Rescued Fish Swimming Oddly..

[Minabug]

I rescued a fish yesterday, no clue what kind of fish it is. They said it was possibly a goldfish, but the tail looks slightly different from a gold fish. It was in a tank that had not been cleaned out since November, the filter, or anything else had not been cleaned out since November. The whole tank was covered in algae, the filter was backed up, there was rocks in the tubes that hang into the tank, all the fish died except for this one little fish. This poor fish was laying on it's side, if you tapped the glass he would try to swim. I rescued him and brought him home with me, I put him in a clean tank, with a light, heater, filter, gravel, and an artificial plant. When I put him in this clean tank he immediately started trying to swim (opposed to what he was doing, just laying on his side in the other). Sometimes he swims straight up, but other times it's swimming on it's side or upside down. It's still eating. I tested the water in the other tank that it was in..the levels of everything in it were so high that it went way past the guide colors on the test strip bottle. The fish has a few greenish-darkish spots on him, but they're getting less, some of the algae fell off of him into the clean water. I also put a tablespoon of aquarium salt in the tank last night and a lifeguard tablet. I've also treated the water with water conditioner before i switched the fish into this. I'm attaching some pictures of him, maybe someone knows what kind of fish he is. (Pictures just taken with a camera phone, didn't want to freak him out with a camera flash)

Does anyone at all know what I can do to save this poor fish? I called a local pet store and all they said was 'throw him in a bag in the freezer, he'll just go to sleep'. I told them 'I am not killing this fish.' I'm not going to kill a fish that still has a chance. I was told that possibly his equilibrium was maybe off, I've seen online about swim bladder, his belly doesn't look swollen or anything though. Does anyone at all have any suggestions on saving this poor little guy?

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there..

Poor fishy I can't tell if its a goldfish or perhaps a rudd, but it looks like a coldwater pond fish. Is this new filter cycled at all? Do you have an ammonia test?

All you can really do is keep the water in pristine condition with plenty of water changes and hope he pulls through.

If he's struggling to swim, maybe lower the water level (to about half what it is now). Some more plants (even fakes ones) would give him somwhere to hide and make him feel more secure.

Best of luck with the little chap.

 

[Minabug]

Hi there..

Poor fishy I can't tell if its a goldfish or perhaps a rudd, but it looks like a coldwater pond fish. Is this new filter cycled at all? Do you have an ammonia test?

All you can really do is keep the water in pristine condition with plenty of water changes and hope he pulls through.

If he's struggling to swim, maybe lower the water level (to about half what it is now). Some more plants (even fakes ones) would give him somwhere to hide and make him feel more secure.

Best of luck with the little chap.

I did a water test with the little paper strips, I'll have to see if it has ammonia testing on it. I haven't had fish for so many years, so I'm not sure on what cycling the filter means. I was told to put part of his old water in, along with clean water that was dechlorinated. I'm just using a filter that came with the tank I got, it's an aqua tech 5-15 filter. Since it would have his good bacteria in it.

He's swimming, just swimming oddly. I've been turning the filter on for a few hours, then off for a few minutes then back on to give him a break, I'm worried he might be weak from the conditions he was living in and the currant might be too strong for him but he's doing better with the currant than he was yesterday (when I first turned on the filter yesterday it knocked the poor thing for a loop.) He swims sometimes on his back, on his side other times, normally other times, and sometimes it looks like as if he's trying to do a headstand.

Just looked, the bottle says it tests for these things:
Nitrate, nitrite, ph, total alkalinity, total hardness

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, that's one of the problems with the paper test strips; they never seem to include ammonia, which is quite important as that is what the fish excrete and it is poisonous to fish at quite low levels. Either get your LFS to test it for you or buy yourself at the very least an ammonia test; better yet a proper liquid test master kit; the API or Nutrafin ones are both very good.

If you get any readings for ammonia OR nitrite you need to do a large water change with dechlorinated water to them down to as near zero as possible.

Cycling just means getting a good colony of bacteria growing in the filter; if it's an old filter that has been used for this fish for a longer than a month or so it should be fine (as long as you didn't wash it under the tap...)

It's not a great idea to be turning the filter on and off. You'll probably be ok, but there is a slight risk that you could kill off some of the bacteria and you don't want to be doing that! Can you turn the outlet to face the tank wall and spread the current around perhaps?

Is he eating at all? If he is, you could try feeding him some lightly cooked, shelled peas; that's good for indigestion/swim bladder issues in fish.

I feel I should warn you that it doesn't look good for the little guy; but you never know...where there's life, there's hope and all that.

 

[Minabug]

Yes, that's one of the problems with the paper test strips; they never seem to include ammonia, which is quite important as that is what the fish excrete and it is poisonous to fish at quite low levels. Either get your LFS to test it for you or buy yourself at the very least an ammonia test; better yet a proper liquid test master kit; the API or Nutrafin ones are both very good.

If you get any readings for ammonia OR nitrite you need to do a large water change with dechlorinated water to them down to as near zero as possible.

Cycling just means getting a good colony of bacteria growing in the filter; if it's an old filter that has been used for this fish for a longer than a month or so it should be fine (as long as you didn't wash it under the tap...)

It's not a great idea to be turning the filter on and off. You'll probably be ok, but there is a slight risk that you could kill off some of the bacteria and you don't want to be doing that! Can you turn the outlet to face the tank wall and spread the current around perhaps?

Is he eating at all? If he is, you could try feeding him some lightly cooked, shelled peas; that's good for indigestion/swim bladder issues in fish.

I feel I should warn you that it doesn't look good for the little guy; but you never know...where there's life, there's hope and all that.

It's a new filter that came with the tank that I bought.
Went to petsmart and had them test my water, they said the ammonia was at .5, so I just put in some stability stuff that says it fixes nitrate and ammonia. Bought some ammonia test strips too. He still seems to be okay other than the swimming a little odd, he does eat. He'll come to the top of the tank and try to touch your finger while you drop food in there.

Petsmart also told me that they believe by the pictures I brought in of him that it might be a rosy barb.

Just turned around to check on him again, and he's swimming more normal already. I'm not going to give up hope on this little guy, to of seen him laying on his side on the tank barely breathing, to atleast swimming it gives me some hope.

Thanks for all the help and continuing help to help save this little fellow

 

[Baccus]

It does look sort of like a rosy barb but I'm more inclined to go with it being a goldfish, especailly if it survived the terrible conditions you found it in. If you can get some clearer photos it will really help in identifying because if its a goldfish I wont really want a heater, water too warm will just stress it all the more. And as Fluttermouth has said keep the water nice and clean, definantly add some more plants ( I always prefer real but the choice is purely yours) and if it is a goldfish adding an airstone to the tank wouldn't hurt especailly if the water is warm. Best of luck with the poor creature. Hope it survives and you give it a name befitting the epic obsticles it has over come.

 

[Minabug]

The tank that the fish was living in was very warm water and it did fine in that (until the tank was neglected) that's why we rescued it, to give it a chance at living. He seems to be doing pretty good so far. The other fish that was in the tank were tropical fish, they had angel fish,algae eaters, silver dollars and such. I've been comparing pictures online and with the little black spot on it and it's color it does look more like a rosy barb, it's kind of hard to tell because he had so much algae on him when we pulled him out of the neglected tank but alot of it has fallen off.

Thanks for all of the help everyone, I really appreciate it, this is such a great website.