Zebra danio just holding on

[diamond57]

We have a 200 litre tank, which we did have a problem with high ammonia, due to a hidden dead pleco (he only came out at night and after a couple of fish died one day we checked the levels hunted and found him) but this has now come down. At about the same time one of the zebra danios started looking like he was going to die, but we took him out and put in a breeding section in our second tank. He appeared to recover slightly within a day or so, but he still keeps resting on the bottom on the breeding net and then swimming around it madly.

We moved the breeding net back into the main tank a few days ago and there appears to have been no change in him. I tried letting him out today and he went straight to the bottom and went round the tank a couple of times with his mouth down and tail nearly straight up.

When he is lying on the bottom of the breeding net he generally lies on one particular side but I can see nothing wrong with him apart from the fact that his breathing does seem to be laboured at times.

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[mfdrookie516]

if the ammonia got really high, it could be suffering from ammonia poisoning. do you have the ammonia back down to 0? even if it is back down to 0, if the ammonia was high enough for long enough, it could still kill the fish

 

[diamond57]

The ammonia reading is currently 0. Is there anything that we can do if it is ammonia poisoning that is still affecting him?

 

[mfdrookie516]

if it is ammonia poinsoning, all you can do is make sure you keep the ammonia down and hope it recovers. not saying it necessarily is, but it would make sense to me. if you want, compare it to radiation poisoning. if exposed to high enough levels, it will kill you right there, but if exposed to lower levels, it wont necessarily kill you on the spot, but it will eventually.. make sense? Again, it could be something else, only time will tell imo

 

[dkpate]

You could also try feeding boiled, de-shelled, mushed peas. If he is sitting with his face down and tail up, it could be a swim bladder issue, and peas are a natural laxative.
Good luck!

 

[Brad S]

Yeah, I kinda agree with everybody here. Sounds to me like the ammonia is the major culprit which may have set off some swim bladder issues so I'd go ahead and feed him some de-shelled, mushed up peas too. Hang in there and I hope he gets better.

 

[i3k]

Darting is usually a sign that your fish is in distress. You should check your pH level. A pH below 6 is irritating to the fish which will make it dart around the tank and even jump out of the tank if it can. pH higher than 8.0 can cause the skin and gills to erode. Parasites also can make your fish very uncomfortable and make it swim "madly". so check you pH and it should be between 6.5 to 7.5. What is the temperature in the tank? if there is any ammonia present in the tank, it becomes more toxic in higher temps. also how often do you do PWC and what do you treat your water with?

 

[WhiteDevil]

id QT him alone again and give him shucked pea's frozen are the best for this since canned are mushy. sounds like he has a swim bladder issue too and that is common with ammonia poisoning if they survive.

I just had the same issue, found the dead pleco at lunch hidden in a hollow part of my driftwood. lost 3 of my female breeder guppies and got another in QT did a 70% WC right off the bat and levels are fine and all the fish are better, I am working on the surviving girl right now she is eating all her veggies.