Siamese algae eater with curved spine

[libertybelle]

I’m not sure if this has been developing for a while but I just noticed that my sae has a slight curve to his spine. It doesn’t look s shaped or abrupt just a slight hunching when he used to be straight as an arrow.

This is in my 29 gallon planted with only about a dozen other tetras and a couple Otos. (I know all these could use more members in their schools but I’ll be moving soon and don’t want to add fish before a move).

Checked water parameters the other day after a water change and ammonia and nitrite were 0 and nitrate kinda hard to tell but no more than 5 or so. (It’s rare that my tank gets over 5 nitrate between the light stocking and the plants.)

Anyway the tank has been lightly stocked for a while, while I have lost a few tetras here and there over the years the tank has been healthy and stable for years with no deaths or signs of illness in at least six months to a year.

Google of course offered me scare stories about fish tb but that seems unlikely due to the lack of any other symptoms in the sae or any other fish. Could there be something else going on? I’ve slacked off on feeding algae wafers lately because the Otos And sae seemed to be doing fine between the algae in the tank and the occasional fish food the sae snacks on, perhaps a nutrient deficiency?

 

[King Fisher]

Are you using dechlorinated tap water, RO/distilled, spring water?

 

[libertybelle]

Tap dechlorinated with prime.

 

[King Fisher]

Typically, tap water has enough nutrients for fish with daily feedings. If you are doing that then I'd rule out nutrient deficiency. If you feel you need to feed your sae a daily algea wafer then try that. It's not going to hurt him any and if it can help increase his health...why not?

 

[libertybelle]

I usually feed every other day and in small amounts, but I figure if I was accidentally starving my fish they probably wouldn’t have lasted this long. But the tetras do chase after the flakes a lot more eagerly than the sae so maybe if I’m feeding them just barely enough the sae isn’t getting enough?

Or maybe it’s something else entirely.

I dunno. Just thought I would ask in case anyone had a theory. I’ll keep an eye on him, but he’s acting totally normal and eating well and all that jazz so *shrug*

Just in case I’ll add algae wafers back into my feeding schedule. I know that I’m not overfeeding, so it can’t hurt .

 

[King Fisher]

If your tank has enough algae for him to feed well then I wouldn't supplement his diet to much.....he might slow down on eating your algae? If your tank has minimal algae then I think a half a wafer every other day just to make sure.

The curved spine could be Tuberculosis?? That would be worse case scenario.

 

[libertybelle]

The tank doesn’t visibly have a ton of algae but my Otos stay chubby so what is growing they must be eating. (And I haven’t had a bba outbreak since I got the sae, thank goodness!). Usually I use my java moss as an indicator. He doesn’t usually go for moss but when algae levels get too low he will nibble on the moss and that’s when I know he needs something extra.

I have read about Tb and will keep an eye on him for other symptoms, but as I mentioned with no other sickness in the tank and no other symptoms in the sae it doesn’t seem like the reports of tb that I’ve read. (And since most of the advice for infected tanks is bleach the tank and start over I don’t exactly want to jump to that conclusion without a preponderance of evidence!)

 

[libertybelle]

Managed to get a picture of this guy. Between the plants and his tendency to be buried in leaves or darting around all the time it’s not a great picture, but maybe someone will be able to tell me if I should be more worried!



Sometimes it looks even more pronounced because of the way he swims etc. Lately he tends to swim with his head far higher than his tail and I don’t remember him doing that when he was younger. (He’s about 3 years old at this point maybe more depending on how old he was when I bought him.)

 

[coralbandit]

Many disease will present curved spine.
In most by the time it shows the fish is too far gone to be saved usually.
The exception is in the case of nutritional deficiency.

 

[libertybelle]

Yup, I do know that. I’m just kind of unsure what to do now because there are zero other symptoms in that fish or any others in the tank.

I’m increasing feeding of various algae wafers in case of nutritional deficiency and upping water changes just because I can’t really think of what else to do and those things won’t hurt.

 

[King Fisher]

Might not be much more you can do. If it's a nutritional deficiency and you feed him food more regularly I don't believe it will fix his spine. Although, by feeding him regularly you could be extending his life span.

 

[libertybelle]

Yup, I feel bad if it is a nutritional deficit because I thought if they were still active and not actually looking skinny that meant my algae eaters were doing fine with mostly the algae in the tank and the flake food the sae snagged from the tetras.

I have plenty of varieties of wafer foods for him so I’ll go back to offering those too and hope that at least it won’t get worse!

Obviously i’ll still keep an eye on him and watch for any other symptoms of an illness in the meantime, just in case.

 

[libertybelle]

Update: Well the good news is he’s still around, still a little bit of a curved spine but it’s actually seemed to have improved so it must have been a nutrient deficiency. He’s loving the pellet dinners every other day.

Only bad thing about that is he’s no longer so hungry he eats every scrap of black brush algae. I’m seeing a tiny bit of it re-emerging in that tank when I haven’t seen a spec in six months!

Time to work out my lights/nutrients imbalance I guess!

 

[Angellove78]

Could just be an inheritance from the way it was bred. Or born in bad conditions. If he's still alive and acts the same. Changes are one of the two. Probably something he'll have to live with. I have a blue platy with a curve spine and he's a runt. But I've had him for long time now. He gets around just like the others. I wouldn't worry too much.