Neon acting weird

[sdb]

My neon tetra is 'bouncing' around the tank, for lack of better description. He looks like a fish would that is eating off the bottom. Kind of an up and down motion, with head down, tail up. Only he's up in the tank, not at the bottom. He chases off any other fish that comes near him, then resumes his bouncing. He's not staying in one place, either. He moves all over the tank like this. I've had him, along with the other neons, for a couple months now, so he's not new. The other fish are all acting fine, and all the fish have been in the tank for a long time, no newbies.
Here's my tank info, since that'll be the first question
20g community
AquaClear 150
Temp 78F
Plastic plants, regular gravel
Esablished since March/04
Occupants: 2 Swordtails, 6 neons, 2 strawberry tetras, 2 serpae tetras, 2 zebra danios, 2 platies.
Water params:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate >10
Ph 7.2
Last water change, 3 days ago. Changes done weekly.

Does anyone recognize this behaviour? It baffles me totally. I don't have a QT tank, either, so I can't remove him. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[vato]

The first thing that come to mind would be flukes. They are a parasite, (called gyrodactylis I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong.) that lodge themselves into the gills and skin of fish. The fish will dash around madly, and then stop for no reason.

 

[vato]

It is actually called Gyrodactylus, I found this article about it, (titled "Skin Flukes")it is pretty concise. So it should be helpful.

www.freshwatertropicalfishkeeping.com/Disease_Control/disease_control - helminth_diseases.htm

 

[sdb]

I read the article (thanks! ), and went and watched the neon again. I can't see any of the symptoms on him. He just bounces around on his nose, up and down. The more I watch him, the more I start to wonder if he's doing this to keep down in the water. It almost appears, slightly, that when he stops pushing downwards, or bouncing, he starts to raise up to the surface. Maybe he's fighting to stay down in the water and not float? I just don't know, and it's frustrating!

 

[sdb]

Yep. The more I watch, the more I see that he's trying to stay down in the water. And I also now see a lump under his belly. Not a swollen belly from eating too much, more of a lump underneath. Constipation? Swim bladder?

 

[vato]

yeah I'd say it is either constipation or swim badder troubles. But from the bloating it sounds more like constipation, which is good news. Try feeding him a thawed, and skinned pea, or some live food.

 

[sdb]

Ok, I guess the tank's in for a treat of peas. We have no live food in my neck of the woods. Thanks, vato, for your help!

 

[vato]

no problem. Hey, I was wondering where in BC you were from?

 

[sdb]

Funny, I was just noticing you were from BC as well. Where from?
I'm from Powell River, just a couple of ferry rides and a few hours drive up the coast from Vancouver. Beautiful area.

 

[vato]

Powell river you say? I've been in the area before on a BC vacation I did two years back (short on cash and I figured BC is one of the best places in the world to vacation so that's what I did.)I am from the Okanagan. Also an extremly beautiful area of BC. How is the weather treating you, do you have many fires in your area? It seems these past couple years all of BC has been on fire at one point or another. We haven't had any big fires in the okanagan yet because it is raining so much here this year, but last year was a different story.