Fish not swimming right

phreakkn0t

phreakkn0t

AC Members
Aug 29, 2006
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Johnstown, PA
I have a glo-lite tetra that is laying on the bottom of the tank and not swimming right. It is sideways when it tries to swim and doesnt get very far. This happened with a Gourami I had in another tank a few months ago and it died. Im fairly sure this one isn't going to make it either :( but does anyone know what specificly is wrong with it. I'm thinking swim bladder since its completely sideways when swimming, Is there anything I can do?
 
Ammonia was good when I tested 2 days ago. I did a 20ish % water change last night before any problems. I am getting the nitrate and nitrite tests this weekend at petsmart when I get dwarf puffers for my cycled 10g. (closest one is like 45 minutes away unfortunately) so I dont know those :( I know I should have one already but I was waiting until I got out to petsmart again so I could print out their online price and get it instead of paying like $40 at the local petco. I was looking around online, alot of people said to try giving them peas, has anyone tried this and had any luck?
 
well, ammonia and other water parameters can and will change a lot in two days. I would definitely recommend investing in your own liquid test kit (you can get a master kit with ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH for about $15).

In my experience, swim bladder infections are normally caused by poor water quality. I had two fish develop swimbladder disorders when I was terrible about water changes and nitrates were sky high.

You can try the peas, but I don't know if it will help much. One of my above fish died after months of struggling to stay up in the water column, the other is still not totally right (but he's now my "special guy" :D ).
 
I just tested the ammonia again and it is .50 now, so Ill be changing the water again right now.
 
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