Clown rapid mouth movement

[falter]

Yesterday my son pointed out that our rescue clown was 'chattering' constantly. I can't pin down when it started but in videos from a few days ago I don't really notice it. It seems like it started sometime around when I installed a new acrylic top on our Biocube. It was one we made for ourselves and drilled lots of holes into, but I thought maybe it wasn't circulating enough air. She seems to have a normal appetite and otherwise behaves normally. Is this anything to worry about?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yesterday my son pointed out that our rescue clown was 'chattering' constantly. I can't pin down when it started but in videos from a few days ago I don't really notice it. It seems like it started sometime around when I installed a new acrylic top on our Biocube. It was one we made for ourselves and drilled lots of holes into, but I thought maybe it wasn't circulating enough air. She seems to have a normal appetite and otherwise behaves normally. Is this anything to worry about?

Looks to be a gill issue and can be brook but need brighter white light intensity- no blue lights to clearly see and assess

 

[falter]

Does this help?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Does this help?

Light is a little dark but how is tank filtered and how are you testing ammonia levels?

 

[falter]

Right now we have floss, carbon, sponge and these 'bone' things.. I dont know the terminology but the aquarist at our LFS gave them to us. Long hollow bone-like filter media. We also have a Coralife protein skimmer. Ammonia is checked via an Ammonia Alert tag which I personally find a bit ambiguous.

Nitrites are zero, nitrates are almost zero, no copper.

Here's a video under stronger lighting. She's tough to film as she gets camera shy.



Appreciate the help! This has been a really steep learning curve!

 

[christinna77]

Right now we have floss, carbon, sponge and these 'bone' things.. I dont know the terminology but the aquarist at our LFS gave them to us. Long hollow bone-like filter media. We also have a Coralife protein skimmer. Ammonia is checked via an Ammonia Alert tag which I personally find a bit ambiguous.

Nitrites are zero, nitrates are almost zero, no copper.

Here's a video under stronger lighting. She's tough to film as she gets camera shy.



Appreciate the help! This has been a really steep learning curve!

Fellow Vancouverite! I checked your post history and it looks like the clownfish was having some breathing issues and swimming erratically a few weeks ago already. Did those symptoms completely go away after you increased the surface agitation?

I wonder if the oxygen levels dropped again or if ammonia could've been involved both times. I'd probably get a regular ammonia checker, like a Hanna, and double check the reading since I've heard those badges can fail.

For fish medics, here's the previous video OP posted when the clownfish was swimming erratically around three weeks ago. These two incidents could be connected:

 

[falter]

Fellow Vancouverite! I checked your post history and it looks like the clownfish was having some breathing issues and swimming erratically a few weeks ago already. Did those symptoms completely go away after you increased the surface agitation?

I wonder if the oxygen levels dropped again or if ammonia could've been involved both times. I'd probably get a regular ammonia checker, like a Hanna, and double check the reading since I've heard those badges can fail.

For fish medics, here's the previous video OP posted when the clownfish was swimming erratically around three weeks ago. These two incidents could be connected:

Small world!

I mean, I'm new to clownfish and this fish has kept me up at night a bunch of times - one evening I found her more or less floating on her side at the top of the tank.. thought she was dead-- but apparently was just sleeping.

After the 'gulping' incident she seemed better, but I confess I never really paid attention to her mouth movements as I didn't know what was normal with clown fish. I've read online and there's no real consensus - some people say it's normal clown behavior, other's say it's a sign of stress. Apart from her mouth movements, nothing else seems out of the ordinary, at least for the short three weeks we've had her. We have no 'normal' baseline to compare with though.

I'll invest in a Hanna.. I went with the badge as it was claimed to be reliable.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Right now we have floss, carbon, sponge and these 'bone' things.. I dont know the terminology but the aquarist at our LFS gave them to us. Long hollow bone-like filter media. We also have a Coralife protein skimmer. Ammonia is checked via an Ammonia Alert tag which I personally find a bit ambiguous.

Nitrites are zero, nitrates are almost zero, no copper.

Here's a video under stronger lighting. She's tough to film as she gets camera shy.



Appreciate the help! This has been a really steep learning curve!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I can't tell in the last picture - do you have just this one fish, or is there a second clownfish? We use a variety of "clues" to try and pin down the problem. Generally, if there are more than one fish in the tank, and all are showing symptoms, it is a water quality or disease issue. If the tank has multiple fish and only one is showing signs, it is usually not a water quality issue, and if it is a disease, it is either something that hasn't spread to the other fish (yet) or is a disease of just that one fish.

At this point, I'm worried about lack of oxygen or high carbon dioxide. Aquariums require surface agitation in order to maintain good gas exchange. The addition of the lid, combined with poor aeration, could be causing this.

Is this clown still feeding normally?

 

[falter]

Thank you!

So we started the tank with a new, really small powerhead. However the tank came with a Jebao Wavemaker 25, we just had to find a power supply for it as the original was dead. It works, but it generates considerable force and I don't like running the speed at more than 1 because it makes it impossible for the fish to rest. I'm almost wondering if the 25 is too big for this tank.

But one thing it does is agitate the surface. I have it about 1/3 down the back wall on the left, angled up. My hope was to prevent dead zones at the bottom of the tank. Seems to be doing enough that just a tiny bit of sand moves around now and then, not blowing it in a giant sandstorm as it would if I cranked up the speed. Is it enough? I'm not experienced enough to say. She's been living with it for 2 weeks seemingly without issue. The last time we had a suspected oxygen issue, she was staying at the top of the tank bobbing wildly back and forth and gasping for air at the surface. Definitely not doing that now.

I have ordered a Hanna ammonia checker as now I am not trusting the little ammonia safe tag. I regret though, I never really paid attention to her mouth movements before so I have no idea if this is a new thing for sure or just something she does. She has been through so much.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you!

So we started the tank with a new, really small powerhead. However the tank came with a Jebao Wavemaker 25, we just had to find a power supply for it as the original was dead. It works, but it generates considerable force and I don't like running the speed at more than 1 because it makes it impossible for the fish to rest. I'm almost wondering if the 25 is too big for this tank.

But one thing it does is agitate the surface. I have it about 1/3 down the back wall on the left, angled up. My hope was to prevent dead zones at the bottom of the tank. Seems to be doing enough that just a tiny bit of sand moves around now and then, not blowing it in a giant sandstorm as it would if I cranked up the speed. Is it enough? I'm not experienced enough to say. She's been living with it for 2 weeks seemingly without issue. The last time we had a suspected oxygen issue, she was staying at the top of the tank bobbing wildly back and forth and gasping for air at the surface. Definitely not doing that now.

I have ordered a Hanna ammonia checker as now I am not trusting the little ammonia safe tag. I regret though, I never really paid attention to her mouth movements before so I have no idea if this is a new thing for sure or just something she does. She has been through so much.

Water circulation first always increase gas exchange - you need to have bubbles breaking the surface tension as well. A protein skimmer does that, as does an air stone. That said, as I mentioned, if just one fish in a group is showing symptoms, it isn’t an oxygen issue.

 

[falter]

Thank you!

Everything else in the tank seems fine. I am running the protein skimmer plus the Wavemaker.. I do have a 'custom' acrylic top we made to retain heat and slow evap.. we took it off when we got worried about oxygen but I'm beginning to suspect Repo is just a bit odd. She is eating normally and doing her clown stuff.

The top sits directly on the tank, I drilled holes and it doesn't go all the way to the back, so there's large air gaps back there. I don't think it's harming anything.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you!

Everything else in the tank seems fine. I am running the protein skimmer plus the Wavemaker.. I do have a 'custom' acrylic top we made to retain heat and slow evap.. we took it off when we got worried about oxygen but I'm beginning to suspect Repo is just a bit odd. She is eating normally and doing her clown stuff.

The top sits directly on the tank, I drilled holes and it doesn't go all the way to the back, so there's large air gaps back there. I don't think it's harming anything.

If the top slows evaporation (water vapor) then it will also slow gas exchange. Does your protein skimmer draw air from outside the tank and lid? That’s a big help if it does…..

 

[falter]

If the top slows evaporation (water vapor) then it will also slow gas exchange. Does your protein skimmer draw air from outside the tank and lid? That’s a big help if it does…..

Yes, there is no lid on the 3 chambers at the back, and the skimmer is installed in the first chamber per Coralife instructions (it's their own skimmer supposedly intended for the Biocube).

Its definitely generating huge columns of bubbles. I'm hoping between that, the water tumbling down into that second chamber and the Wavemaker agitating the surface that ought to be enough?