Male Swordtail swimming vertically

[Adron]

Hi! Please advise... I'm worried about a fish in my tank and I really can't think of what might be ailing him.

The afflicted fish is a male swordtail. He shows no visible signs of disease or poor health except for his recent behavior. He's been swimming mostly vertically for the last two days and spends a great deal of time at the surface water, appearing to be "sipping" air from the surface. His appetite seems good and unaffected. There are no signs of ich and he has no fin damage, and I have not seen any aggression towards him from any other tankmates. All the tankmates get along peacefully. I did a 30% water change yesterday and noticed the odd behavior after the water change. The only thing out of the ordinary is that I believe he has recently impregnated two other female fish in the tank, one of them a platy, one another swordtail.

My tank is a 29 gallon setup. Recent water test (5-month-old API test kit, should be accurate) shows PH of 6.8, Ammonia of 0.25, Nitrite of 0, Nitrate very negligible, just over 0. The temperature has been a regular 76-78 degrees F since I first set up the tank. The tank has been active and inhabited since August 6. It was cycled fishlessly and has a strong biofilter. I use two Aqueon over-the-side filters on it simultaneously. One is appropriate for the size of tank I'm using, and the other is for smaller tanks; I just have it running for a little extra filtration and water agitation.

The other inhabitants are 4 congo tetras (each about 1.5" in length), one other female swordtail (1.25"), 2 red wag platys (1" each), one male kribensis cichlid (1.5"), and one siamese algae eater (1"). They all get along fine, and I've never seen any fin or scale damage on anyone in the tank.

My water changes are once a week, and I usually do about 30% every time, and always vacuum the substrate as much as possible without disturbing rooted plants. Nothing new has been added to the tank in the last month. The swordtails, platys, and congos eat dry flake food, and the krib gets pellets. Feedings are twice daily and meals are just enough so that each fish gets at least a bite of something, never more than necessary. Every other night I drop in an algae wafer for the siamese algae eater.

I'm hoping from these details you may be able to see why I'm stumped as to what's harming or agitating my male swordtail... Nothing significant has changed recently and he always seemed perfectly fine before. All the other fish seem to be perfectly fine. Any ideas?

 

[jpchin]

well your ammonia level is probably the problem. that should be at 0. ammonia can do great harm to fish even at low readings. you should probably do a 50% water change asap. do you use Prime as your water conditioner? that is the most recommended water conditioner on this site. Prime will make the ammonia harmless for about 12-24 hours. it will still register on your api test but will be harmless to your fish. you'll need to do testing and water changes everyday until your ammonia level is back to 0. probably more than 1 water change daily. since the Prime renders ammonia harmless for 12-24 hiours i would do a water change in the morning and another in the evening until your test is at 0. you might be going through a mini cycle until your beneficial bacteria catches up to the bio load from your fish. did you add the fish gradually? did you add any fish recently?

 

[Zagz]

Your tank seems to not be fully cycled yet. A fully cycled tank shows 0 ammonia and nitrite and some nitrates. I'm not sure why you are having a mini cycle, but I'd keep doing water changes every couple of days and watch how much you are feeding. Over feeding can cause ammonia to increase. Never feed more than your fish can eat in a few minutes.

 

[Adron]

Thanks for the responses. I just did a 50% water change... No immediate change in the swordtail's behavior, but I'll give it some time and see what happens. Should I draw any conclusions from the fact that he is the only one showing any signs of distress?

My water conditioner is API Tap Water Conditioner. I don't have a conditioner that affects ammonia levels... maybe I'll make a trip to the store tomorrow. And the swordtails have been in the tank for a month and a half. The last addition was the siamese algae eater, who came just a few days after the swordtails.

I'm going to let the fish fast for tonight and try to be very judicious about future feedings...

Please, anyone with any other suggestions, your help would be much appreciated.

 

[jpchin]

i have to ask what type of tank maintenance do you do? how often do you vacuum the gravel? have you changed out filter medium recently? i would do a good gravel vac to make sure there's not a lot of debris in there. i don't know why the other fish aren't showing distress but with an ammonia level at .25 it might just be he is the most sensitive of the bunch. keep up with the water changes and you'll get back on track in no time. sometimes a cause just can't be found for a spike in ammonia and you'll have to wait it out and keep the ammonia neutralized (with the Prime) until it goes to 0. i agree with Zagz that the tank might not have been fully cycled. but that will come with patience and a little extra work.since you are willing to do the water changes and testing, things will work out.

 

[jpchin]

i just re-read your first post and saw that you do gravel cleaning as best you can so you don't disturb the plants. i have a fairly heavy planted tank and i must say that the most disgusting waste is found right around the base of the plants. use your vac right around the roots of the plant being careful not to hit the roots. you'll probably see a lot of very dirty water when you do that. also if you have any ornaments in the tank move them aside and vac under them. another good place to find dirt.

 

[Adron]

Thanks jpchin. I'll make sure to get around the plant roots next water change.

To update, I've been rigorously water changing the last couple days and ammonia levels, as well as nitrite and nitrate are at zero. The swordtail's behavior is basically unchanged. No notable improvement. His appetite is still fine, though. I'm starting to worry if he has some kind of internal problem... something upsetting his balance. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Fishfur]

Since you are using an API test, you should know that you can get a false ammonia reading with them,and given the zero nitrite and low nitrate, I'd expect that's what you have. API tests, as do many others, combine both ammonium [ not toxic] and ammonia, and give you one total reading. So you can have ammonium only and it can look as though you have ammonia.
Seachem is the only test I know of that does not do this. It reads ammonium and ammonia separately, giving you a better read on what's really in the tank.

The swimming sounds like it might be related to swim bladder issue. Might be constipation, is he pooping normally ? If not, cooked, skinned peas are often used to treat constipation, so you could try that

If yes, could have been accidental damage, from a blow or running into something in the tank. Might get better, might not. But the fact he is also having trouble breathing is not a happy sign. Swords are not one of the fish that can take oxygen from air.. he's trying to get the most oxygen rich water, which is right at the surface, where the gas exchange takes place and oxygen is most abundant. A swollen bladder or other internal damage could be making it hard to breathe, possibly.

I would read up on swim bladder problems to see if the signs fit, also on laboured breathing and breathing at the surface.

 

[Adron]

I just tried dropping a couple pieces of mashed pea in the tank, in case of constipation. The swordtail didn't go for it... I'm hoping he'll pick up a piece or two from the bottom.

The funny thing is, occasionally I see him get chased around for a second or two by the lady sword or one of the platies, and in those instances he's perfectly capable of darting about the tank... doesn't seem to have any difficulty swimming. It's just when he's idle, he tends to stay up around the surface waters, holding his body mostly vertical, or doing the same thing under a floating plant or by the heater.

Still stumped.

 

[Fishfur]

That is odd. But so long as he's eating, hang in. Might be he's just odd.. might be something he'll get over. Hope so. Peas usually have to be squashed and fed in tiny,tiny bits, like pellet size food.. you hope to sort of trick the fish into eating some of it.

 

[Adron]

Y'know, I wonder if it could possibly be that he's just old. He was fully grown when I obtained him. Is this common behavior for senior fish?

I'm seeing him take little trips around the tank, swimming more or less naturally, and then after awhile he retreats back up to the surface or behind the heater on top of the suction cup where he doesn't have to use his fins so much.

 

[Adron]

Update, in case anyone's curious: He seems to be doing much better today. His symptoms improved a great deal yesterday evening, a couple hours after a water change (in which I was much more thorough around the plant roots) and feeding some mashed peas. This time I made sure he got some. Had to feed them in tiny pieces, picking them up with my thumbnail and mincing them into the water. More peas again today and he seems much, much better, swimming about the tank horizontally and picking at plants and substrate like usual. Before yesterday evening he was balancing on top of the suction cup of the heater all day, looking terrible and moving hardly at all. I'm so happy! Gonna keep up the pea and water change regimen a couple more days and make sure he stays on the up and up, hoping for the best. Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions.