Swordtail Lying Around

[gearhead65]

My male swordtail is just "sitting" on the bottom. Almost like he's sleeping. He does this for awhile and then swims around and goes back to the same spot. He still seems to have an appetite, he's not shimmying or doesn't appear to be sick otherwise. I tested the water today and nitrate levels were about 20 ppm and ammonia was about .25ppm so I changed 50% of the water, but he still hasn't changed. All the rest of the tank mates are very lively and swimming around happily. So, is this a concern or do swords normally have "downtime"?

 

[OldMan47]

Swords are seldom sedentary fish. They are probably the fastest swimmers in a usual community tank. Some things that will slow them down is overly warm tank temperatures robbing them of oxygen or small tanks that give them no room to get moving fast. They can swim faster backward than many fish can go swimming forward.

 

[gearhead65]

I lost my swordtail today I have no idea why. Soon after my last post in this thread he was swimming around just fine again. But the last few days he's been just staying in one spot. Not on the bottom, but just in one spot. He was eating fine as far as I remember. This afternoon I found him dead among my plants. I tested the water; 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrates, <10ppm nitrates, temp: 77-78 degrees. Is that too hot?? I have no idea how he died just like the female that suddenly died with no symptoms a few months ago. I hate losing fish. Especially this guy, he was my favorite. Oh well, life goes on.