Bloodfin Behavior

[Lansirill]

I seem to be producing a nearly inexhaustable stream of questions, so, well, thanks to everyone that's been answering them.

I'm trying to tell if my bloodfins are in fact sick like I think they may be, or if they're simply crazy little fish. When they are staying still in the water, there is fairly rapid movement (twitching perhaps) in the fins. There isn't really any body movement, just fin movement, so it's entirely possible that this is just what they need to do to tread water. Does this sound like perfectly normal behavior, or is it indicitive of a problem?

Also, their mouths and gills move at a fairly quick pace. I want to say that the inside of the gills is slightly red, but I may be making that up.

I watched some bloodfins in another store and they didn't seem to be quite as twitchy and had a deeper color. However, they were also much larger, so it's quite possible that I was comparing adults to juveniles.

My water parameters are fine now (0 ammonia and nitrites, and nitrates haven't gotten high enough to really show up on the test) although I did cycle this tank with these fish, so they have been through an ammonia and nitrite spike. They've had this behavior since the first day I put them in the tank, however.

Does this sound like it's a problem, or am I just being overly paranoid about my fish?

 

[wolf13]

what size tank and temp? any decorations? how many in the school?

My Rathburns bloodfins (a very close relative to bloodfins with differnt coloration) will do that on occassion, though are usually very active, always with a lot of fin twitching. However, I observed them on three occassions at the shop when I bought them, and they seemed to act in a similier manner as what you described and then in my 10g qt tank they were only slightly more active and didn't get their full color til I put them in the main tank. my tank is a well planted 29g with 8 in the school, temp at 80.5 typically, lots of hiding places and they often school with the 8 cardinal tetra's in there. My guess is there is a stressor there, either to bare or not enough swimming space or some other factor.

 

[Lansirill]

I only have 4 right now (I plan on adding 4 more once I get my 33G cycled and have somewhere to QT the newcomers) in 10G, and the tank is fairly bare (4 stems of plants and a fake rock with holes in it) now that some of my plants have died. They're the only fish in the tank, which probably helps, but it's really not the ideal situation for the guys.

They're plenty active, to the point that I have a hard time really observing the fin twitching for very long before they zip off again. I took a look at the gills and it's more of a pinkish than a red, and I really imagine it's more just because I can see the oxygenated blood passing through the gills more than anything else.

Sounds (so far) like I'm just overreacting. I had a pair of fish (well, a platy and a shrimp) die so I'm a little paranoid. I think there may have been ich in the tank (-very- small spots on the fins of my platy) so I'm just concerned that there may be some ich left that I can't really detect. I'm giving the bloodfins a heat and salt bath (they behaved like this before the salting) just in case. If this seems to be normal behavior, I'll simply treat the fish as if I'm in the 'no further signs of ich are present' stage of treatment.

 

[hitman12131976]

Sounds like they're okay. I had some like these before and they had the same behavior. I gave them away to my brother as they were picking at the smaller fish. But while I had them, they did the twitching thing and they're still alive today.

 

[jm1212]

my black skirts also do the "twitching" that youve described. it could be them just trying to stay in the same place in the water collum.

 

[Lansirill]

Okay. I'm just going to assume that they're simply being the crazy little fish that they are and, assuming their new home is ready this weekend, throw them a little home warming party.

Speaking of home warming parties... what would be the best way to move my fish? Simply fill a small plastic bowl (or a plastic bag) with water from the old tank and let that (plus fish) hang out in the new tank for awhile, just like I brought them home from the store?