Rummynose clamped fins

[jessipanda]

Hey guys... So today I noticed one of my rummynose tetras looking a bit off. He is clamping his dorsal and anal fins, which look a bit ragged but don't have any white/black on them (yet). Also, he seems to have lost his black tail stripes and is swimming a bit quickly, as though he's afraid of something. His face is still bright red... Right now, I'm thinking he may be getting picked on for some reason. There's a total of 15 in the tank and the rest look and behave normally. They're the newest inhabitants to the tank and were only QT'd for just about 2 weeks. During which I fed them some anti-parasite flakes. For the last week they've been in the 55g tank with the rest of my fish:

10 cardinals
5 neons
1 guppy
1 EBR
1 BN pleco
1 farlowella

Everything and everyone has been doing great. This one rummynose was fine yesterday. If he's being nipped at, who do you think is the most likely culprit? I thought EBR at first, but she's the calmest fish in there and I've never even seen her chase anyone. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Temp 80°F
pH 7.6
Amm. 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 3-4

 

[jessipanda]

Got a couple pics. 1st one he's in the middle, 2nd he's at the top. The 2nd shows his tail color compared to the others best, but is blurry.
Best I could do.

 

[jessipanda]

Well, I added some salt last night and he's looking better today. Still no black coloring on his tail, but he's not clamping his fins as much and he's swimming more normal. Still not sure what's wrong or what I should do...

 

[Delapool]

Could his own school have been picking on him a bit? Otherwise lost for ideas a bit. Hope that one improves.

 

[jessipanda]

Lol anything is possible! I've been watching them almost nonstop during my waking hours. Had to run out today to get a new heater for the tank though...mine died either last night or this morning. Temp was about 72 when I woke up. New heater is in, but has only brought temp up about 2 degrees. All the fish still look fine, and the 1 rummynose still acts like nothing's wrong... he eats, schools, and plays just like the rest. His fins don't seem any worse either, but they still look raggedy. I don't want to QT him if I don't have to. Might stress him out more.

 

[jessipanda]

Quick update. The 1 rummynose now has his color coming back to his tail. Not fully, but there are grey stripes which is better than none, right? He's not clamping his fins anymore and they seem to be repairing themselves. They look much better than they did yesterday.

However, now he's doing something new...he randomly stops swimming and just kind of floats like he forgot what he was doing. This lasts about 3 seconds then he rejoins the school. During a 10 minute span I saw him do this maybe 2 or 3 times. I'm gonna try to get a video of him doing it.

He still ate with everyone and he's otherwise normal...I'm so confused! Lol he's the only fish with any issues! Ughhhh

 

[Delapool]

I've heard of that in cories. Never did really figure it out although metro was tried.

No bulging around the eyes or ruffling on the scales. All looking like his internals are ok?

 

[jessipanda]

Nothing visually other than the raggedy fins that have started repairing. His tail stripes are even back to normal now... I've failed at getting a video thus far. They're just so fast...

 

[Delapool]

Fingers crossed! Sounds good he is eating with others.

 

[jessipanda]

Lol yeah, today his fins look even better, but his tail is a bit dulled again and he's still doing that weird swimming thing once in awhile. Not as much though... It's WC day, and I'm contemplating adding some more salt afterwards. Not sure yet. Still no other fish affected, so must not be contagious, right?

 

[Delapool]

Hopefully not! Could be worth a salt repeat as it seemed to help before.

Be interested to see if the water change helps.

You could try a water change. See if weird swimming stops and maybe the salt was stressing him as well as helping.

Add salt a day later to see if that helps again if weird swimming is still occurring anyways.

For the other case, metro was dosed for several weeks along with I think prazi or furan 2. The metro should of taken care of any internal bacterial / parasite infections but it only seemed to help not cure.

 

[jessipanda]

Well dang...should have read this earlier. I already did the water change and added some more salt. :\ that was a good idea though. Would have been better! Oh well...we'll see how it goes. He's still acting funny and his tail has been grey all day, but his fins are looking so much better, he eats, and he schools. Would just hate to lose him. We haven't lost a fish in nearly a year *knocks on wood*

 

[Delapool]

At least it's not spreading I guess. In my tank that might be just old age or as it is summer here, some sort of internal bacterial infection (rarely get problems over winter as I think tank is more stable in temp and water). Very rare here is an internal parasite infection.

 

[jessipanda]

It can't be old age; these rummynose aren't even full grown yet. Few months old at max. I've had them for almost a month and they've nearly doubled in size and are still growing. It's winter here, but I live in an area where “winter” doesn't actually exist. Rarely gets below 60°F...although this past week has been one of the coldest in decades with temps dropping into the 20's. Even snowed just north of me a few days ago.

Either way, still hasn't spread and he seems a bit better every day. Just strange that his face has never lost color...his tail did, then it returned, now it's dull again. Haven't seen him do the strange swimming thing yet this evening but I'm still watching.

 

[jessipanda]

Lmao on a better note, it seems one of my male rummynose has fallen smitten with my largest cardinal female. He's following her everywhere as though he's attached to her belly. No matter how fast she swims and turns, she can't shake him. This is great. I'm gonna try to video this

 

[jessipanda]

Tried to get a video of that rummynose/cardinal pair with no success. They were just too fast for the video. Also why I never managed to get a video of the sick rummynose.

Today, he's looking significantly better. His tail colors have returned to normal once again and I haven't seen his strange swimming (or lack there of for a few moments) behavior is nearly 24 hours. Also, his fins are nearly back to normal. They're not perfect yet, which is how I'm still able to tell him apart from the others, but he's improved greatly. Not sure if it was the water change yesterday that helped or the increased heat+salt (half dose for tank size since I have snails, a catfish, and a pleco). Since it never spread, I'm assuming he may have had some sort of fungal infection I couldn't see, which I believe would be treated with everything I did except the meds since I didn't use any.

Water parameters looked great the whole time with steady 7.6 pH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and nitrates never went above 5.

Thanks for discussing this with me, Delapool ?

 

[Delapool]

Grand news on improvement

 

[jessipanda]

Today I can't even pick him out of the school! ?