Strange sterbai behavior

[dman]

I just got 4 sterbais the other day and have been watching them every chance I get becaues they are so fun and active. Tonight I saw one up floating between the back glass and the spray bar on his side. I thought he was dead but touched it and he swam away. He dug around the bottom a bit then when i came by again i saw him on the filter intake. Didnt look stuck, just against it. I turned the filter off and he swam away, going all around, looked like he was swimming fine. Then later I saw him under a part of the dritwood that stucks out, kinda like a little cave, and he was sideways. He was there for like at least 15 minutes and didn't move, then I touched him and he swam away again. So we'll see what happens in the morning. I hope he's not dying :(

[morgangallow]

i would expect the worst my friend :scry: sorry. but then if it makes it, well, then it surpassed its expectations! doesnt sound good though im afraid.

maybe someone else will be able to help

[annageckos]

It doesn't sound good to me. But maybe he is just stressed and settling in. How are the parameters on your tank?

[dman]

I guess I did forget to post the parameters didnt I. I tested yesterday and Amm, Nitrite and Nitrate are all 0. In fact the last few weeks I have been testing as I added more fish, and everything has always been 0, even the nitrates, a week after I have done a PWC, then I do another.

But anyways I just checked in there this morning and all 4 are accounted for. Two were swimming around and two were just hanging out on the bottom, none of them looked strange, so we'll see.

[Northernguy]

I didn't expect to hear it made it through the night.
Thats good news.
How long has your tank been cycled?

[dman]

The tank has been up and running for 6 months. I'll check it out later when I get home and the light is on and see what they are up to.

[dman]

I just got home and all four are in there either digging around on the bottom or laying or on the wood, so all appears to be fine!

[Oscar_freak12321]

Great to hear! Fish can be silly sometimes!

[annageckos]

what kind of test kit do you use? Liquid or strips? You should be reading some nitrates. Do you have plants? If so, a lot?

Glad to hear the fish is doing well. I have come to the conclusion that some fish are just wierd. Plain and simple.

[dman]

Yeah I use an API liquid test kit, and do have quite a few plants. I guess the plants just must be taking up all the nitrates. Maybe the fish I had just weren't producing much waste. Up until about 3 weeks ago, all I had was the harlequins and tetras. We'll see if they start to go up now at the end of the week after I added the corys and pleco.

That pleco is strange too. I figured he would be all over the big piece of wood in there. He does sometimes but most of the times I see him on the suction cups of the intake filter or stuck on the underside of the spray bar!

[cer]

I saw that happen to my albino but he did not die for another year.