Clownfish sucking air, bobbing up and down, bloated after eating

[RaymondNoodles]

Recently our ocellaris clownfish has been struggling after eating. I've had him for 4 months. He was about 2.5" when I got him. He was a little on the skinny side but has filled out nicely over the last couple months. He has a healthy appetite and scarfs up whatever food I offer. Recently after every meal, he sucks air from the surface and bubbles come out from his mouth and gills. He does this for a couple minutes and then looks bloated and has trouble staying low in the water column. He goes vertical, bobs up and down and uses the BTA to keep himself down in the water. If he stops fighting it he quickly rises to the surface. It's like he became a cork. This goes on for an hour or two and has been happening for the last week or so. After an hour or two passes, he's back to normal. The first time it happened was the first time I fed a new food - Hikari Marine S pellets. He ate like crazy and then had issues. I thought the new food was causing the problem so I stopped feeding that and fed flake the next morning instead of the net pellets. He had the same issue. Later that night he had the same issue after eating frozen. The last couple days I have been feeding a very small amount (maybe half of normal) of frozen to try and cut down on the bloating but it doesn't seem to be helping.

 

I have been reading about swim bladder disease and came across this article which says stop feeding for 3 days.

Primary diet is rods frozen food fed once a day. Most days I will feed flake or small pellets in the morning and they eat the frozen food in the evening. The springeri damsel and diamond goby eat the same food and are fine. 

 

Should I stop feeding for 3 days? I don't want my other fish and inverts to starve.

 

Not sure why he's purposely sucking air but it seems pretty clear that he is getting bloated because of it.

 

Here's a video I uploaded.

 

 

[seabass]

I'm not really sure why it's gulping air.  I would think that the main thing to try would be not to feed her food that floats on the surface.  For example, presoak flake food, or make sure that pellets sink (and that she eats them under the surface).

[Tired]

That's not swim bladder disease, that's a really stupid clownfish. Don't stop feeding your poor idiot.

 

I second the suggestion to feed non-floating foods. Turn off the pumps, soak your frozen food in a cup of saltwater, and use a turkey baster to put food low in the tank. 

[RaymondNoodles]

40 minutes ago, seabass said:

I'm not really sure why it's gulping air.  I would think that the main thing to try would be not to feed her food that floats on the surface.  For example, presoak flake food, or make sure that pellets sink (and that she eats them under the surface).

 

25 minutes ago, Tired said:

That's not swim bladder disease, that's a really stupid clownfish. Don't stop feeding your poor idiot.

 

I second the suggestion to feed non-floating foods. Turn off the pumps, soak your frozen food in a cup of saltwater, and use a turkey baster to put food low in the tank. 

I always let the frozen food soak and introduce it below the surface. He eats it and then proceeds to gulp air from the surface 🤷‍♂️. I will try feeding even slower. Usually I feed all of it within 1 or 2 mins but I'll try spreading it out over 3 or 4 mins. Thanks for the replies. 

[Tired]

Weird. Maybe he's trying to beg for more food? 

 

Do you have any sort of breeder box, or anything you could use to trap him with no access to the surface? A few species of fish (the various labyrinth fish, like bettas) need surface access, but a clown doesn't. 

[seabass]

The behavior doesn't seem to be causing any real problems.  Maybe it will eventually stop on its own.

 

Fish usually gulp air because they are low in oxygen, or trying to feed from the surface.  If oxygen related, make sure the temperature stays on the cooler side (like 80 to 78 degrees).  Also, make sure your tank has good flow (usually some surface agitation is good).  Protein skimmers can also increase oxygen levels.

 

But with your fish, it seems to be food related.  Even if the majority of the food drops below the surface, make sure that nothing is left floating on the surface.  Also, if there is a film on the surface, you'll probably want to address that too.

[RaymondNoodles]

@seabass The tank stays 77-77.5. Generating good surface agitation. Return pump is Coral Box 300 GPH running at 60% with random flow nozzle and Akamai KPS wave maker rated for 370-1050 GPH set for max 50% during the day on wave. I have a small reef glass protein skimmer that is on most of the time. So oxygen levels should not be a problem. I will try and keep the food off the surface. There is no film up there. Last night I fed a small amount of frozen at a very slow pace and kept it in the bottom 2/3 of the water column and we didn't have any bobbing corks in the tank afterwards. Woo hoo!! I will continue to feed this way for the time being.

 

@Tired I do have a small acclimation box I suppose I could use. At this point I am pretty sure the issue is being caused by dingus sucking air from the surface. So yes eating in an acclimation box would prevent the issue but it's not a very practical long term solution. The fish is about half the length of the acclimation box so it might feel a bit cramped. I do appreciate the suggestion though. I will keep it in mind.