Erratic clownfish swimming and strange bulge on stomach

[Narideth]

Hey guys. This is my longfinned clown and while she was fine last night, she seems to be in real stress today. She's swimming with weird full-body jerks, and her stomach has a pointed sort of bulge to it. They haven't been fed yet today and this doesn't look to me like an overfed or bloated clown.

You can see a very clear bulge that is irregularly shaped in the silhouette image.

I turned off the wavemaker, so she's not fighting against much of a current in the video. It's not constant, the jerking, and you can mostly see it a few times near the beginning of the video. No visible damage to any of her fins. There's a very young midnight clown in the tank with her that isn't showing any signs of similar. She has been in the tank for 2-3 months now, but the younger midnight clown is a more recent addition, about 2+ weeks. There's no aggression between them and no other fish in the tank.

Tank's due for a water change admittedly, nitrates are high but not dangerously so. Everything else is normal. I've got water ready though and will go ahead and get a nice water change asap. Thoughts on what might be going on?

 

[Dom]

@vetteguy53081
@Jay Hemdal

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey guys. This is my longfinned clown and while she was fine last night, she seems to be in real stress today. She's swimming with weird full-body jerks, and her stomach has a pointed sort of bulge to it. They haven't been fed yet today and this doesn't look to me like an overfed or bloated clown.

You can see a very clear bulge that is irregularly shaped in the silhouette image.

I turned off the wavemaker, so she's not fighting against much of a current in the video. It's not constant, the jerking, and you can mostly see it a few times near the beginning of the video. No visible damage to any of her fins. There's a very young midnight clown in the tank with her that isn't showing any signs of similar. She has been in the tank for 2-3 months now, but the younger midnight clown is a more recent addition, about 2+ weeks. There's no aggression between them and no other fish in the tank.

Tank's due for a water change admittedly, nitrates are high but not dangerously so. Everything else is normal. I've got water ready though and will go ahead and get a nice water change asap. Thoughts on what might be going on?

May be constipation which they at times get as well as overfeeding. If you are feeding pellets exclusively, add brine shrimp. If mysis shrimp exclusively, try pellets as brine as an addition to diet. They generally tolerate nitrate well but if above 25-30,,, can be an issue. The jerking may or may not be flukes but the breathing rate does not suggest flukes but you can sure add Prazipro IF you see this jerking followed by increased breathing rate, loss of appetite and even laying in corner sort of mopey. Similar behavior is brooklynella but dont see hazy look to fish and again a breathing concern
See what water change does for fish

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The tank looks a little stagnant, no flow and no surface agitation. Maybe low oxygen ?

EDIT: sorry, just read that you turned off the wavemaker

 

[Narideth]

May be constipation which they at times get as well as overfeeding. If you are feeding pellets exclusively, add brine shrimp. If mysis shrimp exclusively, try pellets as brine as an addition to diet. They generally tolerate nitrate well but if above 25-30,,, can be an issue. The jerking may or may not be flukes but the breathing rate does not suggest flukes but you can sure add Prazipro IF you see this jerking followed by increased breathing rate, loss of appetite and even laying in corner sort of mopey. Similar behavior is brooklynella but dont see hazy look to fish and again a breathing concern
See what water change does for fish

Will do. I feed pellets normally and mysis/coral gumbo mix 1-2x weekly. Would it be better to increase the amount of times I'm giving them frozen alternatives?

Thanks for the quick replies.

 

[Narideth]

The tank looks a little stagnant, no flow and no surface agitation. Maybe low oxygen ?

I did mention that I turned off the wavemaker in my first post.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I did mention that I turned off the wavemaker in my first post.

my bad, I saw then video first then did the reading, cheers

 

[vetteguy53081]

Will do. I feed pellets normally and mysis/coral gumbo mix 1-2x weekly. Would it be better to increase the amount of times I'm giving them frozen alternatives?

Thanks for the quick replies.

increase- yes