So I have another question that I noticed with my swordtails yesterday. A male wild type helleri was trying to swim but his body was twirling in circles upside down and i found him dead this morning, now my dominant male Nezzy is laying on the bottom and when he tries to swim his body goes vertical and he swims ok for a bit then his body goes vertical again and wobbly. anyone know what this could be?
First check to see if its not a environmental problem.Check ammonia,nitrite,copper,and dissolved oxygen levels.Let me know what size is your tank,how many fish are in it and your daily routine,feedings ,water changes,filter cleaning,also temperture,and PH.
Everything looks on point, the ammonia and nirtates are in the safe zone. How do I check the dissolved oxygen levels? I change the filter cartidges monthly. I feed every evening a flake blend and an occasional live/frozen in the morning. Water changed every Sunday/Monday. PH is 6.7 and I keep them all at room temp. 1 10 gallon tat had the Helleri pair and a 29 gallon with 2 trios of Nezzies along with 2 limia females and their fry.
I should not have added dissolved oxygen,most aquarist don't have a test kit for it.As long as you have a filter or air stone in the tank and you do partial water changes it should be okay. There are many things that can cause a fish to show abnormal swimming movements.Take a good look at your sick fish and look if has any tiny yellowish-white spots or loss of color,rubbing or scratching against the bottom of the tank.This is caused by Velvet/Oodinium pillularis.It can be caused by Bacteria/ Swim bladder disease.It can be parasites in the blood capillaries of the brain/Myxosoma.It can be nodules in the brain and spinal cord,abnormal position of the body,zigzag movements in swimming/Ichthyosporidium.Without doing a necropsy its hard to pin down.
Mr_southwest,I've been thinking about your problems all day.I had to put a door in for a costomer and instead of thinking about the door I was thinking about your swords .You know I frequently think back at the past ,this has helped me sometimes.When I was a boy sitting in front of my tank looking at my fish.My mom would sit with me and talk to me about when she was young how she would sit in front of my grandfathers tank and watch his guppies.This is back in the late 30s and early 40s.Back then my grandfather didn't have the fancy life support systems and equipment available today,and yet he was able to keep his guppies alive and flushing for years.His success was the result of careful study,personal attention and TLC,not technology.Today there is a high demand for different species.I would say more then 50% of the species of tropical fish are being bred by hobbyist and fish dealers,the rest come from nature.There is still a high demand on nature to supply many of the species desired.As a consumer of a dwindling supply of tropical fish ,todays hobbyist has the obligation to apply himself to his hobby with the care of his fish his foremost consideration,Modern technology is great but a understanding of the basic requirements of your tropical fish is more important.We must always remenber we are dealing with live animals.Oh! the door, it came out okay.
It just baffles me how it seems like I take such good care of these fish and really want them to do well and things like this happen. The Helleri died the next morning I noticed him swimming like that and I observe each tank before bedtime, the Nezzy looks better today I do see him trying to scratch at the bottom corner of the tank though.
Velvet diseased fish lose their normal coloration on the skin,and in advanced cases the skin may assume the appearance of a dark grayish or even yellowish layer.At times the skin even peels away in strips. The fish rub themselves against stones and other stationary objects and become thin.The fish die sporadically over a period of several weeks.If you think this is what your fish have I would recommend using General Cure made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals.
The helleri lost all color ut died within 24 hours and the Nezzy is ok he just stays at the bottom and dominance hasswitched to another male so now gets picked on also.
