The topic just says it all. Why do they seem to move along the tube as well?

I think it has something to do with the low pressure column of the discharge

They are standing waves in a discharge caused by any number of things.  For instance some electronic ballasts cause them and the addition of krypton to energy saving fluoros cause them.

My 30 watt Sylvania spiral just started showing them and it is about 2 years old does that mean it is getting ready to die

I have seen these in the F96T12 bulbs at my school. The F96T12 are 8 foot long.

Here is an interesting PDF file from Advance on striations. Might have some helpful info.

The low-watt "energy saver" lamps do this commonly - but what is most frustrating is that if the room temperature is under about 65*F they may never stop.
I have seen striations a little bit in *some* of my CFL's if it's very cold, but that's rare; sometimes on a new low-mercury T8 fluorescent - and occasionally on standard fluorescents at very low temperatures (about freezing or below). I tried all my garage fixtures last weekend when the temperature was 40*F - all types (magnetic preheat, instant and rapid start, electronic linear & compact instant start & program start) started normally and were a bit dim with slight flickering toward the ends of the tubes in some cases, but only for a little while. So much for the "minimum starting temperature of 50*F".
Has anyone ever had a fluorescent not even turn on or wouldn't stay lit because of low temperature? The strangest behavior I've seen was with my old shop lights with cheap ballasts - they would flicker wildly at freezing temperatures until they warmed up - but the better quality fixtures only flicker slightly.

Yes I have had them just glow orange at the ends because the tube was very, very cold and this was an RS ballast designed for low temps also the tubes were too