One of my CPDs is broken. :(

[Shadey]

I bought a bag of celestial pearl danios from a local aquarium society auction a few weeks ago. There are six of them, and mostly they are fat happy little fish (if extremely shy).

One of them I was worried about, because as soon as I got them home I noticed he was swimming funny. He didn't die right away, and otherwise he seems okay, but....

He swims with his body at a 45 degree angle, head pointing up. He is incapable of swimming in a straight line; every movement he makes is fighting a downward tendency. When he is not moving he sinks. None of the other fish are like this.

What's up? :/

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

sounds like a respiration or swim bladder problem, as u havnt mentioned anything about bad fin damage.
i think u should qt it imo, it may be bad and/or contagious.
iv had this a few times, all died within 4 days, but it may not be the same thing.
have u checked ur parameters? can u qt it? x

 

[Shadey]

My paramaters seem to be okay... it's a long established tank that I do weekly 30-40% PWC on.

Yeah his fins all seem intact. He was swimming like this when I got him, so I don't really think it's anything I've done, I'm just not sure what to do about it.....

I don't really have any way of QTing him, unfortunately. It's been two weeks since I bought them... he doesn't seem any better, if anything a little worse, I'm not sure.... The others all seem okay.... It could be a disease they can catch, though?

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

maybe. only maybe though, it could be just internal damage rather than a disease. but maybe you could get a blastic container, bucket etc and put the fish in there with a filter and heater, to make sure?

 

[Shadey]

I have an extra heater, but no extra filter...

I took a quick vid of the fish:
Broken CPD - YouTube

Honestly they're in a heavily planted Edge tank and I'm not sure how I'd catch him if I wanted to. :X

 

[adadkins1]

I had a glowlight tetra that did this, he was always swimming in the manner like your CPD. I wouldn't worry, it maybe some type of genetic problem, because just like your CPD, my tetra came to me with the problem.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

One of my Harlequin Rasbora's is exactly the same. I've had him for at least two months now and he's fine

 

[Ickletas]

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this video was an under-developed swim bladder. My reasoning behind this is oddly the SAE (Crossocheilus siamensis) which has a very under-developed/non existent swim bladder and must be in constant motion otherwise it sinks. To be fair, this is just a guess I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert but it seemed kind of logical to me.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

nowhere near as bad as i thought lol. its ok, he should be alright. mine had a full-blown dying thing going on at that point but urs seems unbalanced like its got something stuck in there or has a wierd joint connection in the fins?

 

[librarygirl]

I've read on a CPD forum that this is fairly common with some CPDs and may be a genetic thing. Here is a link:

Celestial Pearl Danio • View topic - Danio swimming weird

I'd just watch it, make sure it's still eating and acting OK otherwise. Maybe fast all of the fish for a couple of days and then feed them a thawed, de-shelled, unsalted frozen pea (mine usually pick at it, I have CPDs too). If it's constipation/swim bladder problem that should help. Otherwise it might just be an abnormality in the fish and I'd just keep an eye on it.

 

[Shadey]

Ok, thanks guys! I guess I'll just watch him.

Also today I discovered two baby fry in the tank... D: They are very small clear colored fish. I wish I had noticed them a few days ago, when I did a very large water change. I suspect I might have had more than two. There are a whooole bunch of cherry and amano shrimp in the tank though, so maybe I am lucky to have two at all.

 

[librarygirl]

You have CPD fry?!! Aw, how'd you do that? lol I'd love to find babies in my tank! How long have you had the CPDs? I've only had them for a few weeks but I've caught them spawning a few times. I haven't seen any eggs though; I also have Panda Corys in there so between the two species I'm sure any eggs had gotten eaten. I'm going to put some moss in the tank tomorrow to see if that helps save some eggs if/when they spawn. Congrats on the babies!

 

[Shadey]

I dunno! I got them at the beginning of the month. Now there is babies. Haha.

Good luck!