Fish Is Gasping

[mark4785]

One of my male Dwarf Neon Tetra (DNT) fish seems to have separated itself from the rest of the shoal (2 females and another male) and has took to staying still just below the water surface. Occasionally, he will go right to the top and it looks as though he is drinking the water.

This particular fish was bought about 1 week ago and I noticed that from head to tale it was a shade darker than the rest and it appeared to have a small white string/thread (less than 1cm in length) on it's lower jaw. So far, he is still eating but I think a serious issue may be developing based on the darker scales and the white thread.

The reason I thought to place this thread here is due to the fact that one female DNT died over night last night and the day before it was manifesting the same behaviour as what this male is doing but she did not have a darker shade of colour or a white strand on the jaw.

My water parameters are as follows: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, 7.4 PH. The aquarium passed it's fishless cycle qualifying week one month ago.

Here is a video taken of the gasping DNT.

Any help for identifying what might be wrong and correcting the problem would be highly appreciated.

 

[mark4785]

I just thought i'd add that the gasping DNR's gill movement is three times faster compared to the other DNR's gills and he is now not eating.

I guess he will be the next to pop his clogs . The thing that gets me angry is, I didn't get to pick the DNR's I have, the LFS helper picked them and netted them and to be polite I said nothing. I highly doubt I would have picked a darker colour DNR with faster gill movement as I'm not the kind of person that appreciates wasting money and flushing fish down the toilet!!

 

[Curiosity101]

Return him now with a water sample and ask for a replacement. As your stats are fine (and always have been). I would presume either a) it was returned from a fish-in cycling tank or b) it just isn't well due to previous treatment...eg. perhaps they don't quarentine and so the fish was put straight on sale once it arrived in the store.

 

[mark4785]

Return him now with a water sample and ask for a replacement. As your stats are fine (and always have been). I would presume either a) it was returned from a fish-in cycling tank or b) it just isn't well due to previous treatment...eg. perhaps they don't quarentine and so the fish was put straight on sale once it arrived in the store.

If he is still alive by Monday, I'll ring the LFS up and see if it is possible to replace him (they are not open Sundays). I know under contract law I'm entitled to a refund, but they have some sort of an exclusion clause in place with regards to returns.

In the meantime, I've turned the air pump up in the hope that it may help him feel a bit better.

Mark.

 

[Anna Robinson]

This species of rainbow is very prone to chronic bacterial infections, so this may have been what is behind it. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do if so.

Actually I don't think the shop is obliged to refund you unless you can prove that they were negligent in some way in their care or sale of the animal - the rules for living animals aren't quite the same as they would be for consumer goods, or at least they aren't here in the UK. Most shops are reasonable though.

 

[mark4785]

The gasping DNT died this afternoon unfortunately. It would seem that the stock of DNT at the LFS were in poor health and will stay well clear from their stock for some time. The German Blue Rams and Black Neon Tetras are doing well and eating and none of them are gasping, nor have any of them died in the space of a week.

 

[PDSimon]

I have a LFS near me that is similar, I see so many unhealthy and dead fish I just decided to never buy fish from there, even though they do have a big stock I would rather pay extra for a fish that isn't in awful condition! Sorry for the loss, hopefully they'll get some better stock or somewhere else will! Good to hear the GBRs are healthy now.

 

[mark4785]

I have a LFS near me that is similar, I see so many unhealthy and dead fish I just decided to never buy fish from there, even though they do have a big stock I would rather pay extra for a fish that isn't in awful condition! Sorry for the loss, hopefully they'll get some better stock or somewhere else will! Good to hear the GBRs are healthy now.

Hiya,

Well, the GBR's are eating, but not eating the correct things.

The male occasionally eats Nutrafin flakes/Ocean Nutrition Cichlid omni-flakes but mainly likes blood worm (been dipping the worms in water with added liquid vitamin supplement.

The female will not eat any small pellets or flakes, she purely eats blood worms dipped in the vitamin supplement. She will spit out pellets and flakes and make a mess.

All the other fish are not as fussy so their diet is quite healthy.

I mean what can you do if your fish won't eat? Wait till it dies maybe? You can't exactly force feed a fish...

 

[PDSimon]

They can last a week, maybe two without food, I think if you leave them for a few days they'll eat anything. My bolivian rams started off on bloodworm but I moved them to tetra tabamin which they love now, they'll fight over the tablets! They're not a big fan of flake but mostly eat them now. Maybe if they're really fussy even after not being fed for a few days you could try other more nutritious frozen food. I think brine shrimp are better for them, not entirely sure though as my fish are easier to feed.

I left my fish for a week and they were fed once and they were all alive. So no need to worry about leaving it a while.

 

[mark4785]

They can last a week, maybe two without food, I think if you leave them for a few days they'll eat anything. My bolivian rams started off on bloodworm but I moved them to tetra tabamin which they love now, they'll fight over the tablets! They're not a big fan of flake but mostly eat them now. Maybe if they're really fussy even after not being fed for a few days you could try other more nutritious frozen food. I think brine shrimp are better for them, not entirely sure though as my fish are easier to feed.

I left my fish for a week and they were fed once and they were all alive. So no need to worry about leaving it a while.

I'll see if I can order some frozen brine shrimp in as you're right that it would be much more protein/nutritionally concentrated.


I've been on the phone to the LFS who sold me the DNT and they have offered to replace the deceased one's for free. I told them to check their stock in the tank that holds the DNT for any gasping fish. According to the LFS representative, losing 1-2 DNT doesn't "ring any alarm bells" implying that it must be a norm.

With regards to feeding, he said that as there are no other fish in the tank such as Angels, the Rams will not compete for food as much which explains why they are disinterested in less tasty food. I would agree with that comment I think as the GBR's eat small pellets (something they completely avoid now) when they were living with 4 other Bolivian Rams which are very competitive for space and food.

 

[PDSimon]

Good, hopefully still you'll be able to feed them better things for them.. if the 3-4 day thing doesn't work then I would definately get some brine shrimp, there might be more frozen nutritious food for them? not sure.

I'm not too sure about the feeding thing. My male ram goes crazy at feeding time. He'll swim back and forth the whole tank, then control one area where the food was last and nudge away anything that comes close except the kuhli loach.

Heres them fighting over some tablet, sorry about pic quality I was in a rush to take it cos it was making me laugh

 

[mark4785]

Good, hopefully still you'll be able to feed them better things for them.. if the 3-4 day thing doesn't work then I would definately get some brine shrimp, there might be more frozen nutritious food for them? not sure.

I'm not too sure about the feeding thing. My male ram goes crazy at feeding time. He'll swim back and forth the whole tank, then control one area where the food was last and nudge away anything that comes close except the kuhli loach.

Heres them fighting over some tablet, sorry about pic quality I was in a rush to take it cos it was making me laugh

They look like they are enjoying themselves there

 

[PDSimon]

I don't think I've ever seen them so colourful!