Bent Spine

[kuruptedseed]

How can you distinguish a birth defect vs a disease in a von rio tetra? Spine is bent upwards but he swims okay and plays with other's... should i be worried? help please

 

[kuruptedseed]

Please help me

 

[Sunny_Bee]

A bent spine could be a birth defect, or it could be a sign that the fish suffered an electrical shock. Those are my only guesses, I've never kept that variety of tetra before.

 

[kuruptedseed]

Also known as flame tetra to the hobby... no sign of inflamed anus or scale/body trauma... the spine is bent upwards and has whitish hue on top of bend.. like i said he is schoolin and playin with others.. doesn't seem sick... i wil lkeep him if i know he does not have a spreadable disease... please help

 

[WILDER]

Bent spines mean born that way, electric shock can cause bent spines,
old age, fish tb, internal parasites.
You can't mend a bent spine, once the fish starts to look like its suffering I would
end its misery.

 

[kuruptedseed]

Should I worry about my other fish? Are they at risk? Or will he just die when it's his time? I'm confused as to what i should do.......

 

[WILDER]

How old is he was he born with a bent spine if not yes it can mean fish tb, to internal parasites if he's not old.
Was it caused by an injury in the tank.
I would issolate him if you can.

 

[kuruptedseed]

They are juveniles I just bought them from lfs.. every fish in the tank looked healthy

 

[WILDER]

All you can do is check with the lfs to see if they got him with a bent spine.
I wouldn't worry to much it might just be a birth defect.

 

[kuruptedseed]

any other thoughts on this?

 

[kuruptedseed]

So i've been doing research and many sites claim that fish purchased as juveniles with a bent spine are more likely to have a genetic disorder where as fish that have developed a bent spine more than likely have a more serious problem like tb or something... any thoughts? I just purchased these fish yesterday and they are not full grown and all the fish in that tank at the lfs looked extremely healthy! Would you say I have a problem or just a genetic deformity?

 

[WILDER]

Take a read of this link and keep a look out for fish tb signs.

http/www.torrens.org.uk/NatHist/Aqua/disease/tb.html

 

[kuruptedseed]

Thanks alot

 

[WILDER]

What do you think now you have read the link?

 

[kuruptedseed]

That site along with a few others I browsed helped a lot.. Seems as thou my fish does not have tb since it is so young.. Birth deformity seems to be what he has considering how active and how well he eats! I have him isolated in my hospital tank.. He is showing good color and seems happy...I'll leave him there for 6-8 weeks and if he still looks good after that then I will move him back with the shoal of von rio's in my display tank... Thank you to those who helped me out

Mikey