Fish having trouble swimming

[nlifs]

Hello again!

New issue in the 'tank of doom' ...

one of the rainbowfish, as well as the honey gourami, are having some difficulties swimming today. The gourami is right at the surface and is having a hard time staying horizontal ... it's body is tilting downwards constantly and it's struggling to 'right' itself. Almost like his tail is weighing him down or something.

The rainbowfish has gone completely bonkers and looks like it's lost control. Spending quite a bit of time "swimming" vertically, with it's tail down, then shooting across the tank like a bullet, then doing strange loops, then upside down, etc.

Both fish are still alive but definitely struggling.

I thought it might be a swim bladder issue but I wouldn't think that would affect two fish at the same time.

Is it (another) parasite? Unfortunately, my LFS does not carry medication (Canada) ...

What to do?

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm not surprised about the Gourami. They are just a fish that you need to really be careful of, ANY SPECIE of them. ( I've taken them all off my potential stock lists. ) What it has probably is what the other one had so there's not really anything you can do for it past euthanizing it.

Is the effected rainbow one of the new ones or one of the old ones?

 

[nlifs]

The effected rainbow is (was) one of the older ones (female). Unfortunately it has since passed ...

It was quite small (probably the smallest of the bunch) ... not sure if it had any underlying issues ... it didn't look bloated or anything. Just couldn't swim straight.

 

[Andy Sager]

The effected rainbow is (was) one of the older ones (female). Unfortunately it has since passed ...

It was quite small (probably the smallest of the bunch) ... not sure if it had any underlying issues ... it didn't look bloated or anything. Just couldn't swim straight.

It could have been attacked ( or accidentally hit) by one of the larger ones and that was it's response. If you hit a fish at just the right spot, they can't recover. You won't see the spot because it's not going to get " black and blue" like on a person. Fish can have their air bladders damaged by a hit which will cause swimming problems. You had these older ones long enough that it's most likely not a disease issue but just coincidental that it happened at the same time as the Gourami. As far as I'm concerned, the Gouramis were a ticking time bomb that finally just exploded. I would not replace or add any other Gouramis.

 

[nlifs]

Understood.

We are enjoying our rainbow and panda corys for now!

Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

 

[Andy Sager]

Understood.

We are enjoying our rainbow and panda corys for now!

Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

 

[Andy Sager]

Understood.

We are enjoying our rainbow and panda corys for now!

Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

Just for giggles, the next time you see your local fish shop, ask them if they get their fish from the U.S or from Asia?

 

[nlifs]

Will try to remember!

 

[Andy Sager]

Will try to remember!

Where in Canada are you, East side or West side? Most on the East side get from Florida while most from the West side get from California. ( At least that's how it used to be. I sent a lot of fish into Canada way back when. )

 

[nlifs]

More in the middle actually, but closer to East than West

 

[Andy Sager]

More in the middle actually, but closer to East than West

Okay, I used to ship fish to wholesalers in Montreal and Toronto and they were shipping them all over Canada. I know at least one of them is still in the business. They got a lot of South American and Florida fish. Florida has a lot of species specific farms. Gourami Farms, Barb Farms, Tetra Farms, Rainbowfish farms, livebearer farms, etc. They were the safety net when Asian farms had disease issues back in the 70s and 80s. Florida fish had no disease issues.