Betty looks fine. She is healthy....no signs of Ich or other disease, swimming normally and no clamped fins. She always acts happy to see me.
These are the odd things that are going on; when I moved her from quarantine back to the 120 gallon, I knew she would be stressed for a few days. I noticed a couple of days after I moved her that she always had a certain area she swam in and would go no further. It was mid-column and about 1-1/2 feet wide. A few weeks later, I took all of the decorations out of the tank and did a through gravel cleaning. When I put the decorations back In the tank I rearranged them and left a few out to give them more room to swim. After that, she moved her swimming area to the middle of the tank. She always lays at the bottom at night with the other fish to rest but during the day will NEVER pick at the rocks, doesn't want to and will not go down that far.
Betty will not eat the foods that she used to love. She completely ignores them. I know that she is eating though, because she has been back in the tank several weeks now and would no longer be with us if she were eating nothing. I watch closely. I think that she may be eating some of the daphnia and some of the brine shrimp and spirulina from the FreshWater Frenzy frozen food that I feed them. Also, when I give them broccoli, small pieces of bud will break off and float around the tank and it looks like, possibly, she is also eating some of those. She is probably very tired of me staring at her all of the time. However, I find my self overfeeding the tank to try to get her to eat normally again, which of course, is throwing my water parameters totally off, which has to be stressing her too. Although, all the fish are happy after a water change. They seem to dance for joy. I am having to test the water everyday and change at least 20 gallons and yesterday had to do a 50%.
Like I said, no signs of disease. The small black spot that felt like a scab is still on her right side. She was treated for parasites when it became noticeable, which was about the same time I found the ulcers. They ulcers were treated with 2 antibiotic injections and they disappeared within a week, No new spots appeared. It has become no larger and no smaller. No other signs of disease......no clamped fins, swimming happily in her area, enjoying her fish pals (she seems to like the company after being in quarantine so long), no Ich, swim bladder problems or anything else that I can see. I can't even say that she acts depressed.
In the past few days, she has been venturing a little farther down and to the sides and a little lower and higher, but still not down far enough. She still will not pick at the rocks. I don't know what to do with her at this point. She is not skinny by any means, but she used to be on the chubby side and is now thinner. I contemplated moving her back into quarantine to do a salt treatment but I am afraid that would throw her over the edge. I think she is one of those fish that has to have the stimulation of other fish. I cannot salt treat the 120 gallon tank because I have a large healthy group of Corys and a tiny little inch long albino pleco and one bristle nose pleco in there.
I definitely need some expert advise here. She is a gorgeous and sweet fish. I don't want to lose her. Something is not right.
Thank you for any advice you can give.
