Mad dancing Pristella

[colzboppo]

Hi all,
Have recently moved house and succesfully moved all my tank, fish and stuff in on the same day! woOoOotsy!!

But... today I have noticed one of my Pristella Tetras has gone completely crazy. It resorts to swimming round in tiny little circles constantly, i'm sure its getting quite dizzy because at one point it got stuck between a leaf and the glass whilst dancing, none of the other pristellas has ever exhibited such bizarre and prolonged behaviour. I was wondering if any of you have observed this before and what it might mean.
Thanks in advance.
Col

 

[TankGirl]

Welcome to AA, colzboppo!

Congrats on your successful move - that is a huge job. Assuming the tank did not undergo a "cycle" when you moved, in that you kept the decorations and gravel wet and preserved the biofilter, I would assume the fish has a disease, and would immediately remove it to quarrantine to protect the other fish. This is not a good sign so some treatment needs to commence, but it is hard to say what you are treating. Are there any outward signs of illness, like sores, spots, wounds, deformities, etc?

Also, a rundown of your tank parameters would be helpful as well, in terms of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in particular.

 

[colzboppo]

Hia,
Yeah the tank was kept wet on transport, and all the other fish seem relatively OK - ie. I put it down to the stress of moving and being in a new environment.
Im not sure of the some of the water parameters (im a poor student who can't yet afford to buy nitrate and ammonia test kits)
However the nitrite levels are zero, and the pH is as ever the steady 6.8 it has always been.
The fish has no sores deformities or wounds as yet, although it may well exhaust and injure itself at this rate (it is not eating either - too busy swimming in circles) It is also *still* swimming upright. 8O im hypnotized by it. It seems it has lost all sense of co-ordination and direction.

Unfortunatley I have no QT tank as yet either. But he's going in the bucket if he starts 'tipping' and swimming upside down.
Could this be a brain tumour perhaps? would explain the otherwise good health the fish is in with this erratic behaviour.

 

[TankGirl]

Here's a nifty site I got from Menagerie to help diagnose fish disease (she has a slew of sites like this) http://www.aquatronicsonline.com/hobbyist/hobbyist3.htm

I am really thinking this is a bacterial infection and prognosis is not good. If there is any way to remove the fish to a bucket with an air stone that would be what I would do, even just putting a desk lamp over it to provide heat, and you can do daily water changes to keep the water in good shape while you treat the fish. The longer it remains in the tank the more likely this is to spread to the other fish, then you've got a mess.

Good luck!

 

[Menagerie]

Some other links, if you need them
http://www.aqualink.com/disease/sdisease.html#ich
http://fish.mongabay.com/diseases.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqBizSubWebIndex/fishdisho.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/health.htm

 

[colzboppo]

Hi all - Just found the little blighter swimming on its side at the bottom - I was worried he had died and been eaten, but he was still alive, he is now in quarantine. Is there any point adding salt to his water? any other home brew techniques that may help?
I assume it was a bacterial infection(Myxobacterlosis?). But i do not have access to medicine.

 

[Menagerie]

For bacterial infections, salt will not help, you need an antibacterial medication. No access to fish meds at all? The LFS doesn't carry any? 8O