Glowlight Tetra Having Trouble Swimming - Help!

[fadetoblack]

I have a 10 gallon tank with 6 neon tetras and one platy (the other died about a month ago after having 'dropsy' symptoms, the cause of which I was unsuccessful at treating). I have been away in Spain for the past 10 days, and when I came back today I noticed that one of the tetras was swimming a bit on its side... a few hours later (now) I saw it on the bottom of the tank, upside down, trying to swim. A few times it has managed to get up and swim a little, but it has serious problems in doing so and soon returns to the bottom upside-down. One thing that I did notice is that many of his fins seem to have been possibly nipped by the other fish or something, as his anal and dorsal fins are smaller, plus his pectoral fins seem to be shorter - could this be what is causing him so much trouble?

Right now I'm not really sure what to do. Is it bad for him physically to be on his back like this, or should I just let him rest like this - I'm thinking that he's just tired because of the problems with his fins (making him have to exert much more energy to stay up) One thing: when I put my net in to try to see if I could get him to not be on his back, he promptly swam away... he keeps struggling up as I'm watching his right now, but after a few seconds he goes right back down.

Since he is always landing on his back, does that mean that it is a problem with his swim bladder, or what?

I really appreciate any assistance that anyone can give me, and if you see that someone else has already posted a correct answer, I'd still appreciate your input into it - I prefer to have multiple opinions on the situation.

Edit: Yeah, I was in a hurry when I was posting this and completely forgot to mention that all water parameters are good... 0 ppm amonia and nitrite, ~5 GH, and about 15 ppm nitrate. The water is treated with AquaPlus tap water conditioner and I do use pH Down to lower the extremely basic tap water a bit.

Thanks in advance!

 

[fadetoblack]

Also, I'm having trouble feeding him... he has a large amount of difficulty getting to the top of the tank to get the flake food, and whenever I use the net to grab some food and send it down to him, the other fish grab it first and he doesn't seem interested in it, unless he's just overwhelmingly concentrated on his tank at hand, to SWIM.

The flakes are all that I have... should I try getting something else for him?

 

[WILDER]

Sorry he has swim bladder and it has progressed and he's not going to make it.
Need to look at your water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, plus what do you feed your fish.

 

[fadetoblack]

Water levels are all great right now: ammonia and nitrIte are 0ppm, nitrAte is around 8ppm, and GH is around 6. pH is a little high - about 7.9.

The feeding thing is where things go downhill. All the fish receive is a flake food, I have been meaning to get them some other sort of food but have been extremely busy and have not had much time to look into what would be best for them. Also, I was away for a week and a half, and I believe that the fish were overfed a bit during that time... I know that swim bladder issues can be caused by constipation, so I am planning to go pick up some frozen peas tonight then defrost, shell, mush, and feed. Is it okay if the other fish get some of it also?

I am thinking of setting up a hospital tank, even if it cannot help out this guy at least I tried, and plus I'll have it on hand for future emergencies/new arrivals. My LFS suggested putting him in a net breeder in my current tank, but I'm thinking that this will cause him more stress. I am therefore going to set up a hospital tank. Considering that my largest fish (platy) is only 2 inches, and therefore will probably never need to 'hospitalize' any fish larger than that, do you believe that getting a 5-gallon setup would be sufficient?

Also, I have not had a spare sponge in my filter as I now realize is recommended so as to quickly establish a biofilter in the hospital tank... what do you suggest that I do? I figure that I could put 4 or 5 gallons from my current 10 gallon setup in there and then add a few gallons of fresh water to each one, plus I could add a bit of gravel from the current tank - will this be sufficient for a biofilter?

It seems like my list of items needed will be:

Tank, 5-10g
Heater
Filter - what kind would be best? How does this look: http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_spongefilter.php
Small amount of gravel (apparently too much can absorb some of the medicine put in the water, but not having any can stress the fish out??)
Cave/hiding place made from PVC
A plastic plant or two
Airstone/bubble wall, to keep oxygen levels high when medication is used... and to make it look cool

Anything else?

It was mentioned somewhere that putting the light on as little as possible is better, for medication and to avoid stressing the fish, and plus my glow-lights don't seem to like the aquarium light much anyways - so could I just go for a hood without a light?

Would it be better to get a large net breeder to put him in for a day while the biofilter in the hospital tank gets a bit more established, or what?

I appreciate your responses.

 

[WILDER]

All sounds fine to me, could do water changes on the hospital tank, and put the sponge filter in main tank to get itt going, lights and med, only the parasites med usually.

 

[fadetoblack]

and put the sponge filter in main tank to get itt going

So... put the sponge filter in the main tank for a day and then put it in the other tank? I suppose that the hospital tank would be fine for a day without much of a biofilter, right?

lights and med, only the parasites med usually.

um... what?!?

 

[WILDER]

It will take a while for the beneifical bacteria to get going on it, so it will take more than a day, but you just do water changes in the mean time, and remove debris with a net.

 

[fadetoblack]

It will take a while for the beneifical bacteria to get going on it, so it will take more than a day, but you just do water changes in the mean time, and remove debris with a net.

Right, I didn't really mean a day... but if I put in a bunch of gravel from my current tank, that will help a bit, right? (since it has the beneficial bacteria living on it)

And yes, I have a siphon, so I can certainly clean the gravel nightly and do perhaps a 30% change... or more?

One more thing: tank size. Would a 5 gallon be okay, or should I get a 10 gallon?

 

[WILDER]

To be honest a 10gal is better if you have the room, more forgiving with water quality, don't need gravel in hospital tank so it's up to you.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=128869

 

[fadetoblack]

To be honest a 10gal is better if you have the room, more forgiving with water quality, don't need gravel in hospital tank so it's up to you.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=128869

Okay, I was leaning more toward the 10 gal anyways.

As far as gravel, I was thinking of putting some in anyways because people have said that not having it can stress the fish, and especially since this guy is laying on the ground a lot, I think gravel would be better than glass (or plastic) - also, wouldn't it help to establish the biofilter if I put some in the hospital tank from the current tank?

 

[WILDER]

Yes it will get things moving, don't add the filter or gravel to any of the tanks if you have desease in the main tank, good luck.

 

[fadetoblack]

If there is any disease in the main tank, that that's what the fish that I'm going to 'hospitalize' has, so it won't make any difference - right?

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it. I'm going to go out in a little while to get all this stuff.

 

[WILDER]

Good that you are getting a hospital tank, can use it as a quarantine tank as well, you won't regret it, good luck.

 

[fadetoblack]

Well, I've looked around a bunch and have found many different things... people have said that broad-spectrum antibiotics such as Mardel's Maracyn-two would be good, and I just picked some up along with the hospital tank/equipment.

Thawed+shelled+mushed peas and green leaf lettuce help with constipation, though I really don't know how I would figure out if this swim bladder issue is simply being caused by constipation or some kind of bacterial infection, etc. that is affecting the swim bladder - and I know that treating for the wrong one can make things worse.

So, I need some help here. What should I do... feed a pea or two and wait, give him the antibiotic, or do both?

 

[WILDER]

Try the antibiotic if the fish can be issolated now, the peas will do no harm you need to feed them, plus antibiotics sometimes can cause constipation so need to keep up with the peas every few days to make sure this dosn't happen, good luck.