Lethargic Fish

[Stoogie]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a problem with my fish... all they do is sit at the bottom of the tank, they hardly move at all! If food floats by them, they'll eat it, but they aren't anywhere near as active as they used to be. For example, one of my flag cichlids would eat food out of my hand, now he just hides at the back of the tank and doesn't swim up to the surface when he sees me.

The temperature is the same as always, 79 degrees, ph is 7.0, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates. I haven't introduced any new fish, plants, or decorations into the tank in about 3 months. The only thing different is that I've put a different background on the tank, but that was about two weeks ago, and they just started acting strangely on wednesday. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with them?

 

[fluffycabbage]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a problem with my fish... all they do is sit at the bottom of the tank, they hardly move at all! If food floats by them, they'll eat it, but they aren't anywhere near as active as they used to be. For example, one of my flag cichlids would eat food out of my hand, now he just hides at the back of the tank and doesn't swim up to the surface when he sees me.

The temperature is the same as always, 79 degrees, ph is 7.0, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates. I haven't introduced any new fish, plants, or decorations into the tank in about 3 months. The only thing different is that I've put a different background on the tank, but that was about two weeks ago, and they just started acting strangely on wednesday. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with them?

Do you mean Nitrites 0? What are the nitrates? Are any of them showing signs of infection? any died recently? when was the most recent water change? chemicals added to the tank?
what fish do you have? how often do you feed them?

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
We need a nitrite reading.
Also what your tap nitrate reading.

Do the fish showing any of these signs.

Gasping or laboured breathing.
Look pale or darker in colour.
Flicking and rubbing.
Excess mucas.
Looking bloated or skinny.
Any sores or red streaking on the body of the fish.
Do the fish tilt to oneside.
What does it look like when your fish go to the toilet.
Is the anus enlarged or red and inflamed.

 

[Stoogie]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
We need a nitrite reading.
Also what your tap nitrate reading.

Do the fish showing any of these signs.

Gasping or laboured breathing.
Look pale or darker in colour.
Flicking and rubbing.
Excess mucas.
Looking bloated or skinny.
Any sores or red streaking on the body of the fish.
Do the fish tilt to oneside.
What does it look like when your fish go to the toilet.
Is the anus enlarged or red and inflamed.

Sorry, I meant 0 nitrites, my computer auto corrected to nitrates. Tap water is 0 nitrites. The fish look darker than usual, and one of them seems to tilt to one side a bit, but other than that, nothing unusual. Their... (not sure of the technical term here) poop... looks normal. Tank is 33 gallons

 

[WILDER]

How did you put the background on the tank.

What do you feed the fish.

I would do a water change because of the background.
If no improvement get back to the board.

 

[Stoogie]

The background is just a piece of black cardboard that I taped to the back and side of the tank. I'm feeding OSI cichlid flakes and pellets, with occasional freeze dried tubifex worms, and nutrafin shrimp pellets for a treat every once in a while. I think I might have figured out whats going on, though, today I noticed about 30 wriggly little fry flocking around my fish. Do you think they could be behaving strangely because of them? (they're not swimming around much because they're protecting the fry/staying away from the fry?)

 

[elisew]

Can I just ask, when did you set your tank up? what test kit you use and when did you last do a water change? What percentage of water do you change?

 

[Stoogie]

Can I just ask, when did you set your tank up? what test kit you use and when did you last do a water change? What percentage of water do you change?

The tank has been up and running for about a year, I have an aquarium pharmaceuticals inc. test kit, and I do a 20-30% water change every week.

 

[WILDER]

Don';t over feed freeze dried foods it can cause bloating, swim bladder.

Research the fish diet needs.
Introduce some frozen foods into there diet.
Also some fish eat veg.

Feed your fish some shelled peas.

How many fish do you have in the tank?

I think I would add a bacterial med to the tank for now.