Why do clownfish larvae spin in circles?

[Lou Young]

I have my first batch of clownfish babies and some of them are spinning around in tight circles near the surface of the 10 gallon tank they are in. Any ideas what is causing this?
Thanks Lou

[Anget]

Usually starvation I think

[Lou Young]

Hmmmm...ok but I have been feeding the heck out of them. These little buggers must eat a lot :)

[ClownfishSushi]

Could be they are getting the last bit of egg casing off. Could also have something to do with the light levels. Try increasing or decreasing the lighting.

[Lou Young]

I will try fooling around with the light levels. I have not lost any larvae yet so i guess they are not doing a death spin, but it's only day 4 so far. Thanks Jason.

[GreshamH]

Usually starvation I think

Nutrition and starvation are the two big ones, well, and water quality.

[mwilliams62]

Oh man I saw some doing that and I thought they were on the verge of dying.... on my batch #12 when I saw that happening.

[Lou Young]

Oh man I saw some doing that and I thought they were on the verge of dying.... on my batch #12 when I saw that happening.

So what happened to them?

[mwilliams62]

They died shortly after I saw them do that.

[mwilliams62]

They died shortly after I saw them do that.

Probably about a hour later I would say but I only seen it a couple of times.

[Lou Young]

Thank you for the info. I didn't see any dead ones when I siphoned but water was pretty green so I couldn't really see the bottom. I am going to do a water change and make the water less green so I can see the bottom better.

[temper76]

Do you provide them with plenty of oxygen?

[Lou Young]

Do you provide them with plenty of oxygen?

I think so. I have a little pump that i split with a Y connector to 2 air stones in their 10 gallon on opposite sides tank and bubbling pretty good rate. I don't see any babies doing the spin anymore.

[Lou Young]

This is the larvae tank water. Does it look too green?
http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s658/younglove422/null_zpsbc2156fe.jpg

[mwilliams62]

Wow you got a lot of little guys there.. I think it is okay to me but maybe someone with more experience might chime in here..

[Lou Young]

I siphon out some water and put 1 gallon of new water in each day. Water is a little less green now. Today is day 10 and I think I see a little white stripe on some of the heads. Here is picture.
http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s658/younglove422/null_zps0312f185.jpg

[ClownfishSushi]

You're doing great and I wouldn't adjust a thing. The clowns have a nice peanut shape which means they are eating plenty. They should be through meta and from this point on you should have a 75-90% survival rate.

[mwilliams62]

When you are adding the water back into the fry tank (1 gallon) how are you doing that? Drip line are just pouring back into the tank? Is the fresh saltwater or is it from the broodstock tank water that you are using?

[Lou Young]

Thank you Jason!! I have been following your threads on here and I have learnt a lot from your postings, especially the siphoning out and drip adding new water everyday. I didn't read of anyone else really doing that, but it makes complete sense, especially if its true that deformities are environmental. I am still feeding them rotifers and the Reed tdoa food. How long do you personally feed the larvae rotifers? Thanks again.

[Lou Young]

When you are adding the water back into the fry tank (1 gallon) how are you doing that? Drip line are just pouring back into the tank? Is the fresh saltwater or is it from the broodstock tank water that you are using?

I siphon out the bottom of the tank in the morning when the lights come on. I fill up a 1 gallon milk jug and slow drip water from the tank the parents are in. The drip is about 1 drop per second. I tried to do it like Jason G does it :)

[mwilliams62]

thanks I just wanted to make sure I was doing it right.