Friday through to this morning, I have noticed my female White Cloud Mountain Minnow having swimming problems; specifically, yesterday morning she was hanging just above the gravel in the far corner under the filter, quite still - sometimes lying on the gravel - and in the afternoon she was lying right up the corner, on the gravel, with the younger of the two male Minnows over her. Sometimes when hovering just above the gravel, she has been shaking her fins and body - it looks as if her fins and body are vibrating (not sure if this could be an attempt at egg laying or related to it in any manner). She's also been paler than usual, and her fins more brown than red. At one point yesterday morning, she rushed to the top of the tank and gasped for air/hung at the surface for a short while, with clear see-saw/balance difficulties as she swam upwards. She did some hanging at the surface Friday evening also. It looks as if her caudal fin is slightly flattened/being held down (not clamped, rather the upper half of the fin is flattened, the lower half normal but held lower to compensate), and she might be holding her tail curved downwards slightly. She appeared to have some balance difficulties even last night as she swam about. This morning...she's lying on the gravel in the far corner under the filter, quite still (she is alive, she's moved about a bit, but not much at all).
At all times, when I say she's lying on the gravel, she is upright, not on her side. At least as far as I have observed up to this point.
I have observed some dark mass/masses inside her body, but I believe these to be her internal organs (not parasites of any kind).
Tested yesterday, and water parameters come back absolutely fine...
~0ppm ammonia (as best as I can tell with Nutrafin and API test kits, it's the same as it's always looked for ages now)
0ppm nitrite
20-30ppm nitrate
~7.5pH
490ppm Total Dissolved Solids (elevated readings are remnants of aquarium salt dosed several weeks ago now)
Temperature 23-25C fluctuation throughout the day, heater unplugged
Back in June, I did notice the female Minnow having problems whenever I fed her - I feed flake food every other day, along with defrosted (and now also microwaved) pea once a week (most weeks, though not all). Back then, I just peppered flake food in carefully, and only defrosted pea before cutting/mushing it up. She appeared to develop swim bladder/balance issues, see-sawing back and forth when swimming, going up to gasp for air, and lying still/sometimes erect on the gravel; all of these symptoms completely disappearing the day between feeding, as if nothing had ever been wrong in the first place. It eventually got bad enough that I dosed with 1.5g/litre aquarium salts, which did help a little (I have not topped up these salts, so they've been halving for a number of weeks now during my weekly 50% water change/tank maintenance). Microwaving the pea seemed to have a limited effect, but that might be down to the size of the pieces I feed. What did have a clear benefit was soaking the flake food in tank water prior to feeding. It was obvious from the timing of the symptoms, and the way in which they completely disappeared, that she was suffering from digestive difficulties of some sort; colic or constipation, or a combination thereof. This was borne out by how changing the way I prepared the food helped to an extent (she still appeared to have some swimming difficulties, but not as severe as they had been).
That was all until Friday. She has a ravenous appetite, and while using a plastic cup to soak flake food in allows me to carefully drip the food into the tank little by little, she goes after as much as she can of whatever does go in, devouring it in seconds. On Thursday, her stomach was quite a bit bumpy, possibly even distended; in this instance I may have put a little too much in without the males around to take enough, and she ate too much too fast and it's taking longer to work through her system. I am as careful as I can be, and if I think the male Minnows won't be eating much more - they tend to go off with a whole mouthful, minding their own business - I just stop in order to prevent the female from getting too much. I even do that if I think she's eaten enough, and either or both of the males haven't had much; she just shoots for the food she can see, gulping it down.
There are no signs of external bacterial infection, fungus, or parasites. Although I have snails in the tank, I have no reason to suspect internal parasites. That leaves either digestive difficulties as my observations have suggested, possible egg impaction (there have been Minnow fry in previous months, though I haven't observed any for almost a month or so now), an injury of some sort, or internal bacterial infection. Or age - she is at least three years old. I'm welcome to any other suggestions.
In the case of internal bacterial infection, I'm up for suggestions on what an appropriate medicine would be (save for antibiotics - no hospital tank); I have both esha 2000 and Interpet's Anti-Internal Bacteria, although the literature for esha 2000 does not mention anything about swim bladder disorders.
I fed the microwaved pea last night to see if would help at all, but unless that is what is doing a number on her, it's had no impact. I don't want to jump to conclusions or panic myself, which I have been prone to doing, but at the moment I really have no concrete ideas about what it is. Internal bacteria does sound possible, but would there have to be some visible physical signs (bloating, red/pink discolouration, etc) pointing to that for it to be likely?
At all times, when I say she's lying on the gravel, she is upright, not on her side. At least as far as I have observed up to this point.
I have observed some dark mass/masses inside her body, but I believe these to be her internal organs (not parasites of any kind).
Tested yesterday, and water parameters come back absolutely fine...
~0ppm ammonia (as best as I can tell with Nutrafin and API test kits, it's the same as it's always looked for ages now)
0ppm nitrite
20-30ppm nitrate
~7.5pH
490ppm Total Dissolved Solids (elevated readings are remnants of aquarium salt dosed several weeks ago now)
Temperature 23-25C fluctuation throughout the day, heater unplugged
Back in June, I did notice the female Minnow having problems whenever I fed her - I feed flake food every other day, along with defrosted (and now also microwaved) pea once a week (most weeks, though not all). Back then, I just peppered flake food in carefully, and only defrosted pea before cutting/mushing it up. She appeared to develop swim bladder/balance issues, see-sawing back and forth when swimming, going up to gasp for air, and lying still/sometimes erect on the gravel; all of these symptoms completely disappearing the day between feeding, as if nothing had ever been wrong in the first place. It eventually got bad enough that I dosed with 1.5g/litre aquarium salts, which did help a little (I have not topped up these salts, so they've been halving for a number of weeks now during my weekly 50% water change/tank maintenance). Microwaving the pea seemed to have a limited effect, but that might be down to the size of the pieces I feed. What did have a clear benefit was soaking the flake food in tank water prior to feeding. It was obvious from the timing of the symptoms, and the way in which they completely disappeared, that she was suffering from digestive difficulties of some sort; colic or constipation, or a combination thereof. This was borne out by how changing the way I prepared the food helped to an extent (she still appeared to have some swimming difficulties, but not as severe as they had been).
That was all until Friday. She has a ravenous appetite, and while using a plastic cup to soak flake food in allows me to carefully drip the food into the tank little by little, she goes after as much as she can of whatever does go in, devouring it in seconds. On Thursday, her stomach was quite a bit bumpy, possibly even distended; in this instance I may have put a little too much in without the males around to take enough, and she ate too much too fast and it's taking longer to work through her system. I am as careful as I can be, and if I think the male Minnows won't be eating much more - they tend to go off with a whole mouthful, minding their own business - I just stop in order to prevent the female from getting too much. I even do that if I think she's eaten enough, and either or both of the males haven't had much; she just shoots for the food she can see, gulping it down.
There are no signs of external bacterial infection, fungus, or parasites. Although I have snails in the tank, I have no reason to suspect internal parasites. That leaves either digestive difficulties as my observations have suggested, possible egg impaction (there have been Minnow fry in previous months, though I haven't observed any for almost a month or so now), an injury of some sort, or internal bacterial infection. Or age - she is at least three years old. I'm welcome to any other suggestions.
In the case of internal bacterial infection, I'm up for suggestions on what an appropriate medicine would be (save for antibiotics - no hospital tank); I have both esha 2000 and Interpet's Anti-Internal Bacteria, although the literature for esha 2000 does not mention anything about swim bladder disorders.
I fed the microwaved pea last night to see if would help at all, but unless that is what is doing a number on her, it's had no impact. I don't want to jump to conclusions or panic myself, which I have been prone to doing, but at the moment I really have no concrete ideas about what it is. Internal bacteria does sound possible, but would there have to be some visible physical signs (bloating, red/pink discolouration, etc) pointing to that for it to be likely?
