Erratic swimming, spinning, rolling, hitting glass

F

fishie111

AC Members
Feb 5, 2007
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Shorter Version of Diagnostics Form:
1. What is the size of your tank?
20H

2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
NH3, NO2 = 0 ppm
NO3 < 5ppm
Aquarium Pharm. Liquid

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Fresh

4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
1 yr

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?

8 pristella tetra
4 black phantom tetra
5 praecox rainbows

The above are between 0.5 - 0.75 inches

1 bosemani rainbow
About 1.25 inches

Purchased 4 weeks ago.


6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?

This is the quarantine tank- they have been in quarantine for 4 weeks now.

7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
82 F

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
Yes- some that got chewed in another tank that I am trying to revive.

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
Penguin biowheel 150. Clean filter media in extracted tank water every other water change- replace when foam begins to lose integrity.

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
None

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
Shaded light through closed blinds during the day. I light the tank for 10-12 hours at night (on around 8PM, off before I leave for work in the morning).

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
7 days ago, 70%-80% changed (see below for explanation), weekly 40% changes with substrate vacuum).

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
AM, NLS small fish formula.

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
When I got home this evening, the bosemani rainbowfish was twirling around, rolling and spinning, while moving across tank, hitting walls before changing direction. Lower half of fish seems paler/whiter than normal.

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
2 weeks ago, phantoms broke out in ich (no other fish in the tank had spots). Began treating with Flubendazole- two treatments, 3 days apart, water change in between. No ich spots observed on any fish for the last 4 days.


Any ideas what might be causing the behavior? I;ve never seen anything like it before.
 
The water parameters certainly are not suspicious, apparently, for the last four weeks these parameters have been the same or near--so, probably rule that out.

You have mentioned no outright and apparent signs of tail rot, fungus, white spots, etc. So, it is not a bacterial/fungal/etc. infection which manifests itself with visable signs, so I would be tempted to rule that one out.

Now, it could still be a bacterial infection which will finally manifest itself with observable signs--if you luck is like mine, probably on the day the fish dies.

Have you examined the fish VERY closely for small lice, parasites, worms, etc.--I mean EXAMINE like with a LARGE magnifying glass, taking your time, going over every sq millimeter of the fishes body? If so, or you do and find nothing, lets apply some logic ...

1) We can pray for the fish. But, God may be busy and the fish dies.

2) We can do nothing and hope the fishes immune system is capable of bringing it back from the edge of death--wall street will NOT give you good odds on that one!

3) Guess at a cure and apply it.

4) Throw a product at it like Jungle Lifeguard All-In-One-Treatment and hope it catches it--probably you best bet if all the conditions above appear to lead you to zilch in diagnosis.

There is always a chance it is still an internal worms or worms (nematodes?) which infect the fishes meat, internally. Not always will there be any visible signs on the exterior of the fish. There are meds for this.

And, it could be a virus, obviously, viruses go undiagnosed in fish--it would simple be impossible to test for them, cost being number one reason for this--undoubtedly, sometimes fish are killed by viruses and just end up lumped under the "mysterious death" category.

Mind you, I am making NO diagnosis, nor am I recommending any course of treatment, you must do that ... sorry this is the best I can do.

Regards,
TA
 
I would put the bosemani down now and just watch the others with daily water changes and observe.
 
No. That leads to floating or sinking, not erratic swimming. I'd say this is neurological. There is no reasonable hope.
 
Swim bladder in its very early stages can be seen as eratic swimming and lack of balance.
 
KarlTh said:
No. That leads to floating or sinking, not erratic swimming. I'd say this is neurological. There is no reasonable hope.
Click to expand...

Not true. One of my dojos injured herself and was displaying the exact same symptoms. For over a week I though she would drop dead any minute, then she gradually started improving and now about a year later you can't tell there was ever anything wrong.
 
In which case your Dojo loach didn't have a neurological condition. It's not like diagnosis is a precise art.
 
Exactly, not every injury that looks like something hopeless really is. I've seen people instantly recommend euthanasia at the drop of a hat around here without even knowing what the problem is, and I just hate to think of how many treatable fish might have died due to mis-diagnosing their problems as neurological.
 
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