Fish behaving strangely

The_Conductor

Just curious- I have a large cold water tank with a number of koi and goldfish (even a pleco in there too). One of the larger goldfish (almost a foot long) seems to be swimming on its side, rather than upright like the other fish, and is almost upside down when eating (still grabbing mouthfulls of pebbles and spitting them out- similar to the other fish though).

Is the fish ok- or is something wrong with it- and what can I do to get it swimming right again (if anything)? It does seem to be lively enough.

S.

animan

you could try putting some salt in it is sort of a cure all with goldfish,

The_Conductor

animan wrote:

you could try putting some salt in it is sort of a cure all with goldfish,

The Pleco probably wouldn't be too happy
Hmmm- the fish had a bit of fin rot, but got over it- and they've plenty of stress coat, I don't know.....

Strange.

animan

you should probably seperate him if you have anything else to keep him in and try the salt just incase it could be contagius

SpicyNoodle

Just curious, when you say large what do you mean. One Goldfish will require at least 76 liters/20 gallons. How many are you keeping in the tank and what filtration have you got?

Try feeding him some cooked peas without the skins.

What are your PH, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia levels?

Sorry about all the questions but need to know a little more so I can help you.

The_Conductor

SpicyNoodle wrote:

Just curious, when you say large what do you mean. One Goldfish will require at least 76 liters/20 gallons. How many are you keeping in the tank and what filtration have you got?

Try feeding him some cooked peas without the skins.

What are your PH, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia levels?

Sorry about all the questions but need to know a little more so I can help you.

2 large goldfish - about 10-12" long
1 large koi - a bit bigger than the goldfish
4 smaller fish - which I imagine are related to the goldfish somehow
1 pleco- only about 2 inches long

tank is a 200 litre Jewel

Fish are strange- they keep burying the airstones (2 x 16" airstones running lengthways down the middle of the tank) with pebbles.

PH is 6.9 - pretty close to neutral
Nitrites and ammonia are registering 0ppm

I did the filtration myself with the custom Jewel enclosure- the pump is registered at 1000 litres/hour and its drawing through 1kg of activated charcoal pellets with a synthetic cotton layer (its cheaper than using the Jewel stuff, plus its a hell of a lot more effective). There is a great current off the expulsion pump- the smaller fish love surfing in it.

I have aloe ferox and vera- I put in stalks every now and then- the fish seem to enjoy them.

Thats about it I guess.

SpicyNoodle

smccarrick wrote:

2 large goldfish - about 10-12" long
1 large koi - a bit bigger than the goldfish
4 smaller fish - which I imagine are related to the goldfish somehow
1 pleco- only about 2 inches long

tank is a 200 litre Jewel

Fish are strange- they keep burying the airstones (2 x 16" airstones running lengthways down the middle of the tank) with pebbles.

PH is 6.9 - pretty close to neutral
Nitrites and ammonia are registering 0ppm

I did the filtration myself with the custom Jewel enclosure- the pump is registered at 1000 litres/hour and its drawing through 1kg of activated charcoal pellets with a synthetic cotton layer (its cheaper than using the Jewel stuff, plus its a hell of a lot more effective). There is a great current off the expulsion pump- the smaller fish love surfing in it.

I have aloe ferox and vera- I put in stalks every now and then- the fish seem to enjoy them.

Thats about it I guess.

How often are you changing your water? Adding stress zyme after every water change and so on is good. When did your fish start this strange behavior?

If I were you I would get rid of a fish or two, just so they have enough room. The koi should really be in a pond, but I am not the judge of that.

Are your readings for everything at 0ppm? That is a little strange. Is your tank new?

The_Conductor

SpicyNoodle wrote:

How often are you changing your water? Adding stress zyme after every water change and so on is good. When did your fish start this strange behavior?

If I were you I would get rid of a fish or two, just so they have enough room. The koi should really be in a pond, but I am not the judge of that.

Are your readings for everything at 0ppm? That is a little strange. Is your tank new?

Changing 1/2 the water weekly- and putting stress-zyme in.
Fish were in another tank (other than the smaller fish and the Pleco). The current tank- was ran with saline for 2 weeks (to clear a water snail problem) and then the tank was properly cleaned out and all the pebbles boiled- and the walls properly disinfected and then I ran it in for 2 weeks before I introduced the fish into it.

The fish thats behaving strangely- was behaving in a strange way in the old tank- prior to moving to the new tank. The reason for the move is the old tank was less than half the size of this one. Other than swimming sideways and eating upsidedown- the fish does appear to be happy enough- and has been like this for a few weeks.

SpicyNoodle

smccarrick wrote:

Changing 1/2 the water weekly- and putting stress-zyme in.
Fish were in another tank (other than the smaller fish and the Pleco). The current tank- was ran with saline for 2 weeks (to clear a water snail problem) and then the tank was properly cleaned out and all the pebbles boiled- and the walls properly disinfected and then I ran it in for 2 weeks before I introduced the fish into it.

The fish thats behaving strangely- was behaving in a strange way in the old tank- prior to moving to the new tank. The reason for the move is the old tank was less than half the size of this one. Other than swimming sideways and eating upsidedown- the fish does appear to be happy enough- and has been like this for a few weeks.

Seen as the fish seems to be doing ok, there is not much else I can think of. What did you disinfect the tank with? You should really run the tank for around 4 weeks as it gives the tank time to grow beneficial bacteria but you obviously needed it sooner than expected. Snails can be a big problem
to get rid of, I think I killed all mine eventually lol...

Hope your fish recovers from whatever is wrong.

Just have a read of this- http://en.allexperts.com/q/Freshwater-Aquarium-3216/Ammonia.htm

Is your readings all at )ppm?

Best of Luck,
SpicyNoodle

P.S. I sent you a PM.

The_Conductor

All readings were at PPM before introduction of fish (1 week ago).
Yes- I really had to move the fish, a lot faster than originally anticipated- its something that had been put on the long finger for far too long. The other inhabitant of the larger tank- a 2 foot pleco, had to be rehoused first of all- and it took a while for the Boardwalk Petshop to find a suitable home (its now happily down in Ringsend with one of their employees).

I'll have a look online and have joined the Koko's world- cheers!

Kind regards,

Shane

SpicyNoodle

Your welcome Shane, see you over at koko's.;)

cowzerp

i think the large fish is distressed and needs more space-thats obvious anyway.

stcatherine

Hi,
the problem with your fish believe it or not might be Gas ...... (in my experience)

When you feed the fish do you sprinkle the food on top of the water ?
If so what might be happening is he's taking in a lot of air when feeding and it's accumulating in his tummy meaning he is literally floating ( notice when fish die they end up on their sides)

The first thing you can do is when you are feeding keep the food in your hand and immerse it in the water until it is damp enough to sink.

Secondly I believe you can get something to add to the water to help him expel the gas he has ATM, but you would have get advice from an aquatic centre on that as I can't remember what it's called.

I have had this happen to a couple of my fish in the past and after some time of 'dampening' their food they recovered 100%.

It's worth a try !

The_Conductor

I'll give it a try- gassy fish, I'd never have guessed. The fish in question seems fine other than the fact that he/she is incapable of swimming like the other fish. Its worth a shot. How would one go about degassing a fish? Hmmm- google here I come.......

munsterchick

The problem could be the fish's swim bladder, you can buy solution in pet shops for this problem.

SpicyNoodle

munsterchick wrote:

The problem could be the fish's swim bladder, you can buy solution in pet shops for this problem.

If your the fish has swim bladder disease it will either be floating on the top or sinking to the bottom of the tank. If the fish is able to swim but is leaning to one side, it is more likely not to have swim bladder, but it is likely to have a different type of infection.

Don't forget to feed the pea's, they are good for releasing gas. What stcatherine suggested about soaking the food is a very good idea, but the PM I sent you about pellets are even better if you can get some. Try some live or frozen food also, frozen is a little better as there are no parasites.

Most if not all fish diseases are due to water quality, do regular water changes and check the levels often.

CathyMoran

Thanks for the tips thus far, our fish do seem very happy and Shane is excellent in caring for them. Personally, I do not remember a time when one of our fish did not swim in a funny manner.

The big fish are called Tom, Dick and Harriot (Harriot is the Koi). We have 4 smaller fish, 2 brown goldfish (Brown and Blue) and 2 orange and black fish that have yet to be named. Our pleco is called Uggie Junior.

SpicyNoodle

IMHO, I would not worry to much about them. If they seem happy, have enough room to swim and water quality is good, you will have some very happy fish. I am sure you are doing a great job at looking after them. It is always nice to hear from others...who care well for their fish.

I like the names you have chosen, very good! Will you name one of the orange ones Marley for me lol...I just like the name:D

LegacyUser

Sounds like your fish has "swim bladder"

ekaterinaotoole

With Carp or Goldfish can have balance problems from one of 2 sources. A swim bladder infection or gas in the digestive tract.
Suggestions to help the fish would be to treat the water with an anti-bacterial product incase it is an infection but becareful to cut back feeding to make sure you don't have any ammonia spike.
Other good treatments would be to not to feed for a day to see if the gas releases itself.
Or use a product like Organic Aqua available from fish shops in Dun Laoghaire and Brittas and from South Africa where it is produced. It treats the water and treats the fishes health. I have been using the marine version for well over a year and my fish are all happy and healthy with good colours and good water conditions, only changing 25% of the water once amonth. Plus it puts in the bacteria straight away to help balance the tank.
Hope your fish gets better as they can live for 18 years.
Also test the water once a week and you should be able to stay on top of water quality.