ghostchoir
Fish Fanatic
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- Mar 7, 2007
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I'm not sure what's wrong with my little panda cory, Andy.
I believe he was bitten this morning as I noticed a rather large chunk missing from his tail. I assumed this was from the betta (who ironically was rehomed about an hour afterwards when his new tank finally arrived). Andy had previously been a very active cory who was always seen scuttling around with the others or hanging upside down cleaning plants. However after the incident he started hiding and not moving very much, ignoring the other cories when they came and nudged him. As well as this the danios seemed to be nipping at him more, when previously they generally ignored him unless he was eating some food that they fancied!
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <0.25
PH: 7
Temperature: Always around the 23-25 area, currently 23
The tank is 125 litres. I do water changes every week - the exact amount varies, but the majority of the time I take out 50 litres.
I've never added chemicals and treatments before - however after first isolating Andy I added some Melafix to the entire tank.
The other fish in the tank are 5 glowlight danios, 3 panda cories and 4 julli cories. There was originally a betta but he has been removed. Andy is currently in isolation and has been much of the day.
I chose to isolate Andy after observing him for a few hours. While I know it's not ideal, I don't have the space or funds for a hospital tank, and as such I placed a container (with slots for air flow etc through it) inside the main tank. I'm not sure of the exact specifications of the container but the box described it as ideal for keeping 4 fighters - so think of roughly four betta boxes - though I took all the divider slots out so he had the whole thing to himself. I KNOW it's not ideal for him to be in this but I've made it as nice for him as I could with some sand and a small plant - really I had to keep him there so that I could easily observe him and to stop everything from nipping at him.
I'm not sure why Andy initially became so withdrawn, but I'm assuming it's because of being bitten.
Andy has been in the solitary section much of the day and though he's been mostly relatively inactive he's seemed fine. He hasn't moved too much but he has got up and had brief swims or gone and sat at another section.
Anyway, within the last hour I've noticed Andy's behaviour getting strange. I noticed he was moving around a lot and was releived as I thought maybe I could put him back with his friends within a few days. However, he then suddenly rolled onto his side. After about five minutes of this I feared he had died and went to remove him, at which point he suddenly started swimming rapidly in a strange manner. It's hard to describe but he started swimming up and down (not the standard cory glass dance, more all over the place) whilst leaning towards that side. He started swimming rapidly in all directions, all the time his body moving in different ways to the direction he was going in. It's hard to describe but it was disturbing to watch. After this he fell back down, back onto the same side that he'd been lying on before. After a while he struggled to try and get up but kept falling back down on his same side. At one point he ended up lying completely upside down with very rapid and obvious breathing. He has recently calmed down again and is now back to sitting the right way up and his breathing is normal again.
Any ideas of what's wrong with little Andy, or if there's anything I can do for him? I'm not sure if he's actually suffering or not and I don't want to risk euthanising him (which I don't want to do at all, if possible) if there's a chance he'll make it.
EDIT: After typing this I checked on Andy again, and though he's still upright the heavy breathing has started again. I'm not sure of the exact specifications but I've got the full pump on so he should be getting plenty of oxygen.
I believe he was bitten this morning as I noticed a rather large chunk missing from his tail. I assumed this was from the betta (who ironically was rehomed about an hour afterwards when his new tank finally arrived). Andy had previously been a very active cory who was always seen scuttling around with the others or hanging upside down cleaning plants. However after the incident he started hiding and not moving very much, ignoring the other cories when they came and nudged him. As well as this the danios seemed to be nipping at him more, when previously they generally ignored him unless he was eating some food that they fancied!
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <0.25
PH: 7
Temperature: Always around the 23-25 area, currently 23
The tank is 125 litres. I do water changes every week - the exact amount varies, but the majority of the time I take out 50 litres.
I've never added chemicals and treatments before - however after first isolating Andy I added some Melafix to the entire tank.
The other fish in the tank are 5 glowlight danios, 3 panda cories and 4 julli cories. There was originally a betta but he has been removed. Andy is currently in isolation and has been much of the day.
I chose to isolate Andy after observing him for a few hours. While I know it's not ideal, I don't have the space or funds for a hospital tank, and as such I placed a container (with slots for air flow etc through it) inside the main tank. I'm not sure of the exact specifications of the container but the box described it as ideal for keeping 4 fighters - so think of roughly four betta boxes - though I took all the divider slots out so he had the whole thing to himself. I KNOW it's not ideal for him to be in this but I've made it as nice for him as I could with some sand and a small plant - really I had to keep him there so that I could easily observe him and to stop everything from nipping at him.
I'm not sure why Andy initially became so withdrawn, but I'm assuming it's because of being bitten.
Andy has been in the solitary section much of the day and though he's been mostly relatively inactive he's seemed fine. He hasn't moved too much but he has got up and had brief swims or gone and sat at another section.
Anyway, within the last hour I've noticed Andy's behaviour getting strange. I noticed he was moving around a lot and was releived as I thought maybe I could put him back with his friends within a few days. However, he then suddenly rolled onto his side. After about five minutes of this I feared he had died and went to remove him, at which point he suddenly started swimming rapidly in a strange manner. It's hard to describe but he started swimming up and down (not the standard cory glass dance, more all over the place) whilst leaning towards that side. He started swimming rapidly in all directions, all the time his body moving in different ways to the direction he was going in. It's hard to describe but it was disturbing to watch. After this he fell back down, back onto the same side that he'd been lying on before. After a while he struggled to try and get up but kept falling back down on his same side. At one point he ended up lying completely upside down with very rapid and obvious breathing. He has recently calmed down again and is now back to sitting the right way up and his breathing is normal again.
Any ideas of what's wrong with little Andy, or if there's anything I can do for him? I'm not sure if he's actually suffering or not and I don't want to risk euthanising him (which I don't want to do at all, if possible) if there's a chance he'll make it.
EDIT: After typing this I checked on Andy again, and though he's still upright the heavy breathing has started again. I'm not sure of the exact specifications but I've got the full pump on so he should be getting plenty of oxygen.
