactai]

can you post water parameters

It’s in my Qt, I usually only check for ammonia with the alert badge and test for copper with the Hanna checker when I’m dosing but I’ve done a 100% water change since running copper.... so less than a week ago. I guess I’ll have to break out the test kits.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Unlikely, given its a marine but in freshwater ive seen this reaction in fish when ph crashes suddenly.

 

[Octane13]

Looks a lot like whirling disease. I don't know if/how it affects marine fish.
Following

 

[Big G]

For the time being, I'd stop all meds. Do several water changes until you are confident the water is pristine. Then observe.

 

[Humblefish]

Unlikely, given its a marine but in freshwater ive seen this reaction in fish when ph crashes suddenly.

Looks a lot like whirling disease. I don't know if/how it affects marine fish.
Following

^^ An environmental issue or unknown/rare disease are both possibilities here, as I've never seen anything like this before.

@Kactai If no meds are present in the water, I would run a battery of tests (especially pH) just to be sure.

 

[Big G]

Have you checked the tank for electrical leaks?

 

[lagatbezan]

Have you checked the tank for electrical leaks?

^ this. I would disconnect all electrical equipment and then feed and see of it still persists.
Does it do this when feeding non medicated food as well?

 

[Jahalu]

Wow, that is difficult to watch. I wouldn’t move him into DT as he is. A bare bones qt is probably the safest place to have a violent spasm like that. Do you know for sure what killed his first mate? And at what point did the spasms start? I saw something similar to that in fw guppies years ago along with chatter that it was caused by feeding tubifex worms. But like others, I don’t know how much (if any) carries over into marine. Best wishes.

 

[Gareth elliott]

How is the little guy doing?

 

[Kactai]

I was away at a music festival all weekend but the little guy is doing fine and is still eating well. I have checked for stray voltage and it does not appear to be the issue. I’ve also checked the main parameters
PH 8.1
Cal, Alk and Mag in range. Ammonia is yellow on the alert badge.
Other than the spasms he seems totally fine.

This is a good little mystery.