tetra acting very odd

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I have 4 serpae tetras that I added into my water the other day. They are all doing well, but the bigest one is acting somewhat odd. They will all swim together around the tank, but the biggest one from time to tine flips and spins all around in a wild motion, then rights itself and swims around with the group normally again. I have not seen this behavior before, and am wondering if it means something good or bad. Any info would be great. Thanks,

JMH

 

[MP5]

Sounds just like a crazy tetra, unless its rubbing itself on the ground or plants and rocks and such, then you have Ich

 

[JHZR2]

Nope it isnt doing that, I guess its just acting crazy...
Thanks

JMH

 

[ShyGecko]

I had a Gourami that did that, and a day or two later he up and died.

 

[TankGirl]

I would be suspicious of illness. If you have a quarrantine tank I would remove the fish, lest the rest of them succumb. If it is not ill, it is stressed and could very likely become ill. If you just got the fish, I would return it.

 

[JHZR2]

OK, took the fish out. He was doing really bad, but the others didnt show any signs of it. I didnt have an established quarantine tank, so I took some room temp water in a bucket. Very far from optimal, but if hes going to die, hes going to die in either tank, and so I might as well have him out away from my others. I put miracyn two in the tank with the other fish as a precaution, as that is all that I have by way of meds. Should I get something else tomorrow?

Not I have 3 serpaes in a 5 gallon tank. Looks pretty sparse in there. I like the three of them, I think its better than 4 of them, where they kind of split into 2 groups. This way all 3 stay together.

But what should I get to put in there? I was thinking of a dwarf blue gourami...

JMH

 

[TankGirl]

Having kept dwarf gouramis in smaller tanks (10gal and 12gal) they have in both cases proven to be extremely aggressive, to the point of not tolerating other fish at all in the tank! I do not think this is always the case, but I took the dwarf who would permit NO tankmates in the 10gal and put him in the 55gal angel/community tank and he is doing great in there. I think they need a bit more room than their size would lead you to believe. Anyway, I think about 3 pygmy cory cats would be cool in there, and how about a male betta? Serpaes will get along with anyone. White cloud minnows would be fine in there, too, as they stay very small, and don't seem to require as much "zooming around" space that zebra danios require.