Sick African Butterfly Fish

[pahansen]

I just looked at my fish tank, and my ABF was resting in a plant near the bottom of the tank. I thought he'd died, and apparently recently since no one was bothering him yet.

When I went to take him out of the tank, he started swimming to the top. He's still at the top of the tank, but his tail is "droopy" and he's floating about 1/4-1/2 inch below the surface of the water. Usually he sits at the surface and his body is partially exposed. Also, his pectoral fins are not lying as flat as they usually are, but I think that may be because he's not on the surface of the water.

My water parameters are normal:
Nitrate - 20-30ppm
Nitrite - 0
Hardness - 75
KH - 80
pH - 6.8
Temperature - 78.2F

If anything, the nitrate is a little high. My tank ususally reads between 0 and 20. Today it's a little higher than 20. The tank was due to be cleaned on Monday, but we've all been sick here. Still, I don't think that's high enough to kill a fish.

My guess is that the culprit is the fact that I've cut back on feedings. I've moved the feedings (slowly, over time) to one good feeding every day or two. I think I've starved this fish to death. Unlike all of the other fish in the tank, he only can eat what's on the surface of the water, so if I've been underfeeding other fish they can pick at the leftovers in the tank or chomp on algae or plants. (Which hasn't happened yet.) The ABF can't do that.

I will say that when I fed the fish last night, he didn't seem interested. He only ate one bit of shrimp, then wandered back into his favorite corner. I was surprised, but not worried.

Darn -- he's back near the bottom again. I tried feeding him just now, but he wouldn't eat. Any ideas out there? I feel so bad.

-- Pamela

 

[pahansen]

Okay, we just got home and I fully expected the ABF to be dead. He was still lying in the plant when we left. I came home and looked for him in the plants (the light is off now), and I couldn't find him. That's because he's back up on the surface of the water again. He just ate a bunch of plankton. I'm going to check on him again before I go to bed and see if he wants any more to eat.

I'm still confused, though. Did I just catch him in time, having almost starved him to death, and manage to get some food to him at the last minute? Would a fish sink like that in order to conserve energy if he were starving? Or is there something else going on here? Does my ABF just want to be like the weather loach and enjoy life on the bottom of the tank? Or is this a symptom of some bizarre "sinking fish disease" that I've never heard of before? I'd still like some answers, if anyone has any to suggest.

I'm planning on cleaning the tank first thing in the morning. I'd have done it already, but cleaning the tank really freaks out the ABF, and I figure he doesn't need more stress in his life right now. Hopefully he'll still be okay in the morning.

-- Pamela