Strange swimming behavior!

[Yassmeena]

I have an adult albino turquoise female who has been swimming strangely for the past 4 days, ever since I put her in a new tank basically.

First her behavior: eating normal, socializing normal, but she spends about 10% of her time swimming erratically, darting, banging into glass, spinning around, swimming horizontally, swimming horizontally along the water surface.

Background: she was in a smaller community tank. i bought 5 new juvies and placed them in a different larger tank (72 gallons). after a couple days I moved her to their tank. The tank I moved her to is still cycling but I have been using TLC cycling solution and Purigen to control toxins.

Just now ammonia and nitrites were both zero. I do 50% WCs, temp = 84F.

Any ideas of what it might be or what I should do?

Yasmin

[Eddie]

Sorry to hear Yas. Are the new fish doing the same or just the AT? Is there any fin flicking, scratching on objects or one gill function?


Eddie

[Yassmeena]

Sorry to hear Yas. Are the new fish doing the same or just the AT? Is there any fin flicking, scratching on objects or one gill function?


Eddie

Hey Eddie,

None of the other fish are doing the same, and there is no flicking or scratching. Her fins are not even clamped, and she is socializing.

In fact, before I moved her to this tank 4 days ago, this fish was doing just great! I wonder if I should mover her back?

I thought maybe it was the output from my Canister filter bothering her swimming (the former tank she was in was an HOB) but she was repeating the same behavior while drawing water out during a WC with the filter off.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.......................... what's going on!

Yasmin

[Eddie]

Hmmm, thats a hard one. I'll do some research.


All the best,

Eddie

[kaceyo]

Moving her back would be a risk since she's in a tank with new fish. Then again, putting her in with new fish was also a risk. I'd leave her where she is while you look into things. IME, when only one fish starts swimming radicly and bouncing off of things, they don't usually recover for long. But you never know. Watch for other symptoms for now.

Kacey

[Yassmeena]

Moving her back would be a risk since she's in a tank with new fish. Then again, putting her in with new fish was also a risk. I'd leave her where she is while you look into things. IME, when only one fish starts swimming radicly and bouncing off of things, they don't usually recover for long. But you never know. Watch for other symptoms for now.

Kacey

Hi Kacey,

Just wondering, what do you mean they don't recover for long?

Before I read this email I moved and left her in the smaller tank overnight. The same behavior was repeated, and I ended up moving her back to the larger tank bc she was bumping into the walls very easily in the smaller tank.


I hope she'll be ok. I really like that discus.

[Eddie]

Yas, IMO, I would QT the affected fish. In the event this is something that can spread, I'd hate for the others to pick it up. You may try administering Kanamycin to the QT tank, as this is a very effective on both internal/external bacteria infections. It may be an internal issue. I wouldn't subject the main tank to any antibiotics, just the affected fish. Another alternative, is using Furan-2, if you can't get Kanamycin. Furan-2 (Nitrofurazone & Furazolidone) treats both internal/external bacteria as well. Additionally, keep salt at 100 grams per 25 gallons, good air and temp at 82F during treatment. If you go with Furan-2, keep the tank lights off during treatment as Furans are inactivated under light.


All the best,

Eddie

[Yassmeena]

Yas, IMO, I would QT the affected fish. In the event this is something that can spread, I'd hate for the others to pick it up. You may try administering Kanamycin to the QT tank, as this is a very effective on both internal/external bacteria infections. It may be an internal issue. I wouldn't subject the main tank to any antibiotics, just the affected fish. Another alternative, is using Furan-2, if you can't get Kanamycin. Furan-2 (Nitrofurazone & Furazolidone) treats both internal/external bacteria as well. Additionally, keep salt at 100 grams per 25 gallons, good air and temp at 82F during treatment. If you go with Furan-2, keep the tank lights off during treatment as Furans are inactivated under light.


All the best,

Eddie

I see what you are saying Eddie. I will move her by herself to the QT.

As for the treatment, what do you guys think of administering PP?

I am a little hesitant to use an antibiotic bc I dosed her with a full course of Furan2 last month to treat fin rot. She recovered well at that point.

What do you think?

Thanks Eddie (to my rescue again... )

Yasmin

[kaceyo]

Hi Kacey,

Just wondering, what do you mean they don't recover for long?

Before I read this email I moved and left her in the smaller tank overnight. The same behavior was repeated, and I ended up moving her back to the larger tank bc she was bumping into the walls very easily in the smaller tank.


I hope she'll be ok. I really like that discus.

Unfortunetly fish that behave that way are often unable to be treated. Hopefully your case will not be one of those.

[Eddie]

I see what you are saying Eddie. I will move her by herself to the QT.

As for the treatment, what do you guys think of administering PP?

I am a little hesitant to use an antibiotic bc I dosed her with a full course of Furan2 last month to treat fin rot. She recovered well at that point.

What do you think?

Thanks Eddie (to my rescue again... )

Yasmin

I would go with Kanamycin then. Don't think I would go with PP in this case but you never know. Pick up Kanamycin from Jehmco, great price for a decent amount.

All the best,

Eddie

[Yassmeena]

So I cleared the QT from any potted plants, and placed her in it last night.

This morning I found her laying on her side at the bottom, breathing. I threw in a dose of Furan-2 because the Kana was in the basement packed up.

Does anyone have any thoughts, or have you had a similar experience?

Yasmin

[kaceyo]

Double check all your params and look for any possible reason that may be unrelated to the original problem. Add extra air, salt at 2 tbsp/10gal and keep the light off.
Keep an eye out for any change good or bad. She may have knocked herself silly or it might be the next stage in what she already had.
Hope she pulls out of it.

Kacey

[Yassmeena]

Double check all your params and look for any possible reason that may be unrelated to the original problem. Add extra air, salt at 2 tbsp/10gal and keep the light off.
Keep an eye out for any change good or bad. She may have knocked herself silly or it might be the next stage in what she already had.
Hope she pulls out of it.

Kacey

ok I'll check the params in the qt when I get back tonight actually I just remembered that I forgot to take out the purigen from the filter before administering the furan2 (darn!)....

[Tito]

I don't know if this makes sense. But I killed - yes I killed my Red Dragon Pigeon. How did I kill her? Well - I took all of my Discus out of the 125 gallon and placed them in a 55 gallon facing the window. The fish never really took to that tank well - were always skittish. The Dragon was so freaked out that she would swim erratically and bump into things and hurt herself really bad. She hurt herself so bad that she had internal bleeding. She died. Soon after my Yellow face red mellon started doing the wicked dance. Well I didn't wait I moved all of my Discus back to the 125 and they are all fine to this day. By the way - it was a Simply Discus member that put me on to this solution.

I killed my fish.

[Yassmeena]

I don't know if this makes sense. But I killed - yes I killed my Red Dragon Pigeon. How did I kill her? Well - I took all of my Discus out of the 125 gallon and placed them in a 55 gallon facing the window. The fish never really took to that tank well - were always skittish. The Dragon was so freaked out that she would swim erratically and bump into things and hurt herself really bad. She hurt herself so bad that she had internal bleeding. She died. Soon after my Yellow face red mellon started doing the wicked dance. Well I didn't wait I moved all of my Discus back to the 125 and they are all fine to this day. By the way - it was a Simply Discus member that put me on to this solution.

I killed my fish.

Sorry to hear that, but it looks like you learned your lesson the hard way. Unfortunatley the tank I moved her from was the QT tank, so she couldn't stay there indefinately! The other tank was her former home for a year!

Looks like I killed my fish too, because when I came home she was dead, hard as a rock on the bottom of the tank.



Thanks for your help guys, we tried.

Yasmin

PS - I am receiving some corys that I want to QT in the same tank she died in. They should arrive next week. What do I need to do to prepare the tank (decontaminate, etc?)?