Fish is swimming tilted

[thedogzoo]

Hi there.....One of my Red Eye Tetras is swimming kind of tilted to the side! He seems to be getting around ok and is eating - looks good except for the weird swimming....Can someone tell me what's going on with him and what I should do? Thanks. Jenni

 

[ParadoxLiz]

If there are no other symptoms and no other fish are sick, then it could be swim bladder disease or that the fish has gulped in air (while eating at the surface or due to poor water quality). From the book I have, there's not much you can do about it if it's swim bladder problems. If it's from gulping air, during feeding, hold the food under water before releasing it, so they have to eat mid water; or gasping due to bad water quality, fix the water quality.

The experts here will likely want to know the following:
How big is the tank; how many of what kind of fish; what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings; what is your maintenance schedule / routine?

Liz

 

[thedogzoo]

Fish swimming tilted

Thanks for the info Liz! I sure hope it's not a swim bladder problem

I have a 10 gallon tank, 3 Red Eye Tetras, 3 Buenos Aires Tetras, 2 Agazzi Corys and 1 Red Wag Platy. The ammonia level lately has been a problem )since adding the Agazzi's) previous to that, we had the tetras for about 3 months. 1 platy died last Saturday - after only having it for 3 hours. Jenni

 

[Holly9937]

what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings; what is your maintenance schedule / routine?

this info. would help too. Adding 2 fish really shouldn't have caused an ammonia spike of any kind, so this makes me wonder if the tank was ever cycled, or the filter has been compromised somehow. The test results would help

 

[pwrflpills]

Thanks for the info Liz! I sure hope it's not a swim bladder problem

I have a 10 gallon tank

Personally it sounds like you might have too many fish in such a small tank and, in turn, an ammonia problem. I have the same number of fish (except for 3 mollies, which eat and poop more than tetras I believe) in a 20 gal tank and hesitate to add more. But those Buenos Aires can get pretty big for a little tank. Not too big, but contribute to a greater problem of too much ammonia, etc. Just something to consider.

I still struggle with what is the "correct" amount of fish for a tank, but I think that, for instance, fish like 3 big mollies will effect my bio-load a lot more than 3 small tetras. I used to think my LFS was all-knowing until one of their guys was trying to sell me 5 fish, all at once, for my new, un-cycled 2 gallon desk tank. Right there I knew he was very wrong and I had to make my own call.