Bloodfin Tetra

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NiaCas

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
102
I have some bloodfin tetras in a 40 gallon, cycled tank. Tested water 4 days ago and today - ammonia and nitrite = 0 and nitrate = 5. All other fish in the tank seemed fine 4 days ago and today except for one bloodfin tetra. I noticed he was having some trouble swimming and was going vertical. He could still swim, but he looked skinny and didn't eat much. I figured he had a swim bladder problem, so I took him out, put him in a 2 gallon hospital tank with some aquarium salt and didn't feed him for about 3 days. To be perfectly honest, I figured he would die in a day at most, but today he looked much better, so I put him back in with the other fish. He's still teetering a bit though. When he swims you can see his tail sink down just a millimeter or so. He looks a little unbalanced compared to the other fish. And of course he's still very slim compared to the others.

I only got these tetras about a month ago, but I'm not sure how old they were at that time. Just wondering what other people think about the fish's possible ailment. Was I right about the swim bladder? Could that still be a problem and maybe I should take him back out and put him back in the hospital tank for another day or so? Maybe he's just old? Or it's something else? He seems much happier now to be back with his friends and isn't sitting by himself like he was before I took him out of the bigger tank. He's schooling with the other tetras, but I can spot him easily just by the slight dip of his tail - without even noticing his slimness (is that a word?..) But maybe he can finish getting better in the bigger tank?

I'm not sure how he would have gotten a swim bladder infection in the first place. The tank is well cycled, I keep as close an eye on it as my other tanks, the water parameters are always pretty much the same with a little variation in nitrates, one of the two filters I have in there is air powered and creates plenty of surface agitation so I never see any fish swim to the surface for air, and while I do sprinkle some food on the surface for the one angelfish because she prefers that, I shoot most of the food in with a big syringe to make sure the bottom feeders get their share and to minimize risk of swim bladder problems among the smaller fish. The tetras seem to prefer eating in the middle of the tank or at the bottom. Anyway, sorry for the long post! Please let me know what you guys think!
 
He went back to how he was a few days ago - swimming vertically and sinking. I moved him, but still not really sure how to help him. I havent given him any flakes yet and he wouldnt eat any pea bits.
 
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