Swim bladder?

[kurtmussel]

Hello,

So to start I will say I had a 3 gallon tank with 2 tetra in it. Yes I am aware that’s too small and not enough fish for a school. That being said I took the old media from that tank and set up a new 29 gallon recently. I put the old tetra in there and everything was fine. I waited about a week then I went and bought 5 more tetra. So 7 in total. Since buying the new tetras exactly two weeks ago nothings been a problem. The only thing I have been having trouble with is getting them to eat. Now today I noticed one of the new tetra is laying at the bottom. He’s trying to swim around and he’ll get halfway up the tank but he eventually falls back down to the gravel. What do you think the problem could be?

My PH 7.6 ammonia 0 nitrites 0 and nitrates 0
I do have some sword plants in my tank
Also I have 1 nerite snail that was also from the old tank

Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum

 

[kurtmussel]

Also to add he is super skinny (not bloated) because he hasn’t eaten. If maybe that’s why he is sinking, how can I get him to eat?

 

[GaryE]

Whenever I buy shoaling fish from non specialty stores (chains would be an example), or if I receive them via shipping, I expect a 20% death rate. That sounds awful, because it is. But if the fish is thin already, 2 weeks picky eating won't do that. He was sick from before you got him.

What with you may never know.

What species of tetra are they?

There is a great danger they are picking at food later, which could lead you to overfeed - a common but deadly mistake.

 

[kurtmussel]

Whenever I buy shoaling fish from non specialty stores (chains would be an example), or if I receive them via shipping, I expect a 20% death rate. That sounds awful, because it is. But if the fish is thin already, 2 weeks picky eating won't do that. He was sick from before you got him.

What with you may never know.

What species of tetra are they?

There is a great danger they are picking at food later, which could lead you to overfeed - a common but deadly mistake.

Thanks for the reply!

After trying to research I will say I did see the same death rate. He’s the runt of the 5 newer tetras I got.. I do notice the other ones do pick at food if my older tetras haven’t gobbled it up first. With that being said this one particular tetra is very skinny. I watched a piece of food float to him and he still did not eat it

My older tetras are both Pristella glofish tetra. I got them as the last couple at a LFS. I then realized I needed more. So fast forward to now and I went to get some more from a different LFS. They did not have the pristellas so I just got regular glofish tetras.

I do recognize that people in this hobby do not like glofish so I am sorry for that. I was just trying to keep them the same as the ones I already had

With that being said could you possibly offer a better way to get my newer tetra to eat? Some of them are, but my older pristellas will not stop racing to eat the food first

 

[GaryE]

You have very different tetras. If you forget the glo-gene insertion, you're left with Pristellas (Pristella maxillaris), a peaceful, quick shoaler. And the regular glofish is a widow tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi) slightly more territorial and larger. The Latin names will get you better information if you want to look them up.
Whether one likes the genetic modification, deep down, they're still the species that they are. Both are hardy and usually good eaters.

I've kept a lot of tetra species, but I've never really liked widow tetras. I've watched them a lot though. I breed natural form Pristellas, simply because I like them a lot. They're great community fish, and the naturally coloured ones are pretty.
They aren't going to strike food the way a predator will. They'll grab a flake or two, and then forage all day, picking up the rest. I feed mine once a day, and they healthy with that. One day a week, they go unfed. That helps keep them from getting overweight - fish can't survive long with body fat.

Both species do well around 75f.

Your new guy who's thin will eat if he can. If he has an internal problem, there's not much to be done. It could be caused by so many different things, and each would require different treatment. But I'll wager the others are already eating, and when they do it, they just look like they are picking around the bottom of the tank. They don't have any mealtime other than when they can see it - all day long. Tiny quantities rule.

 

[Colin_T]

Upload a 30 second to 1 minute video of the fish to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen.

True swim bladder problems are rare but do occur.
If a fish floats to the surface when it stops swimming, it can have air trapped in its intestine. To test this you stop feeding dry food for a week and feed frozen (but defrosted) and or live foods for a week. If the problem stops after dry food is removed, then it's air in the intestine.

If a fish sinks when it stops swimming, it usually has a swim bladder problem. on rare occassions some fish swallow gravel or sand and this can cause them to sink when they stop swimming, but it's very rare.

There's no cure for swim bladder problems and the affected fish should be euthanised to stop them burning out by trying to swim with the group.

 

[kurtmussel]

You have very different tetras. If you forget the glo-gene insertion, you're left with Pristellas (Pristella maxillaris), a peaceful, quick shoaler. And the regular glofish is a widow tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi) slightly more territorial and larger. The Latin names will get you better information if you want to look them up.
Whether one likes the genetic modification, deep down, they're still the species that they are. Both are hardy and usually good eaters.

I've kept a lot of tetra species, but I've never really liked widow tetras. I've watched them a lot though. I breed natural form Pristellas, simply because I like them a lot. They're great community fish, and the naturally coloured ones are pretty.
They aren't going to strike food the way a predator will. They'll grab a flake or two, and then forage all day, picking up the rest. I feed mine once a day, and they healthy with that. One day a week, they go unfed. That helps keep them from getting overweight - fish can't survive long with body fat.

Both species do well around 75f.

Your new guy who's thin will eat if he can. If he has an internal problem, there's not much to be done. It could be caused by so many different things, and each would require different treatment. But I'll wager the others are already eating, and when they do it, they just look like they are picking around the bottom of the tank. They don't have any mealtime other than when they can see it - all day long. Tiny quantities rule.

Thank you again for this helpful information

 

[kurtmussel]

Upload a 30 second to 1 minute video of the fish to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen.

True swim bladder problems are rare but do occur.
If a fish floats to the surface when it stops swimming, it can have air trapped in its intestine. To test this you stop feeding dry food for a week and feed frozen (but defrosted) and or live foods for a week. If the problem stops after dry food is removed, then it's air in the intestine.

If a fish sinks when it stops swimming, it usually has a swim bladder problem. on rare occassions some fish swallow gravel or sand and this can cause them to sink when they stop swimming, but it's very rare.

There's no cure for swim bladder problems and the affected fish should be euthanised to stop them burning out by trying to swim with the group.

Unfortunately he did pass away over night. Thanks for taking your time to help tho