Please help me with my fish's weird behavior

[wumengche]

I have 2 percula clown, they are very healthy, eating well, swimming well, bullying maroon clown well, with no white spot on them, but ever since i have them, they always have this sudden jerk/vibrate of their body while swimming. Its not continuously, but maybe once every minute. Like they are trying to shake something off them.. are they itch?

Recently i just added a yellow tang in, and he behaves the same way. Maroon is always hiding so i don't know about him.

I find it weird is because i dont see other fish doing this in LFS or friend's tank....
are they illed? please help!!!

 

[White Tiger]

Fish can sometimes get itchy and shake around. However, they should not be shaking every minute. Since the fish are swimming in this fashion, there could be a parasite infecting your fish. There are many types of parasites. Do you see any white stripes on the fish? Do the fish breath rapidly? For now, raise the temperature of your tank to 82 degrees just to be safe.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ICK CAN BE PRESENT ON A FISH WITHOUT ANY SYMPTOMS.

 

[Sk8r]

This behavior can mean ich. Google it and look at pictures so you know what you're looking for.

The fact you just added a tang is worrisome. Tangs are more prone to this parasite than clowns and frequently carry it. I think the prudent thing to do would be catch all the fish and put them in a plain quarantine tank with hyposalinity. Ask further on this forum, but the tang has likely brought it in and the parasite has now spread to the clowns.

 

[wumengche]

I was a little over exaggerate, maybe my fish is not doing the sudden jerk once a minute but once five min, u know, once in a while, sometimes they dont do it for a long time, sometimes they do it twice in a minute.

I put the pair of percula before yellow tang, so I don't think the Tang brought the disease in, if there is a disease.

the fish are not breathing fast, they are breathing normal

HOWEVER, one thing i notice about the yellow tang!!! this need all your expertise - the yellow tang looks perfectly yellow in day time, bright nice yellow... but at late night just BEFORE i turn off the light around mid night, it turns pale white from chin to stomach. NO WHITE DOT, but the skin just turn pale, like the yellow has faded. And the next time he is bright yellow again.
is that normal?
When i picked him up from LFS, i noticed he has white stripes on his body, like a yellow zebra, i asked the owner... i don't know wheher he knew the answer.... his answer was 'he is scared'... I didn't believe it, Is the fish store ower right? or it was something else? the white stripes dieappeared the next day i put him in my tank, only the pale white is seen now....
thanks!

 

[White Tiger]

It is normal for fish to turn color during the evening. It is a sign that they are ready for sleep.

For a fish to jerk once every five minutes is a lot. It could still indicate that external parasites are on the fish.

 

[wumengche]

thanks Tiger,
then is there anything that helps? from LFS?

 

[White Tiger]

Since your fish are most likely infected with a parasite, put ALL OF YOUR FISH in a quarintine tank and dose them with copper-based medicine. Copper will kill all parasites on the fish' body.

 

[Chris Witort]

This is normal behavior for mated clowns. The shivering is a sign of submissive behavior displayed by the male. Sometimes they will both do it if they haven't made up their mind who is boss!

 

[TOURKID]

yep. what chris said. AND... you should not have a maroon and 2 percs in the same tank. the maroon will kill them eventually. thats why they are shaking. they are showing submissive behavior so they dont get beat up....

 

[White Tiger]

"This is normal behavior for mated clowns. The shivering is a sign of submissive behavior displayed by the male. Sometimes they will both do it if they haven't made up their mind who is boss!" (Chris Witort, 2006)


How are your fish doing now? If the clowns are still shivering then they are probably just displaying submissive behavior.